What We Unschoolers Do All Day

"So, how do you Unschool?" a new friend, impressed with the boys vocabulary, at the park asked me yesterday.

"We just go about our lives, having fun," I said.

But perhaps I could be more specific (or at least more verbose).

Today, I got up before the kids and walked the dog, fed the rabbits and picked barely ripening tomatoes. When I got inside, I found Trinidad (age 8) laying on the couch playing with his Tamagotchi. We chatted in bits about our night's sleep, the progress his pet was making, our plans for that day and the next. He had questions about how many points he'd just been given by the "king." I sat down and gave him a quick explanation (10 min.) and practice identifying 1's, 10's, 100's, and 1,000's. We stopped when he wanted to.

Sam (age 5) woke up, and Trinidad decided he would start breakfast. He got out a frying pan and some eggs. I offered advice (which he chose to take) while he cracked in the eggs and turned them. I took over on the few unbroken yolkers so that they might be preserved while he and Sam set the table and poured water for all. I put toast and apple slices on, too.

After breakfast, the boys played with Legos, building complicated starships while I cleaned up and talked on the phone with friends.

As I jumped into the finances (balancing, bill paying, etc.), Trinidad offered to slice mushrooms to go on the dehydrator, so that tomorrow we could spend the day just having fun together (no home economics). He arranged the dehydrator, cutting board and racks on the table top so that all would fit and set to work. Sam played the Tamagotchi for awhile and then shifted to drawing with a book that "shows you how" to draw dinosaurs. Unimpressed with his results, he chose a book that both Trinidad and I wanted to hear (a chapter book with pictures), and read aloud.

Before Sam began to read aloud, Trin and I chatted occasionally. He wanted to know what the bank said we had in our account and how that money would be spent over the course of the next 2 weeks. He tallied the money mentally that he is saving to buy a sailboat from a friend and compared it to his goal. He proposed a tracking system and asked for feedback. I explained the use of a ledger and goal chart for the saving. He is still considering.

A neighbor child (age 4) came over to play, and all of the children dressed up, took swords, shrieked, ran and tumbled while I made a quick lunch.

After lunch, the neighbor went home and both boys read or looked at picture books while I cleaned up some more. Then we cleaned house together so we could make our goal of a cleaningless day tomorrow. At one point, Sam played piano and Trinidad a drum to keep me engaged with the rhythm of my work.

More children arrived to play. They explored water, tree climbing, and shared food. They created a cross country race course in the backyard, played the piano for each other and joined in games both competitive and non-competitive.

When everyone departed, I reviewed the morning math lesson for 5 minutes, and took the numbers into the 100,000's. Just before a million (heh, heh), he was done.

My children have now gone to the neighbors to play, and I will prepare for my music lesson. This evening, while I am away, they will spend the evening talking and playing with their Maddy (Seda), perhaps setting up a system to melt and contain the beeswax taken as a by-product from our hive when we extracted honey. Then, just before bed, we will continue our aloud reading of Julia Butterfly Hill's account of her real-life 3 year long treesit, entitled The Legacy of Luna. We're about halfway through.

So there it is. Each and every one of us owning their activity and boredom. The whole of us thriving (today at least) as a team.