Wow @canadian-coconut! So much knowledge and information just in one post and a thread of comments. Thank you for this post and bringing so much interaction amongst like minded people. I definitely have found more people just from this comment thread that I would love to connect with. I agree with your stance. If a child is ready to learn that child will learn. I have been homeschooling my children since they were born. I never listened to the "law" of my state that says we have to start schooling our child by the time they turn 7. Well my children have been reading since they turned age 3. You know what their first language was...sign language. I wanted my children to be able to communicate with me at a very young age so I started teaching them how to sign when they were 6 months old. They were signing more, eat, mama, dada, all done, sorry, milk, up, help, friend, sister, brother, aunt, uncle etc by the time they reached age 1. No daycare taught them that, no trained teacher taught them that I and their father did.
I feel that I add unschooling with my homeschooling. Due to the laws of our state we do have to record subjects and hours that they complete but at the same time I get creative with what I record. All of the time we spend outside of our home i.e. museums, parks, grocery stores I add that into our curriculum according to what subject it may line up with. We give our children choices because we want them to be strong decision makers now and as adults.
When my first born started reading at age 3 (on a kindergartner level I kid you not) she was ecstatic that she was doing it. But when she reached age 5 for some reason she got discouraged and didn't want to pick up a book. I took her to the library, drove around town for her to read signs, left new books on her bed when she wasn't there...I tried everything to get her interested in reading again. Well finally I just stopped and said maybe she will just read when she's ready. Well 1 year later (yes it took that long for her to be interested in self reading time again) she found a new interest in insects and bugs. I let her go outside and explore and get dirty in the mud. We saw that she really loved roly polys. So we purchased her a little home for a roly poly which you can buy online. We let her take it into our home during the day to feed it, give it water and to study it's nature. At night she had to let the roly poly back outside. Well guess what, she wanted to start reading about them. So we got books on roly polys and other insects and whaaalaaa her joy of reading was reborn!! Now at the age of 7 we can't get her to put a book down to eat dinner. When an interests is sparked in your child, run with it and encourage it. Our support and attention helps them blossom.
I shared that piece of my life to say be patient with your children and they will blossom right before your eyes. When you give them space and let them gravitate toward their interests, they will have joy in learning! This post was right on and so very true. I have seen it with my own eyes. I am blessed to have 4 children that interact with each other everyday. They learn how to problem solve, share, help one another, serve one another and to live peacefully with each other. I don't need an institution to instill that in my babies. We as parents were equipped for this and no one can do it better than we can because we know our children best. So for those that think they are not getting socialization skills you are mistaken. My children interact with other children and adults quite well. When we go out into public people are amazed at how well mannered and intelligent my children are. We are blessed~
Great examples!
Thanks so much for sharing your story too.
I'm glad that we 'met' here on Steemit!
Thank you so very much! It's a pleasure sharing with you and others who are on the same journey. Thank you for sharing about your son. That was so inspiring and encouraging. My oldest son loves to build with blocks and create massive towers with legos. He also loves fixing things and putting them together. We're not sure if he'll gravitate toward being an architect, electrician or mechanic but whichever it is we're excited to support his interests. Continue to be an inspiration, this is what keeps me loving Steemit! 😉