I am grown up with the school system, and I have had a hard time thinking on other ways to learn until I found homeschooling and unschooling. I looked and researched how children learn and how to show them how to learn instead of spoon-feeding them.
To be honest, I didn’t sit down with the kids and forced them to start reading. Daniel started when he was 4 and Gabriel when he was 6, all by themselves. I made it fun and did it when they wanted to. I did games, we read books, we went to the library. We had books everywhere in the beginning, in the kitchen, toilet, car, living room, beds, floor, yes, all the places we could think about. We also had books that they liked, stories that they would like, books with a lot of facts so they could learn about all kinds of things. I sat down with them many times throughout the day just to read. I made it a time where we could connect, laugh and cry at different things.
Now, they are really readers! They read books with 500 pages in 1,5 days, then they start the next book and the next. They are above their age in reading. The books that are for their age, they read a couple of years ago. At this moment when I’m writing, Daniel have been reading in his bed for soon 2 hours. (Gabriel have been drawing for the same amount of time) Before they go to sleep they read for 1-2 hours and their beds are filled with books.
(BEWARE: With reading comes also a lot of knowledge and understanding. They correct my English… and my Swedish a lot…. )
Another thing was that I did not sit with the phone when they were close, and if I did, I did what I needed to do quick and then I took it away and took a book. I showed them that I thought it was important to read and when they saw that it was important for me and that I prioritised it, they started doing the same. I still do this. I tend to write on my computer or sit with my phone when they are not around so that when they are with me, I can focus upon them.
Going back to the system. I went to swimming class for years and years when I was younger and that was the way I thought that children learned. I wouldn’t dare to think that I could teach them. But now I have taught the boys to swim without any teacher and it has been so much fun!
Maths? Oh dear, not a subject I like at all. But again, I made it fun for the boys and they started counting and multiplying when they were small. It was a game, some fun thing to do and they learned it. Never pushed it, just fun.
Don’t let a system take away your role as a parent. You can raise your children! In a country where it is school duty as in Sweden, it can be hard to think that you as a parent is enough. I get it, I have been there. However, if homeschooling is a way you want to go, you hopefully love spending time with your children and see them grow. Create a space for them to learn and do it through play and connection.
As I said before, now the boys have a curriculum that they are working from and that works very well, and they like it. However, I am a strong believer that you do not need to have a formal school setting for a child to learn.
You are counting maths when you are building, shopping or baking. You are doing science when you are cooking or baking, you are reading when you are studying to get a driving license. LIVE LIFE. Learn, play, do experiments, go to museum, watch YouTube, play in the sea, go to the forest. Make the most of it.
They need to have present parents that are supporting them in their learning journey. Let that be you!
From an art gallery
SaraIsabella 