Brilliant couple of days

The last few days have been great. I feel as though unschooling is definitely right for us judging by this week so far.

On Monday and Tuesday Joshua was interested in learning more about castles after building a castle set he got for Christmas last week with Vic and watching the latest 3 Harry Potter Films over the weekend. He has written a little about them too from what he has read in the Usbourne Beginners Castles Book and I didn’t tell him to write anything he decided to do that himself.

Yesterday the weather here was awful. It started with Thunder and Lightning on Tuesday evening that lasted more or less till 6am interspersed with heavy rain and strong winds. When Joshua got up it was hail stones so we stuck our hands outside to catch some hail stones and watched them melt in our hands. Then we stood at the window and watched them bounce as they hit the garden. He wanted to know what caused hail stones so I got out the Usbourne Beginners book on weather and we looked at the page on that and then he sat reading the rest of the book. A little later we had to nip to the shop and whilst we were walking back to the car it began to snow. Unfortunately it didn’t stick as it was so wet from all the rain. When we got back Josh sat with Ellie and was reading the bit about snow to her and about the different types of cloud. He has been really interested in the weather especially as we got up today and it is sunny and bright. He has also wrote a few lines about the weather too.

The last few days have also had some interesting conversations. On the castles subject we talked about the differences between early wooden castles and stone ones and he decided that stone castles were better as the bad guys couldn’t burn them down. We talked about stopping your enemies getting into the castle and he decided that the best way to stop them would be to have a moat and a drawbridge so you could let the good guys in but keep the bad guys out.

We have also had some interesting discussions on the weather and how Cyprus is normally warmer than England but when we spoke to my mum yesterday it was actually quite nice in England as opposed to being really cold here.

Ellie has been reading Ruby the Red Fairy a lot this week and has started writing her own story Ellie the Purple Fairy based on the book. She writes it how she wants and asks for help with spelling when she needs it.

Today they have watched primary history about Henry VIII’s Wives and so Josh is certainly keen to find out more about Henry VIII. We sat down together this afternoon and I read a couple of pages of a Horrible History books to him called The Terrible Tudors which he loved and he has been sat reading it himself all afternoon pausing only to read out a funny excerpt to me. It has been hard biting my tongue and wanting to butt in but it is brilliant seeing him find out more about Henry VIII for himself.

The last few days have helped me a lot too as I have had to keep from interfering in their activities apart from when asked so I don’t put them off learning. I have also learnt that you don’t have to have written proof of learning and that you can see that they have learnt so much on their own just by some of the conversations we have.

So am really pleased with how the last few days have gone - just watch everything fall apart tomorrow now I've said that.

Feeling much better

Well after that wobble last week I feel as though I am back on my feet thanks to the comments below. I really appreciated them. They have helped me to see that deschooling needs to start with me. We have had a much better last few days too which has helped.

The kids love cooking so I've indulged them in that and we made some lovely scones that were eaten by everyone before they had even had a chance to cool down. Also they have both started making their own version of pizza which consists of toast with tomato puree and a bit of cheese on top popped under the grill for a few minutes and they love it and Josh can make it himself I just do the grill bit for him. Its great to see them getting more independent.

We are going back to the UK in two weeks for 2 weeks to visit family and I plan on getting out and about a bit too rather than be cooped up so that should help with the deschooling process and then my brother in law is coming back with us for a couple of weeks so we will try and get out and see a bit more of Cyprus. Since we moved here 2 years ago we've only ventured as far as Limassol (70km away) so I really want to visit other places.

Josh has developed an interest in Castles after watching Harry Potter so we are hoping to go and see a few castles. I definitely want to see Edinburgh Castle and I can remember visiting Skipton Castle as a child but can't really remember it.

I was sorting through our book cases and came across some castle books which I left out so that he would see them and hoped he might want to look at them and he did and this morning he drew a lovely castle picture. He is also reading Castle Diary which he is enjoying and he has made a couple of scrolls with a few bits of writing on about castles. It is hard backing off and not interfering with it but I know that the minute I make a suggestion he will stop so I am trying my best to be there for him if he needs me.

Ellie has discovered that she can read rather well and has been whizzing through Ruby the Red Fairy from the Rainbow Magic Books. I'm thinking of getting the full set of 21 books from the book people for 15 quid. Bargain!

I am trying to develop hobbies myself that will help keep me from interfering. I am enjoying getting back into reading for myself rather than just reading to the kids. When we get back from Blackpool we should be able to get the internet put in at home then too so that will make things easier.

As I type at the moment the kids are in the internet cafe playing what sounds like a really interesting game of transformers using pictures they have made of them and cut out.

Thank you so much to everyone who left commments below they have really helped me and inspired me.

I'm scared

I have chickened out of unschooling this last 2 weeks as I have been feeling a bit scared about it all. I know I need to learn to trust that my children will learn what they want to learn but I began getting cold feet and my husband was starting to doubt it which caused me to doubt it too.

For the last two weeks we have done a relaxed version of school at home and I know that I don't want to continue this in the long term but I am scared about unschooling. What if my two children are the only ones who won't learn. I am really scared. I think it would be easier if we had the internet at home which we dont yet. Josh brought down a castle modelling set he got for christmas and has done that this afternoon and he wants to do a castle project so I think that I will see how far he wants to take it and not push him into doing more than he wants to. I know I need to chill out over this. It doesn't help that my family in the UK always ask what have they learnt today even though I have told them not to they ask the kids themselves. They both seem to be enjoying maths at the moment and when I asked what they wanted to do this morning they both wanted to do their maths workbooks. I should be really pleased that they want to do their maths workbooks but I am not sure if they are doing it just for me.

I need to start reading more unschooling blogs I think to give me the confidence to get back into unschooling.

any one got any advice?