fresh start

"I hate school" - is the motto at our house and to be honest I am singing it with the boys. When we started homeschooling I saw visions of grandeur. School would consist of projects, outings, learning on the go, yes we would do the 3 R's but creativity was going to be key. Somewhere we got lost along the way and school has become about textbooks, completing curriculum and pure drudgery. The result: my children and myself are suffering.

In my heart I am an unschooler. In reality I am stuck on a curriculum, keeping up with the Jones', and preparation for life nightmare. I have been reflecting a lot on what I remember from my days in school and realized a lot of stuff that I was suppose "to learn" is nowhere in my recollection. Instead I remember the research I did on numerous things when my mom decided that if I was going to be "a truant" I might as well be truant at home. So the rest of that school year I walked all over town, researched vampires, witches, global warming, PETA, and a million other things. It was a great few months and summer! The only thing Mom asked is that I do a little math and write a paper for her once in awhile.

So here I am years later wishing my kids could have a school life like the one I had those months. Why can't they? Because their mom started "doing school". They don't understand that you can learn without the textbooks, curriculum, and that learning can be fun (and considered "school" for record keeping purposes). Hmmm, how do you help your children love to learn when you killed that love to begin with?

Unfortunately, my kids need & want a To-Do List each day. So maybe I will give them a new one. One filled with creative, fun, "learning" activities and eventually their love of learning will re-emerge. So this week is a fresh start and hopefully it is not to late...