Hey… Look at that Dog!
arun on Dec 07 2007 at 7:29 am | Filed under: 2 to 4 year old, 4 to 8 year old, education, homeschooling, natural learning, newbies, unschooling | Click here to go HOME | or find out about SUBSCRIBING TO THE PIT |
That is what I yelled out to my family as we drove down a street in Launceston, Tasmania and saw the creature pictured left. It seemed like all my family, even my 19 month old son, rolled their eyes as Anne politely pointed out, “It’s a llama.”
I still argue that the car was moving fast, the sun was in my eyes and on certain angles it did look like a giant, strategically shaven poodle… well maybe not. Anyway we later found out that it was an alpaca, so it seems everyone can make a mistake 
As well as being slightly embarassed it got me thinking about one of the most common reactions when I mention that we are homeschooling.
A common fearful mantra seems to be:
I can’t homeschool… I just don’t know enough!
As can be seen from this post… I actually know very, very little. In fact most of the stuff I do know is factually incorrect and undervalued… that is until “obscure nerdy sci fi trivia” comes back into fashion (it will happen and I will be ready!).
Before you report me to some government agency, let me tell you how I manage to live life knowing very little, be a happy homeschooling parent and sleep soundly at night.
Quite simply it is because we do not “school at home”. Some do and that is an option for homeschoolers – however we prefer the natural learning or unschooling approach.
This means that we are not aiming to “teach”. We do not have to know all the answers… instead we aim to assist the learning that we know our children can and are doing all the time.
In part we can model this and have the opportunity to reignite our own curiousity and passions. To try to live with the same open and curious outlook as our children. What a great thing for our children to see us embark on new projects or fields of interest. To see us fail, make mistakes, ask questions, persist and always learn.
In this context, what we know is nothing compared to our ability to be curious and to learn. As Isaac Asimov put it:
The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not ‘Eureka!’ (I’ve found it!), but ‘That’s funny…’
In terms of what we do with our children, at their relatively early age it largely involves chilling out and helping to expose them to new ideas, experiences, things and people. To help them see what is out there in all of its many forms without attachment to learning outcomes, just valuing diversity and experience.
So when we went to the night telescope viewing of the stars and M looked at it for five minutes then spent the rest of the time rolling down the hill… it meant relaxing into her exploring each experience on her terms and really valuing that.
Then as our children age, mature in themselves and in their interests our role will shift to helping to support and facilitate them pursuing their interests and passions.
A minor example happened earlier this year when we were living in a house with a very large and exotic garden. M kept asking about the flowers and plants to which I would consistently shrug my shoulders.
We might have borrowed a book from the library, we might have googled some images… but in this case we did my favourite option – we found someone knowledgable and (even better) passionate about the topic. It was the gardener who came once a month and who we organised to stay for 30 minutes extra one day.
M spent the time walking around the garden with her asking all of the questions we could not answer.
With such experiences M is learning that she can learn whatever she wants to learn for no other reason than because she wants too. How much richer than what too often happens in school when children must learn to be taught what a teacher wants kids to learn to pass a test to prove that they are learning.
Hmmm… that seemed clearer in my head. Must be getting confused with all the space in there.
Well I’ll leave it to M to sum up. I was chatting about this very topic to Anne and discussing the pressure parents put themselves under when homeschooling. M overheard and said, “that’s silly… all they need to do is have fun!”
We have so much to learn 
nice article. and yes, we do have so much to learn.
Lovely!
Thanks for this post. I am a beginner in all of this and really appreciate the reassurance I get from these posts…
It sounds like M could teach us all a thing or two.
Rolling down a hill in the dark under the stars can be a valuable life skill! It sounds like M is very wise.
That’s okay about the llama! One of the best teaching techniques is feigned ignorance because kids get such a kick out of proving us wrong, teaching us something and sharing what they learned, right? Your kids will probably grow up convinced you were a genius unschooler, trading in formal learning for more casual exchanges!
I wish I’d known you were in Launceston, that’s where I live along with my husband and 6 year old son. We started homeschooling back in August not long after I’d read your article from Kindred Magazine. If you decide to come again I would love to meet you all.
You know, I check here most every day and “Look at that dog!” cracks me up every time.
I wish it could stay near the top (but I definitely don’t wish you would stop writing!).
Ahhh, I’d love it if s-f trivia became somehow significant or even just “in fashion.” As Asimov also said, “Self-education is, I firmly believe, the only kind of education there is.” Sounds like an unschooler to me.
we are so disappointed to not catch up with you jenny… we tried to catch up with some unschoolers in hobart but got wires crossed and were communicating with unschoolers in sydney by mistake! (hard to tel with email sometime)
thanks for the additional asimov quote Frank, I had not come accross that one before… he does sound quite unschooly. He wrote a great guide to science which covers all the mistakes and failures that led to discoveries.
And Ronnie, Im glad you enjoyed this post
but dont worry i can guarantee that i will have many more future opportunities to reflect on my limited brain power 
As a former public school teacher, I get a LOT of “You can homeschool because you were a teacher.” I try to explain why that’s more of a hindrance than a help (or at least was in the beginning), but it doesn’t usually sink in. I usually find that unschooling is as much - if not more - a gift for me as for the kids. It means *I* get to pursue *my* interests along with the kids, and I get to be open to all the great things they expose me to, and I get to find the wholeness that eluded me during all my school years for some time after.
Your child’s choice to roll in the grass reminds me of last night when my now-in-high-school (his choice to try) son stopped studying for his finals and instead composed two new songs on his electric guitar, recorded them on his computer, and burned CDs for his bandmate to use to write lyrics. At one point he said, “I’m feeling so inspired right now.”
well, i just showed my 2 yo the picture and asked her what did she see. after a while she said, “Doggy!”
just to let you know that you are not alone