Niagara Falls, Science, Polygons, and the Magic of "Unschooling"

Yes, I know. So much in the title! But that's exactly what's so magical!

I wanted to share about how our week has gone so far. This has been one of those weeks where our days have varied greatly, we haven't had any real schedule, we have done very little formal "school work," but yet, so much learning still has still happened. And it's only Thursday!

It honestly amazes me, but it's so much fun.

Because my brain is so mushy lately, I'm going to share things in a bulleted list. That's the best way I can organize them right now! (This is a much longer post than I first set out to write, but it is what it is! I hope you'll stay until the end!)

-On Monday, we had a GREAT unexpected little table time session in the afternoon (around 4) and Connor was super excited to work in a new math workbook I had just casually left out on the table and Cooper worked for quite a long time in a dry-erase Dot-to-Dot book. I played some music and we all enjoyed this surprise learning and together time. I was reminded that we are living exactly how I hoped we would- interweaving living and learning so that the two are indistinguishable.

-On Tuesday, it was rainy and cold. We had a slow morning of breakfast, chores, getting dressed, and playing. But then I realized it was time (again) to get the boys' hair cuts.

Dread.

I don't so much dread the act of getting their hair cut, it's just finding a good time to do it- and having to drag the baby and all the baby paraphernalia along with us! So, a little before lunch, I checked the wait list online for our favorite salon and saw there was no wait. Despite the rain and cold I decided to just bite the bullet and get it done.

I checked in through the app on my phone, hurriedly gathered the kids, got shoes on, got the baby stuff together, got us in the car, got to the hair cut place, went to confirm our check in, only to realize I actually did NOT check us in online when I thought I did. And now there was an hour wait. Turns out I didn't actually click the check-in button on my phone.

Seriously.

In a fit of frustration, I told our lady to cancel us and that we would be back another day. And again, gathered all of our stuff, got us in the car, strapped everyone in, threw the baby stuff in the car, and drove home. In the rain.

Come to find out, the computer gave me the wrong wait time so as soon as we got home our lady texted me that we could come back and there was no wait.

Deep breath.

Repeat alllllll the things to get back in the car and head back to the salon. But we got it done. And they look pretty cute if I do say so myself. And we treated ourselves to some La Madeline tomato soup and grilled cheese for lunch. And the rest of the day was fabulous. ;)

Lessons learned: Flexibility, patience, teamwork, forgiveness, how to handle frustration ;)

-On Wednesday morning, we all woke up a little off-kilter. We all needed some down time. So when Colton went down for his nap, I put on Curious George for the boys and I went in the bedroom and had a nice phone call with a friend. And I didn't feel an ounce of guilt about it. ;)

Later in the day, we celebrated International Women's Day by reading a random book I grabbed from the library at the last minute (thank you, librarians for the display!) about women daredevils. This immediately caught the boys' attention and we read about a woman named Annie Taylor who at the age of 63, seeking fame and fortune, stuffed herself in a wooden barrel and plummeted down Horseshoe Falls, part of Niagara Falls. She was the first person to do this and survive.

This took down a rabbit trail after we found a YouTube Homeschool Pop video about Niagara Falls. We spent the morning learning about and locating the falls themselves, learning about how they generate electricity, what the word 'hydroelectricity' means, how and why dams are used, and we even made our own little science experiment loosely showing the effect of pressure on the flow of water, which actually turned into a full-blown bath time at 10:30 am. It was a blast! (I even got to show the boys pictures of when Jeff and I visited Niagara Falls and rode on the Maid of the Mist to experience them firsthand. So much fun.)

(Jeff and me pre-kids)

Inspired by this one little section in a book, we went through the entire scientific process in a real and authentic way, genuinely curious about how things would turn out. We asked a question, devised an experiment to test it, made adjustments to our process as we went, recorded our data and stated our conclusion. All in the fun of splashing around in the bathroom. I literally can't describe to you how wonderful that morning was.

-Today (Thursday), we had a visit from Grandpa and the boys spent the morning playing games with him and we went out for a nice lunch at Lupe Tortilla, taking advantage of the first beautiful day all week. We were home in time for Connor to do his "official" school time with Grandpa.

Having this time in the middle of the week that we can spend with family is priceless. Such a HUGE blessing.

But another magical learning moment happened spontaneously after Grandpa left when Connor got out his geoboards to play with. Just being creative and playing, he created all kinds of shapes that he was very proud of and interested in. I just simply seized the moment to introduce the concept of polygons in as gentle way as possible and he ran with it. He had a blast making all kinds of shapes and when he made a 15-sided shape we all learned that it was called a pentadecagon. I have gone my entire teaching career not knowing that was the name for such a shape and the excitement this brought to our little household was palpable!

He then spent the next thirty minutes making shapes of all sizes and we all learned what all kinds of shapes were called- even a 20-sided polygon! (Which is called a icosagon. And yes, we had to watch a video just to be sure we were pronouncing it correctly!)

-In the midst of all this magical geometry-learning, Cooper decided he wanted to do a more challenging (for him) puzzle with me. So for a few minutes I was simultaneously looking up the names of polygons and cheering Cooper on as he fit pieces of his puzzle together. (Colton was napping at this point, but he is normally right alongside us smiling as we learn, soaking it all in.)

I could go on and on and on and on about all the little moments that happen spontaneously throughout our days when learning is just LIVING. Homeschooling allows us to live our lives well, ride the currents of the days and weeks, have time to be both bored and stimulated, and still have faith that the boys are learning exactly what they need to learn.

I'm learning that this is what real "unschooling" looks like--trusting the fact that kids are so innately curious and are learning ALL. THE. TIME. We don't need a brick building with four walls to consider what we are doing "school work." We don't even need to stick to a specific curriculum.

Yes, I personally still feel better if we sit down at the table and do something out of a workbook, and we still do our primary math and reading lessons at the table. But I stick to keeping it short and sweet (no longer than 15 minutes, tops) and honestly, the most REAL and LASTING learning happens when we seize these magical moments that appear out of thin air.

I'm learning to embrace LIFE as the classroom more and more and I'm finding myself pulling back from any real planning, other than choosing books for our read alouds and all those fabulous national days I love to celebrate! ;) (Our math and reading curriculums are both open and go).

It's taken me this long since we started homeschooling to really embrace the HOME part of the whole concept. I've been so fearful to let go of what is familiar and comfortable, what I've been conditioned to believe learning "should" look like, but now I feel almost liberated. It's such an amazing feeling.

I don't have to make home look like school. In fact, when I do, yes, we get things "done," but at the end of it, it mostly just feels like a box to check. And yes, the boys may be interested in whatever we do, but it doesn't come with the same passion, the bright faces, the pure joy of learning something authentically. The difference is truly night and day.

Even if you don't homeschool, I hope you can notice and take advantage of these magical learning moments that can happen any time. If we slow down enough to embrace them, really lean into them, and allow ourselves enough time to do so, it's truly magical.

God gave us this amazing world to marvel at and discover. He created this magnificent universe with these intricate rules and puzzles to unlock and decode. As Charlotte Mason says, "Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life."

We can rediscover the world through their eyes. We don't have to stop learning even though we are adults.

Our kids can lead us in this journey of magical learning.

All we have to do is let them.

Happy Learning!