When I talk to people about how our owlets learn at home, usually it sparks a bunch of questions and discussion. First question is usually "Is that legal?" Answer: Yes. We register through the local advisory council who send someone out to see what we've been up to every two years. Its a bit of a chat about what we've done and what we plan to do and a huge show and tell session... lots of photos to look at!!
Next question is usually "Do you have a teaching background?" Answer: No. Sometimes a parent will state "Oh I could never teach my child. We'd be a loggerheads all day. They just wouldn't want to learn from me". To that I usually say: "Me too". We are merely here to facilitate their learning. Help them access stuff they need to learn. Show them cool things that might inspire them, or just leave them alone and watch them out of the corner of one eye. They say that the average amount of time spent actually teaching in one day at a regular school is 1.5hrs. Of that, one on one time between student and teacher averages at just 8 minutes. Looking back at my schooling, I suppose that could be true, there was a bit of work done on standing in line, learning to sit still, keep quiet, speak when spoken to... I also remember that not much notice was taken as to HOW I learned. I'm a visual learner, remembering things as images and gaining my understanding through pictures. Often I'd take work home and Mum would explain it to me. In pictures. Or in a way I could visualise and understand. My parents were a great unschoolers. Simply removing the idea that they had to teach me (they already paid people loads to do that), and answering questions, providing opportunities for me to learn. Little did they know, most of the things that have stuck, I learned from them.
So our approach is to remove the word TEACH from our vocabulary. Instead we take the opportunity to watch them learn and find their way in the world... and they do.
If you feel like reading more, I rather enjoyed this article when I first happened upon it.
