Unschooling: A Day in Our Life (March 2017)
An Unschool Journal / Unschooling

Unschooling: A Day in Our Life (March 2017)

I have been meaning to do another ‘day in the life’ post for a while, and thought a rainy home day was the perfect chance to capture it!

So here’s a peek into our life as an unschooling family of 6. Enjoy!

“Mum, how long til Daddy gets here?” #its9am #stupidwork #wemissdaddy

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When we woke up this morning Daddy was already at work, and Miss 3 was missing him.

Unschooling: A Day in Our Life (March 2017)

After breakfast, all the girls played Lego together.

Unschooling: A Day in Our Life (March 2017)

Miss 3 then had a ballet lesson. This year she’s in a class where we don’t stay and watch, but we always wait outside in the car in case she needs us (she hasn’t yet and she totally loves it).Unschooling: A Day in Our Life (March 2017)

The big girls bought some ‘Where’s Wally’ books in the car to look at while we waited.

Unschooling: A Day in Our Life (March 2017)

Back at home the girls started a new audio book, Peter Pan! We are really loving audible at the moment. This week they’ve already listened to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (for the second time) and The Twits. I made lunch and they kept listening while they ate.

Unschooling: A Day in Our Life (March 2017)

After lunch they wanted to do some painting. They listened to a classical music playlist while they created.

Unschooling: A Day in Our Life (March 2017)

Miss 8 took inspiration from her Natural World book, deciding to draw/paint insects. She wrote on the side ‘The Busy Life of an insect’.

Unschooling: A Day in Our Life (March 2017)

Miss 6 painted a scene from a new book she got for her birthday called ‘Down, Down, Down‘.

Unschooling: A Day in Our Life (March 2017)

The little ones were the first to tire of painting, and Miss 3 decided to look at a polymer ball Miss 8 had made with her chemistry set, under the microscope.

Unschooling: A Day in Our Life (March 2017)

We then headed outside while Miss 6 was still painting, and Miss 8 offered to help me move some clothes undercover because it had started raining.

Unschooling: A Day in Our Life (March 2017)

Trampoline time! Jumping in the rain is one of their favourite things. I notice also that they naturally go from quiet activities requiring concentration to active outdoor play and back again throughout the day, following their natural rhythms. I wonder how it interferes with learning to restrict this.

Unschooling: A Day in Our Life (March 2017)

Nap time for the little ones.

Unschooling: A Day in Our Life (March 2017)

While the little girls are sleeping, I sit with the other two and they do some more on their paintings.

Unschooling: A Day in Our Life (March 2017)

Soon enough they wake up and Daddy is home early and takes them out for a bit to see all the water around from the rain we’ve been having.

Unschooling: A Day in Our Life (March 2017)

They talk about why it’s not safe to play in the flowing water, see some mushrooms that have popped up in the grass, and observe some ants transporting things.

Unschooling: A Day in Our Life (March 2017)

In the late afternoon they watch Deadly 60 on TV.

Unschooling: A Day in Our Life (March 2017)

The rest of the afternoon is spent building with Lego, and painting. Miss 8 is working on a tree house.

Unschooling: A Day in Our Life (March 2017)

Miss 6’s finished painting with a shark, squid, dolphin, and flying fish. I love it! She told me “I’m quite happy with it”.

And that’s about it! It’s now 7.30pm and I’m breastfeeding Miss 1 to sleep while the other girls have just decided to go and lie in bed with their Dad to go to sleep too.

How was your day?

Comments

Lizelle
March 22, 2017 at 7:53 pm

Too lovely! Like I was looking at my own family’s day – except I only have 2 little girls at the moment. What a blessing right!! I often count myself so lucky to be able to have my girls at home and to have the opportunity to learn from them and to observe how they develop right her in my care – where they should be. Absolutely fascinating!



Cate
March 22, 2017 at 8:27 pm

Very similar, but with colour pens and soccer instead of paintings and ballet/trampoline.
🙂



mandy falgout
March 22, 2017 at 8:29 pm

love this. thanks for sharing. what is your bed set up? looks similar to ours — we have a king and a queen on the floor pushed together in our main bedroom that we share. we have 2 boys — age 4 and 2. thanks for your thoughtful posts.



March 22, 2017 at 10:59 pm

Oh my gosh I’m in love! Looks like a lovely day, and your photos are lovely! 💜



Jessica
March 23, 2017 at 5:10 am

I would love to hear about their decision-making process to go from one activity to the next. At what ages did you start seeing “I want to go [whatever] now”? Does an older child often lead the younger ones? Do you offer suggestions? I have been struggling with how to provide the right amount of structure in our days (nearly 4 and 1.5) and am wondering if I might actually be too hands-off for these ages. Yet, want to be careful not to take on the responsibility for those transitions if I don’t need to. Haven’t found my way quite yet and would love any words of wisdom.



    Heather
    March 23, 2017 at 6:00 am

    Jessica, I’m in a similar boat with my little ones, four kids 6 and under. I always feel like a tad more routine/structure would be better for them (and me) at these ages. I often offer choices of what is available if they seem stuck. I am the one to plan outings (with their input.) Tough though!



      Helen
      April 10, 2017 at 2:39 am

      I try to leave mine 4 and almost 2 to do their own thing, The youngest will entertain himself mostly but eldest is a tricky one. Do your children always self entertain/ decide what they want to do? They seem to have done such a variety of things. By that i mean did you ever/do you ever make suggestions. Get out a selection of things? Promt? Suggest a place to go for the day? etc etc. My eldest however seems constantly bored and need directing and playing with. She would happily watch TV all day, (i once let her do this to see what would happen! )

      I



    April 13, 2017 at 3:10 pm

    They mainly decide themselves now! We have everything set up so they can see and reach anything they need. They know what’s available. When they were younger I would set out paint and things for them because they couldn’t do that themselves so I guess it just progressed from there and now they do the same kind of thing for themselves 🙂



Heather
March 23, 2017 at 5:54 am

What a beautiful day! I also marvel at how they move seamlessly from quiet indoor play to loud outdoor play (or loud indoor play; we are just coming out of winter here in the northwest USA!).

How do you do all this painting without smocks? It sounds like a frivolous question, but I kind of dread painting time because of the setup and cleanup required, and that makes me sad. I want to love it!



Natalie
March 25, 2017 at 5:51 am

First off, I love reading your blog! Thanks for sharing your story 🙂
I am curious, reading about your lovely day, how you find time to recharge yourself. I only have two (boys, 8 & 4), and once they stopped napping I required (& still do) an hour of ‘quiet time’ after lunch, partly for them to play individually, but honestly, mainly for my own sanity! Sometimes I want to do as you do when your little two nap – have one play independently while I devote my attention to the other and then switch, but I find if I do that, then there’s no time left for me to gather myself before their more quiet play is over. So what’s your secret? (I will add that my oldest is highly intense and has some behaviour and emotional issues that make parenting him more taxing than with a more easy-going child).
Thanks for reading!



    April 13, 2017 at 3:15 pm

    Hi Natalie! I just have that time if I need it. I’ll just let them know I need to rest for a bit today and they can do something independently. They understand that 🙂 I also find going out somewhere they can run and play relaxing. I can just sit and watch and they do whatever they like.



Sneha
March 27, 2017 at 7:19 am

Wow. Can I ask if you incorporate Reading, writing math into their daily routines. Just curious.



Maria
April 14, 2017 at 4:02 am

Hi,
I really appreciate that you share with us your day. In my case I descolarice my kids for 10 months ago and they play all the day, I really like it. It is like they are getting back all the time they lost with out playing at school. They don’t want to read, to paint, to write, to investigate … they only play.
There are 2 things that I all ready don’t like. It is:
a) that my oldest son, 12 years old, like to play minecraft all the time (for me, I think it is to much time in the computer, 6 hours).
b) that they go to bed at 11 o’ clock at night. And they wake up at 9am. I would like to be awake at 7 and to go to bed at 9. To enjoy v more the day.
Sometimes I despair.



Paula
November 4, 2017 at 7:47 pm

Hi Sara,
Your blog is wonderful; beautiful pictures, engaging stories and a take on “education” that I am fast falling for. I stumbled across it when I needed it most it seems!
Have been reading many of your posts, just wondered if you have any guidance on the legal aspect of unschooling? I am so keen and about to approach this with my husband (we have a miss 2 and a miss 4), but need some info to respond to the “how are we going to know they are keeping up” and “what about when they want to go to uni/tafe/apprenticeship/another vocation that requires some form of formal education certificate like high school certificate or UAI?” (Is it even called a UAI anymore?)
Do you have any info or advice on where to research on this?
P.s we are in NSW.
Thanks so much, and well done on the blog and being such an awesome, loving and engaged parent 🙂



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