Unschooling

Last night a meteor cruised through our night sky. A lot of people heard a boom; others saw a bright light; some actually saw the meteor. We missed it all, of course, because we were holed up in our house sleeping (me and S) or watching Batman (F and A).

The internet says it was pretty awesome. (The internet is always accurate, obvi.)

(That picture was taken at night! And I hope the passenger took it, or we have additional problems to huge meteors in our sky.)

As we were doing our calendar work and looking up today’s weather, we ran across all the news of the meteor. It led to us watching videos, then watching news clips, then reading our local weatherman’s blog for all the scientific details. Soon we were reading about meteors in general and adding the meteor crater in Arizona to our itinerary for that trip.

I believe all that is called unschooling, yes? Hmm. I didn’t think we were going to go that way (my lesson plans don’t call for meteors until at least next fall), but isn’t that an advantage of homeschooling? Having the flexibility to follow your child’s interests?

I think for now we’ll stick with our plans (my plans) and I’ll just add meteors to our science unit.

I feel like all the teachers I know are breathing a sigh of relief.

You’re welcome.

M