A Day in the Life of an Unschooler

People often wonder what a day is like for unschoolers. A lot of them think we play video games and watch TV all day. While my daughter’s no stranger to the kindle or the television, those make up a small portion of our day, if they are included at all. I’ll probably add to this series every now and then to give you an idea of what our days are like. Here’s what we did today.

8 AM. Wood Sprite got up late! She went to the Cardinals game with Indy last night when we got free tickets. We had muffins for breakfast and watched Where in the World is Carmen San Diego? together, since it taped yesterday and we didn’t watch it then. She feeds the cats.

9 AM Wood Sprite asks for an Artzooka Day. You can read about what we made and see a photo at the link.

11:00 We rearrange the living room. WS tells me she is invincible as she carries the cat tower to the wall. She organizes her desk the way she wants it and kicks my stuff to the curb!

12:00 Wood Sprite dances to Billy Idol’s “Dancing with Myself” over and over again in my office while I do laundry. The song is great for the first two times… Then we put laundry away in her room and play in there for a little while.

1:00 We make pita pizzas for lunch and eat together.

1:30 Wood Sprite decides to make dessert. She picks mint from the garden and mixes it with strawberries and we eat it; then she wants to use the leaves again for tea. We crush them with the mortar and pestle and pour tea on mine, lemonade on hers. She decides to go back outside to make more concoctions (some edible, some not) while I stay in and write.

3:15 Indy comes home from work and they mess around with birdhouses in the basement together. We started them with 4H on Friday but he had to finish some of the holes. They hang hers on the porch and put our friends' houses in the kitchen; they'll be here to pick them up during a play date on Tuesday.

4:30 We eat an early dinner of leftovers and she goes back out to play while I write…as I still write!

I can predict that once she comes in she’ll probably want a snack, do another art project, play with her microscope (we have six now—six! Everyone in the world thinks we need microscopes!) and read a few books with me before her bath. Sometimes she asks for me to read to her while she relaxes in the tub—I can totally see this kid reading IN the tub like her mom someday.

And that was our Sunday! How was yours? She keeps coming to get me to taste her mud stew, so I guess I’d better get to it…