I’m over at Family Hack today answering some Q&A about our unschooling.
Just one of the many questions:
FH: If you have been homeschooling for several years, what changes have you found yourself making as you discover more about your kids as learners, and rethink educational goals and methods?
TW: All of the changes Justin and I made have been internal as we’ve grown to understand our own personalities better. We’ve been able to pinpoint our strengths and work to accept our weaknesses. We’ve been more flexible and willing to try new things. I’ve discovered our learning styles as well as our ”doing” styles (Justin is a visual-tactile learner who maps everything in his head then sits back and relaxes; I am tactile-verbal, have to discuss everything and write it all out; Zeb is kinesthetic-audible, learns through questions and answers and prefers group participation to working alone). All of our changes have been in finding ways to work with ourselves and each other, rather than against our own natures.
Check it out here!
I'm Tara Wagner, life coach and creator of the Digging Deep process, where I coach women out of survival mode to recreate their lives and families.
Nice job! I love interviews. Something about that question and answer format. Very simplistic and straight forward. You rock dude! Hope all is well and we see you sooner than later!
Hey, do you have a good link for those learning styles? I’d love to know more!
Love that statement about finding ways to work with yourself and each other without going against your nature– SUCH an important part of homeschooling and life.
Off to read the rest of the interview….and on another note, would love you to come check out the first of a new series I’m doing, Rise Up: Stories from the Mother Net– inspiration from women whose journey into motherhood also brought out their hearts for advocacy and change.
Lisa, I picked up info from so many different sources. One was here:
http://www.ldpride.net/learningstyles.MI.htm
Another was this book:
http://bit.ly/cVJyrc
And part of it was just through observation of us and acceptance. Allowing our individual strengths to compliment our family dynamic instead of allowing it to get on our nerves (Justin’s sit-back-and-relax attitude use to drive me batty – I wanted him to handle things the way I did!)
I’m sure there are more resources out there, as well. It definitely something worth looking into. It’s a very interesting thing to study.
That was a wonderful, inspiring interview, Tara! I shared it on my FB page and know many of my friends will enjoy it, too. I am so inspired to keep doing what we’re doing as unschoolers (although daughter Rose chooses school for now…). I hope you guys will come visit us in Minnesota when you’re traveling! I wish I had more of a group of like-minded unschoolers where we live…boo hoo.
Such a talented writer! I only wish my thoughts and ideas could come out so nicely. I love the way you handled the not so nice comment as well. You are inspiring and it makes me excited about the possibilities of unschooling!
I just spent the good part of this week reading your blog from the begining(:
Wow.
You are an amazing woman.
If you find yourself in the Pac. NW please contact me. We’re in eastern WA near the Oregon border.
I too have a 10 yr old unschooled lego crazed son. I think he and Z would be fast friends(:
Cheers!
I love the “internal changes” aspect. That’s something people don’t understand. Great interview!
I really enjoyed the article! Would Zeb be interested in sharing some of his favorite resources on animation how-to?