West Virginia is middle of the road in the homeschooling laws. They ask that you file a notice of intent, tell them what you will be teaching/learning, and that you turn in an assessment at the end of the year. Unfortunately, that makes things a little difficult from a unschooling perspective. How am I supposed to tell the county what we will be learning? I don't know the answer to that myself. What I DO know is this: Traditional school learning isn't working for Sophie. She can read (and loves it as long as its a Goosebumps book), she can technically write, but she hates it and is convinced she CAN'T. Hand that girl a recording device, though, and she will tell you hours of stories that are pretty darn good. She hates math. Hates it because she doesn't "get it". If she's given a worksheet, it will take her at least an hour, sometimes longer, to finish it. And even then, she's not really sure what she's doing or why. But USING math, in every day situations? She can do that. She baked a cake, from scratch, using only limited measuring tools, no problems, no tears, and it tasted delicious. She read a ghost story online, circa 2007, and announced happily that she was 4 when it happened. And don't get me started on science and social studies. It bores her to the point that she literally has glassy eyes and she just zones out, not listening, not retaining. But she loves history, without having to worry about specific dates and boring details. She is thrilled at hearing about our heritage, and what happened in the area that we live. She just doesn't want to read about it in a textbook. She is excited to do experiments, to design her own, to hypothesize what is going to happen when she does certain things. The DESIRE to learn is there.
And so we set out, the three kids and I, on the adventure of our lives.
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