Unschooling newbie alert!
 

My husband and I have always loved the idea of homeschooling. He went all his years at a public school. I however tasted a bitter strict homeschool environment followed by a rough click filled private school environment till 6th grade and then had many rude awakenings at public school till graduation. Both of us dreaded school and had anxiety about getting up and facing it daily. I am finding it stresses our 2year old as well as myself if I try to make something into a learning activity. He's learned his basic shapes & colors and is beginning to count just from spending time with us! And he loves to learn! Just in his own time in his own way.

That's unschooling right? We hang out with his favorite toys in his favorite areas doing his favorite things and he learns! But I'm feeling totally unsure about this path. How do I track his progress? How does he prove he's got the right information for state standards to get into college? Are there tests? Grades? Somebody give me some guidance here please :) I know he's really young but time flies and I don't want it to fly away from us unprepared!
Thanks! :)

Re: Unschooling newbie alert!
 

We're unschooling! It has just evolved that way. I'm only a few years ahead of you, but last year, we had DS1 evaluated by a professional who herself had unschooled her kids. She said he was on track :yes

Re: Unschooling newbie alert!
 

My advice is don't try to get ahead of yourself. I personally found that thinking of myself as 'unschooling' worked great for preschoolers/kindergarten ages, and we slowly evolved into using more assigned curriculum as my kids got older, but we're still pretty relaxed.

Don't stress about college when you've got 2-yr-old. Don't try to start schooling when you've got a 2-yr-old either. Just enjoy them, enjoy answering questions, exploring things, watching them discover things. As they get closer to school-age (by which I mean 5-6), evaluate how you'd like to structure their early elementary years. As they move through those, look at the later elementary years. For us, I'm doing things differently for my 4th grader than I would have expected 5 years ago. But that's okay--I can see what he needs/is ready for at this age now; I couldn't have predicted it when he was 5.

Re: Unschooling newbie alert!
 

Thank you :) I do tend to get ahead of myself. I also always have to have all the answers for my very particular extended family. But I will take your advice :) I don't need to answer to anybody!

Re: Unschooling newbie alert!
 

it is sad to me that our society has changed so much that now people can start feeling pressured about making school decisons when the kids are still babes! I know that is so because the expected "norm" for many now includes starting Preschooll at age 3 . Used to be that you at least had until age 5 - 6 for questions to start being asked. Agree with what Loveispatient advised and if relatives are asking would just tell them you have plenty of years to make those kinds of decsions

Re: Unschooling newbie alert!
 

Nope, that's parenting a toddler. ;)

If you're doing that at 7, or 10, or 13...that's unschooling. ;)

Time doesn't fly THAT fast, though. ;)
I'm homeschooling an about-to-be 3rd grader and I have NO idea how to handle high school. Nor do I care. I will care around grade 6, probably, in a "hmmm....I should start paying a bit of attention now, I guess..." kind of way.

In the meantime, take a deep breath, tell yourself that "there's always adult entry to a community college and then he can transfer wherever he wants on the strength of his grades" and then stop thinking about it.

And like the others said, don't lock yourself into "knowing" that you're unschooling. You might do that. Or you might not! Or you might casually drift into some more traditional-type curriculum... A toddlers reaction to structured learning probably doesn't accurately reflect a 6-year-old's reaction to structured learning.

The one thing you want to do right now, probably, is to look up the laws that apply to homeschooling for your state/province/country. Start to figure out what options you will have, and at what age you are required to have chosen them. That way, if you do get asked by family or friends, you can confidently reply that schooling isn't mandatory until x age, so you'll make a decision for your child closer to that time. Now, isn't he cute when he....(and move the conversation away.)

And that way, you can start to assess what the options *will be* when he's x age, and let them burble around in your mind. Don't feel pressured to decide on which one! Just let them burble. Probably after they've done that for a couple of years you'll be pretty confident in which one you want to try first. Because remember--just because you TRY one style/curriculum/reporting structure, whatever, doesn't mean you're stuck with it!

Re: Unschooling newbie alert!
 

We unschool :yes

I would first, relax! What would be unschooling an older child, as others have pointed out, is simply parenting a toddler normally. I wouldn't recommend doing anything academic with a 2 year old unless they were clearly wanting to. I had hyperlexia and was reading before I was 3 years old by my own insistence (and my mom's willingness to provide instruction where needed), but that is NOT normal.

Most 2 year olds need to be playing and using their imaginations and learning how to talk and use their muscles.

This is a good article about some of the physical things children should master before they're ready to begin learning how to read - http://movementacademyproject.com/20...susan-johnson/

Re: Unschooling newbie alert!
 

Mine is four now and we plan to unschool. What I'm doing now is getting to know some unschooling families and just enjoying time with them:yes And you don't have to explain or justify anything to extended family. It's not their business :shrug3

Re: Unschooling newbie alert!
 

We are unschoolers...though, I must admit I am not keen on having a 'label' for what we do - we just love to live life and the children joyfully and naturally learn lots as they go along :D.

You might find this blog post helpful http://happinessishereblog.com/2015/...g-educational/