One homeschooling philosophy that I believe in but haven't quite embraced is "unschooling". Un-schoolers consider the world to be their classroom. Rather than doing structured school, they school as a way of life. I like the discipline of a regular school time and schedule but agree with un-schoolers that the girls will learn naturally at their own rate regardless. With that in mind, I try to give them the best materials, books, toys, videos, music etc. as possible, along with a lot of free time to use them to learn as they play.
Today while I was madly cleaning, organizing and de-cluttering the house--something I do whenever I feel the need to beat life into submission (a futile effort), Mia and Grace decided to play school. They used a couple of supplemental math workbooks I'd bought them. So while I was working in the dining room, they asked me questions about their problems and essentially did enough pages for a week. Again, I think that a large part of school--and even work--is the discipline required to focus and accomplish tasks. So, The Doyle Homeschool will probably never entirely embrace unschooling but knowing that learning is happening all the time and that our home doesn't have to be a reproduction of a school room makes me a more confident homeschooling mom.*
*We did start saying the Pledge of Allegiance before our school day this year after discovering that it was a daily ritual of our dear Canadian friends. My thinking was--if Canadians can pledge allegiance to the American flag, we should surely take the time to do it too. The girls love to take turns holding the flag--even Ella gets in on that action.
Speaking of Ella, here she is taking a yogurt bath
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