If you had asked me a few years ago whether I would ever let my kids watch My Little Pony, I would probably have told you that my kids will never watch a show like that - it's not "educational" enough, it's annoying, there's too much magic in it, and the list goes on. However, the further we get along this journey, the more I am learning to see my kids as people with their own interests, desires and needs. So even though I find the show to be mildly annoying, they do not. (And, if I'm being honest, it's not even that bad to watch, as far as cartoons go.) And even though on the surface it doesn't seem like they could learn anything from watching it, they are.
But it's not just about watching the TV show. In fact, if I added up all the time they spend on My Little Pony related activities, I would guess that less than 25% of that time is spent on watching the show, even though they have pretty much unlimited access to TV and Netflix. The rest of the time they choose to interact with what they have watched. They have come up with so many different games, projects, activities, quests, role plays, and more, all related to the theme of My Little Pony.
One day Ella sat at the table and wrote out a list of all the ponies that she wanted to buy with her birthday money, and worked out the spelling on her own. One day Ella and Liam decided to draw each pony on a small piece of paper so they could eventually have a poster of all the ponies. Most days they play with the pony figures, sometimes acting out a specific show they watched, and sometimes creating original plot lines for their toys. Many days they play ponies on the trampoline, each pretending to be their favourite pony. One day we searched on Google for My Little Pony pictures and printed out their own colouring books. One day we found giant My Little Pony activity books at the grocery store and they spent hours colouring and doing the puzzles. One day I introduced them to the My Little Pony website, and they had fun playing the games. One day Ella was wondering what ponies with both wings and a horn are called, so we spent some time researching that (in case you are curious, a pony with just a horn is a unicorn, a pony with just wings is a pegasus, and a pony with both a horn and wings is called an alicorn or a pegacorn or a unicorn-pegasus).One of the coolest things I've witnessed is the day Ella wrote a book called My Little Pony. She used the ponies and their different personalities as inspiration to write and illustrate a totally original story (I did the physical writing for her, so she could focus on making up the story). Her story flowed so well, and the characters made so much sense, that it could have actually been published as a children's book. Without ever being taught about a story mountain, she wrote a story that contained all the important elements. I am convinced that she was able to do this because of all the stories she has read. She didn't need to be taught about what makes a story work, because she absorbs it in her everyday life.
Some people might say that my kids spend too much time and energy focused on My Little Pony, but I have seen the benefits of their obsession. In following this interest, they are learning and doing so much, and they are excited about it. This is just one example of our unschooling in action: we don't split our days or our learning into subjects like math or science or reading, but by simply living our lives, the kids end up learning about all these different areas. However, that being said, another important point I need to add about unschooling is that I don't sit around watching what the kids are doing so that I can mentally check off boxes whenever I see them learn something. I don't have a running tally in my head of all the "subjects" they have covered this week, I don't keep track of whether they are at "grade level" or not, and I don't try and sway their interests so that they "cover" all the things that school kids their age are doing. One of the most important things to understand for unschooling to truly work is that life doesn't need to be split up into subjects. True unschooling happens when you understand that life and learning are the same thing.
So, our life right now is a lot of My Little Pony. But that will change, as it often does. Whatever their interests, though, I will try my best to help them dig as deep as they would like to go. Because, who knows, maybe one of their interests will lead to an amazing career, or a scientific discovery, or a cool invention. Think of someone who has done something great; I bet it started with an obsession.
No comments:
Post a Comment