A Balanced Subject Diet

[Bekah]

Being new to unschooling (yet quickly getting the hang of it) I still have a tendency to compartmentalize. I am still trying to unschool myself. I like schedules and lists and knowing what to expect and following through. I keep a weekly planner where I notate interesting things and activities that I would like to "strew" around my child's environment. I write them down in pencil, and I erase frequently.
I find myself thinking, "haven't done anything that resembles social studies in awhile."
Then I stop and think about all the things we do that could be considered "social studies" - reading John Henry, watching a short film about AA Milne, naming the Presidents on coins, watching the Olympics, watching the DNC, running errands around town.
I then get very hard on myself for thinking like this...why can't I just let life happen without the knee jerk "subject-labeling" and let a moment be for it's own sake.
Oh, of course there are plenty of times that life just happens, life is always just happening...but at the end of the day I find myself brainstorming in my trusty weekly planner.

I've been thinking that this could be just the way I am...no need to change. After all I would never in a million years force Micah to do something just because it is a subject we have not covered in some time. And my planning has given us a lot of interesting activities to do.
I don't believe that I do this out of mistrust that my son will find his own interesting activities...he does very often.
Actually I have begun to consider the subjects as a "food for the brain"...just like you think when grabbing a bite to eat.."well that had protein, vitamin B, C, some calcium etc"...(maybe I am the only one who does that too)
In the same way I do think "well that activity had a smattering of science and writing." I also think "we had fun."
One thing that I do not do is the school paradigm of "it's 10:00 time for history lessons." Obviously that just is not unschooling and a big bore and stress to boot. Same as when I want pancakes...then I want pancakes, even if it is dinner time.

So why do I love the subjects so much? I wish I knew. I think reading and science are Micah's favorite, and I know that literature, history, and a sprinkle of natural science are mine. I even have our books organized according to subject and it is a soothing activity for me to go through and reorganize when things get used and shuffled around.
If I enjoy this so much, why do I have the sinking feeling at times that this is a hindrance to real unschooling. Honestly I feel that I would mourn the loss of a clear subject goal when going about my own research and continued learning. My Husband will tell anyone that when I am interested I delve into a "subject" until I get what I need from it. For awhile it was physics...right now it is tulips.

I believe that Micah has inherited this laser focus from me. He spent three weeks with the book Scrambled States of America until he memorized and learned the states and then he moved on. Geography was what he needed at that time. And we had the book he needed in the house because I saw it and had the thought "what a great approach to learning geography."
I guess the unschooling comes to play because he was free to pick that book up when and where he wanted and to take from it what he needed.
So I say "yes" to subjects...and "no" to forced timeframes and standardized grade expectations on learning those subjects.

(pictures: we had some surprise "science" visitors in our backyard...only I called them beautiful and Micah called them "tickly")

[Katherine]

Not very long ago, like 2 weeks ago I believe it was, there was an interesting discussion about labels in this same vein. My take on labels is that they can be helpful to the way a person relates to someone else as long as the label stays pretty much privately in the labeler's mind. Of course it depends on how that person uses labels as to whether or not it's beneficial. The same with subjects.

In a way, all those are the same. Labels, subjects, categories. They can be personally devised or culturally standardized. The way they're used can be fairly innocuous or harmful, or if you're like me, they can be messy and ill-kept.

I *wish* I was any good at keeping a running record of activities. I *wish* I wasn't so crap on details. I think it helps to organize homeschooling if organizing is your thing to do.

Love those mariposas. I saw a few flying around today and thought they must be starting to migrate to Mexico this time of year. Hope they fare well on their way across the border in the tornado and hurricane season.

Milkweed looks like this:

[Bekah]

We had FIVE of them...three made it...and we were able to witness the emergence of one. It was sad but cool at the same time to see one of the cocoons being eaten by a large hornet. One cocoon just kind of dried out and died. We were able to watch the first flight of two of them and hold them on our fingers for a while. Micah loved it they stayed in the backyard for some time...going into the trees and resting and then flying some more..until they were gone. It was such a blessing....apparently we have milkweed somewhere and I don't even know what it looks like!!!

[lydia]

Love the pics, what a spectacular find!!