Tuesday, February 7, 2017

Decisions and Learning...

It's been a long time since I've posted anything - again...  Our days are blending into each other like some funny shade of grey at the moment.  The only thing dividing them are some black hours that are apparently called "night".  Most of the world sleeps through these black hours... not my household.  Toby and Aerynn are both still tag teaming the evening shift with me falling deeper and deeper into exhaustion.  But we trudge on.

The lack of updates may make it appear that nothing is happening, things are getting better, in fact, it is more like too much is happening, we are still hitting our heads against brick walls and I struggle to find the time in the day to update our "same old same old" situation.

But there is one big difference this year. With the support and guidance of our psychologist and medical team I have made the decision to homeschool the younger three children, including Aerynn.  The reality is that assimilating to a mainstream school doesn't;t make much sense.  In Aerynn's case we need to make the most of every single minute and second she has with vision and importantly within her life.  Making memories is much more important that learning to sit at a desk and follow classroom rules and etiquette.  Instead our little girl is going to run and play and swing and laugh and sing and feel the breezes and sunshine on her face.  She is going to learn in natures classroom and learn life skills rather than institutionalised learning.  Don't get me wrong, there is a place for mainstream education, I'm doing my bachelor of education for that reason, but for these three individuals, life has another path for them.  Mainstream education may come at a later stage for the boys... but for Miss A, life is for living with as much gusto as she can.  




So, our method of education is called "unschooling" and in particular is it going to be child lead.  Children instinctively question their world and learn naturally.  That is what unschooling is all about. We will have set units of work, which the children have already helped me plan, and within those units they will learn to read, write, draw, question, investigate, create conclusions and interact with their world and communities.  I won't mention too much about it here in this blog, as this is dedicated to Aerynns Journey, but I have started a new blog for our new lifestyle and importantly as a record for the children's homeschooling adventures.  It is called Hope, Dreams and Butterflies and can be found here: Hope, Dreams and Butterflies  We also have a Facebook page here:  HDB Facebook Page Hopefully I can keep up blogging and recording all that is needed, there may even be some video entries from the children!!!  I have lots of plans and dreams for this little adventure...  Praying that life will allow these dreams to become reality :)