Unschooling & Life

Good rainy morning everyone!

Have ya missed me?

Life is going along great at our house and after last month, it's been a pleasant change. My spouse is still not allowed back to work yet as the doctor says he must be 98% healed before returning due to the nature of his work. I would agree. I wouldn't want to be in need of Emergency Service and find the responders unable to perform their job. My spouse has been returning to jogging and working out some and he is hoping to start training again at the Fire Training Center tonight or tomorrow. He will have to pass the Firefighter's CPAT test before being allowed back on duty.

This training will be interesting as our daughter (17) is currently training at the Fire Training Center and is doing quite well. She is building stronger muscles and becoming very physically fit. She was in good shape before but now she's in really great shape. My spouse started out training her and now they will be back to training side by side. I'm glad they enjoy this time together and enjoy each other's company so much. Life is precious and it's important to treasure every opportunity to share time together.

Now for the Unschooling part of this post.

As you know, I'm now the boss at my place of employment. I no longer get to lounge around and start my day leisurely. No longer am I able to take my son to homeschool park days, etc, as I now have to work the daylight hours. Ultimately, forty hours is forty hours, no matter where it falls in the week. With my previous schedule, I wasn't able to be home for dinner nor the standard 'after-school' activities like soccer or karate. What's a working mom to do?
How can a working mom unschool? Well, first off, it takes a wonderful spouse. While I work eight hours a day, my spouse's schedule has him home two out of three days and lately, home full-time. Then it takes communication. Communication with my spouse and communication with our unschooling children.

Just this morning, I was starting to have those 'homeschooling' doubts about whether or not we were actually making sure learning was happening. Granted, I am very tired today, and with exhaustion comes doubts. So as I was getting ready for work, my spouse and I discussed our youngest's education and what's really being covered. One of the interesting things that I noticed as we talked (and I had another little peek at this when my spouse was recently hospitalized) was that my spouse has completely become an Unschooler!

This was a wonderful as Oprah says, "Aha" moment!

My spouse was actually pointing out all the things that he has been doing with our son and all the great learning that is happening! It's very interesting to see that in many ways I'm like the working father who is away from the home and therefore doesn't see all that goes on while I'm away. What a great thing to learn that my spouse hasn't just put the burden on me to make sure interesting and fun learning is happening!

Another interesting thing I learned as we were talking, is that as I started listing out all that is covered in fourth grade math, and that I didn't think our son had learned how to multiply fractions nor common denominators, my spouse stopped me and said that yes, in fact that our son DID know how to do this! He then went on to tell me all about how and when this was covered! My spouse has been doing a wonderful job at enriching our children's life!