Bludging? An Aussie term that means to evade work..As in You're a bludger, you don't work..
Are we bludging by unschooling? 
Yesterday, we went to Mass, discussed Fr.'s homily, went to Ikea with Homeschool Teen group for the $2 breakfast, talked with friends, went with Teen Group on the Sydney Olympic Park Brickworks Ring Walk (and read about and talked about Australian history and trade unions and natural history). Not your typical school day. 
Effortless education, I guess. Bludging to some.
Sometimes natural learning seems to be ‘doing nothing.’
I think the thing is that following a natural learning lifestyle means that the parental role is so different to that of a teacher that even we home educating parents have trouble seeing and recognising it for what it is sometimes. We don’t appreciate how hard we work to help our children learn because we cease to consider it ‘work’ and just think of it as ‘life’. The truth is that natural learning involves much more than ‘doing nothing’ or letting the kids do whatever they want. On the contrary, parents are very involved in their children’s natural learning. ....
So what of the parents’ role? No we are not implementing timetables but we are very far from being divorced from the process of learning which is going on in our homes. Encouraging natural learning is very much a facilitator’s role. We teach our children how to find out what they want to know. We answer their questions as toddlers and, as they grow older, we show them how to use the index of books, the library catalogue system and the internet but none of this is done in lesson form. It is just ‘taught’ naturally as the need arises. We search high and low for books that will appeal to them – both fiction and non-fiction. We take them to clubs, exhibitions, festivals, sports and activities that will interest them. We stock up on resources – books, art materials, writing materials, board games and so on. We provide the time and the freedom for them to develop their imaginations through long imaginative games. We display their models and artwork. In short, we help them in thousands of ways to actively pursue any interest they have.... Susan Wight, Natural Learning is not Doing Nothing
Definitely not bludging. Just education in a very different sense, educating in a very different way to schools. Different ~ yet still work and still education in its own right.
Yesterday, we went to Mass, discussed Fr.'s homily, went to Ikea with Homeschool Teen group for the $2 breakfast, talked with friends, went with Teen Group on the Sydney Olympic Park Brickworks Ring Walk (and read about and talked about Australian history and trade unions and natural history). Not your typical school day. 
Effortless education, I guess. Bludging to some.
Sometimes natural learning seems to be ‘doing nothing.’
I think the thing is that following a natural learning lifestyle means that the parental role is so different to that of a teacher that even we home educating parents have trouble seeing and recognising it for what it is sometimes. We don’t appreciate how hard we work to help our children learn because we cease to consider it ‘work’ and just think of it as ‘life’. The truth is that natural learning involves much more than ‘doing nothing’ or letting the kids do whatever they want. On the contrary, parents are very involved in their children’s natural learning. ....
So what of the parents’ role? No we are not implementing timetables but we are very far from being divorced from the process of learning which is going on in our homes. Encouraging natural learning is very much a facilitator’s role. We teach our children how to find out what they want to know. We answer their questions as toddlers and, as they grow older, we show them how to use the index of books, the library catalogue system and the internet but none of this is done in lesson form. It is just ‘taught’ naturally as the need arises. We search high and low for books that will appeal to them – both fiction and non-fiction. We take them to clubs, exhibitions, festivals, sports and activities that will interest them. We stock up on resources – books, art materials, writing materials, board games and so on. We provide the time and the freedom for them to develop their imaginations through long imaginative games. We display their models and artwork. In short, we help them in thousands of ways to actively pursue any interest they have.... Susan Wight, Natural Learning is not Doing Nothing
Definitely not bludging. Just education in a very different sense, educating in a very different way to schools. Different ~ yet still work and still education in its own right.
2 comments:
Aha! So we're not the only ones who sometimes got to Ikea for only the food? LOL
Yeah, well the whole of Homeschool Teen Group was there - really for brunch, you know...!
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