School started recently and I can't help but think, "Thank god we don't have to worry about time constraints like public schoolers do." Other than my partners work schedule, we really don't have a set schedule to work around. (He works 11's on the weekends). We don't have to worry about keeping up with a routine, getting them to bed at a certain time, and waking up super early & getting them off to school.
Speaking of school, we don't have to figure out the bus situation & change our address through them. At the moment we would either have to drive to home #1 so we don't have to mess up the bus situation or drop her off & pick her up ourselves. I, personally, am not very good with time management so this would be a huge hassle for our family.
We also don't have to worry about how the stress will affect our eldest's school preformance. It would have been her first year in all day school (kindergarten) so that would have been stressful enough for her, bug adding on moving at the beginning of the school year and that could really cause her some problems.
Another point I want to bring up is that because we are Unschoolers rather than mainstream homeschoolers, this move is not interrupting our curriculum or a cause of stress when it comes to learning. It's an adjustment, regardless, but it's that much less stressful for our family. Unschoolers learn through living, and I've actually found that moving has a LOT of learning (& bonding!) opportunities. I'll get into that aspect in another post. We dont have to worry about fitting lessons in all this chaos and even after the move, we feel no rush to "get back to learning". The next few months will be a transition period for us all as we settle into our new place and get used to all the differences. We can take our time finding our new groove.
Also, I don't know if this is just us or if it's true for most unschooling families, but unschooled kids (at least mine) seem to be used to rolling with the punches, so to speak. My kiddos are a bit stressed with all the changes and their parents being more stressed than usual, but my 6 year old daughter is having a blast on the most part. She has excitedly been exploring and sees this as just another learning oppourtunity. Little sis is still a tot, but she's loving following sister around to check out all the cool things about the new place. Yes, our routine is interrupted, but it's always been a looser routine & I feel like it's putting less stress on the kids than it might have if we usually adhered to a stricter routine.
The only cons I've come across are that 1) I don't get a regular break from my kiddos. They're with us 24/7 so there's no "kid free" time really. Especially with AJ (toddler) not knowing what sleep is anymore. That does pose challenges.
The second con is that my kiddos are used to having free reign on the most part with yard play & their routine in the house. Moving to a new place I am not allowing them to play outside without me until I can scope the area and set proper boundaries. This place we've been living in has a fenced back yard & is in town. The new place is out in the country & all open. We also had a rooster come visit us in our yard, and Z is not used to being around farm animals on the reg. Especially not free range ones. (See below)
It's also been hard on me knowing right now I have to give a firm no for just about everything & I'm not able to really work with them to find a compromise very much. I'm also busy so I'm unable to give as much of my time and attention as we are all used to.
All in all, it hasn't been too bad. It's a transition for all of us, and we are feeling the stress, but I feel like our unschooling lifestyle has made this process a whole lot easier. Now if I could just get my toddler to sleep so I could rest properly for all this... Lol
(Yes, that's me looking sleep deprived and crazed. Feel sorry for me. LOL)
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