I haven’t joined in with Unschool Monday for a while, I’ve dropped in to Owlet every Monday and followed the links to read everyone else’s posts but haven’t contributed myself. I suppose I haven’t had much to say about unschooling, it’s just becoming so much a part of our lives that I don’t compartmentalise it enough to come up with a fresh and original post each week. Other stuff going on has also meant I’ve been a little absent from the blog of late, and I rarely have photos to add to my posts so I don’t bother writing any! Ha, lots has been going on… lots of learning, lots of living, I’ve just stopped documenting it very reliably!
So here I am, the prodigal Unschool Mondayer, here on a Tuesday and wanting to tell you all about the writing that’s been going on here at the shed.
Sprout has been showing some interest in reading and writing for a while now. Every day she’ll spend a little or a lot of time sitting on her bed flicking through the various books she’s chosen at the library. She asks us to read the stories to her all the time, and she has begun recognising some very simple words from the books. Everywhere we go she’s recognising the letters “Z” and “O” which are the first letters of her name and her brother’s name, and one day last week she wrote a “Z” on our garden path with chalk which she proudly exclaimed was a “Z for (her name)”.
Today she was drawing on a pad of paper and after a short time she showed me a Z and an O. She asked me to write the rest of her name and Moe’s name so she could copy it. Amazingly, she came very close to writing the names properly. When she asked me to write “Kimba” so she could write my name she astounded me, and her Dad, with how accurately she copied it. She was chuffed with herself every time she asked if she’d got a letter right and we told her that she had. It was just delightful to see her so pleased with herself.
I have asked my Mum to get her an alphabet chart for Christmas, so she has the letters to refer to in her own time and in her own space.
It’s quite exciting to see these seeds of writing being sown, all in her own time, all under her own steam.
I loooove natural learning!
Unschool Monday is inspired by Owlet.
my little two are doing very similar things with the writing right now. It is very exciting and reassuring, as I’m not actively teaching, but they are actively learning.
Also, i just read your previous post too. I did the GAPS diet for a year and the first two weeks were miserable with die off. After about 6 mos on the diet I was feeling better than ever – full of energy, no gut issues, etc. I’m very happy I did it. hang in there!
It’s great to sit back and watch them learn isn’t it?
Thanks for your words of encouragement regarding the die off. I don’t find it so bad. I’m a seasoned detoxer now, I had to try out lots of cleanses, detoxes and fasts as part of my naturopathy studies and I find it quite easy to just be in the moment with the healing crisis and know it’s going to pass soon enough. My partner hasn’t really detoxed before though, and he’s coped remarkably well!
Yay for learning to write
Which reminds me, I probably need to spend time with Ru. Quite inconveniently she wanted me to help her write a story and I was using that bit of headspace for coding (she asked during my work period).
Give it a bit and it’ll go from writing her name to asking you to spell “Once upon a time…”
That’s awesome Bek. Was her story a good one?!