A funny thing happens when you embark on the path of un-schooling.
You start to see connections you didn’t anticipate. By following the diverse interests of our young Kindergartner, we frequently find- voila!- something we are doing today is connected to something else we did the other day. And no one planned it. It is just the natural route of the unstructured pursuit of knowledge. You follow your path and you find it crosses over where you have trod before.
For example- Bluey was recently learning how to skateboard with some help from TRDad. He’s just getting started, so we’re working a lot on keeping balanced on the board and putting our feet down in the right spots. Later, Bluey headed for karate class. In order to do a new spiraling kick move, he needed to keep his balance and get his feet in the right spot! Another example- we’d previously discussed with his swim instructors that they were seeing more fluidity in Bluey’s swim strokes after he started karate, where repetitive arm movements are the norm. And yet another example- we read a comic about ninjas at home and Bluey discovers the students in the comic call their teacher “Sensei” and practice their moves in the dojo just like he does in his own Karate class.
The connections keep going. Once you start realizing how everything is related, you start to see it everywhere!
We’re reading a whole book about cats, and learning how cats are able to balance and jump as they do. We hadn’t planned the cat studies to tie in with karate and skateboarding, but they do. As we follow one trail of interest, it inevitably crosses or runs parallel to a different trail. These crossroads and parallel strands serve to reinforce the learning and help explain why we’re so happy with our homeschool/un-schooling life!