It's official

I have had my exemption to homeschool approved! Nathan will be turning 6 in a couple of weeks time. It felt scarier for me when he turned 5 since that's when other kids all start school and it was evident at that point that we were taking a different path to most, so I haven't really felt too weird about making our journey official.

My application was written in an openly unschooling fashion and instead of providing a timetable or schedule or routine I just wrote about a "typical week" of natural learning that goes on and made it clear that we don't plan it and it happens any time. OK, so the week I wrote my application seemed to cover all the Learning Areas that they require, so it felt very easy to put together (I used a few of the days prior to this post and then a few days after completed it nicely in a genuine week of learning).

Can't say EVERY week feels like that but it seems of little issue considering the leaps I seem both kids making even when we seemingly don't "do" things often. Danielle went from not writing at all (well aside from scribbles), to suddenly wanting to write and knows more letters than I realised. Then I hear her randomly chanting high numbers (I recall Nathan surprising me the same way after he learnt high numbers from playing on the playstation and having me count out as he scored points). He's recently completely figured out reading the digital clock (from asking me every morning if it's time to get up yet and clock watching till it ticks over - I ain't very unschooly before 6.30am lol). He's figured out how to read prices at the supermarket from playing his Reader Rabbit CD rom.

Yesterday I decided to get out the cuisenaire rods to show him the different number combinations that make up 10 (a moment of guilt that other kids his age are probably learning about that at school - roll eyes at myself) and what do you know...I didn't really need to point it out, he got it right away. Just confirms to myself anyway, that despite not doing those things he'll get it in his own way and I may never know whether or when he figures those things out. Just because he's not showing it in a schooly way, doesn't mean he hasn't figured it out or whether it's even relevant that he has learnt it anyway. It seems silly to me to think that he wouldn't "get it" anyway when he needed to know it...