What does it mean to unschool: It is an educational method and philosophy that rejects "normal" school as a primary means for learning. Unschoolers learn through their natural life experiences including play,game play, household responsibilities, personal interests and curiosity, internships and work experience, travel, books, elective classes, family, mentors, and social interaction. Unschooling encourages exploration of activities initiated by the children themselves, believing that the more personal learning is, the more meaningful, well-understood and therefore useful it is to the child. While courses may occasionally be taken, unschooling questions the usefulness of standard curricula, conventional grading methods, and other features of traditional schooling in maximizing the education of each unique child.
What is a lapbook: A lapbook is an inexpensive portfolio or collection of mini-books, flaps, and folded display material, that provides interactive space for drawings, stories, graphs, graphics, timelines,
What are unit studies; With the unit study method, we choose one topic and combine different subjects to revolve around and tie into that topic. Unit studies are conducted in a more relaxed fashion and are interactive in nature. One characteristic of the unit study method is that of being more hands-on, project and activity oriented. Engaging in these types of activities is what helps students retain and remember what they are learning because they are experiencing learning by using more of their senses. THERE ARE NO RULES!
For those of you who know me and how I like to stay orgainized and have a plan and schedule now this will be hard for me!! I LOVE RULES! I am going to give the girls control over their learning, thus making us year round homeschoolers :) Summer will still be fun and we will go places and take trips and lesson our work load for school but we will still be schooling or unschooling :)
We will not start our full curriculum back up until the fall because I do believe the kids need structure and routine not only for my sanity but to help their work ethic and keep our days running smooth! Because summer is now here I want to keep their skills up I thought we would try out this method of homeschooling as it seems to be much more laid back and child centered and just what we need: still learning but to the girls it is just fun stuff! I cannot wait to get started!!
We will be taking our time to study the oceans and its contents!!! I have checked out a few books and as we learn I will let the girls check out what interests them They will each be making their own lapbook and putting in the things that they want and that they find important or interesting! Who knows if this well be our only unit study this summer, we may be on the oceans for two week or the entire summer break but that is the beauty of it, the girls and even Ian are directing their learning!!
In the fall I make sure the kids get all of their skills mastered and learned for their level and incorporate as much hands on and fun learning and projects as I can and now that summer is here they get the chance to use what they have learned to go even deeper into something that interest them! I will keep our unit study updated as we work on it and try my best to include pictures!!
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