I have a few strewing stories in my blog’s archive, and I’d like to include a couple of them in my unschooling book. Maybe Time for Some Strewing and What to Do When Strewing is Rejected would be appropriate choices.
Have you read these stories? If you haven’t, you could listen to them. I’m sharing and discussing them in this week’s podcast.
In episode 114, I answer the following questions:
- What is strewing?
- When do we need to do it?
- How do we do it?
- And what if our kids reject our strewing?
Show Notes
Blog post: Unplanning Notebooks for Strewing and Unschool Record-Keeping
Podcast episode 82: How to Start a Great Art Conversation
Blog post: What Happened When I Strewed a Painting on the Wall
Podcast music: Twombly by Podington Bear, (CC BY-NC 3.0)
Have you done any strewing recently? Have you had any successes? Do you have a favourite strewing place where you like to leave things? I’d love to hear your strewing stories!
One of the reasons unschooling clicked so well for me is that when I was following a more “school at home” type model I didn’t have any time for my own interests and felt like a really poor role model. As unschoolers I feel like I can better demonstrate a well rounded life to my children. Some of my children’s interests have been sparked by things they have seen me working on!
Venisa,
Oh yes, homeschooling is about kids learning, but unschooling is about everyone learning, adults included. Our example of learning is so important. Our kids have to see us involved with our interests. (This is also good for us!) It sounds like you enjoy sharing your interests with your children!
If anybody ever say that unschooling is the way of lazy people, I’ll send them here to read these posts!
Charlotte,
Your words made me smile. Thank you!
I listened to a podcast by Sandra Dodd and she said many years ago she talked about unschooling and how she would ‘strew’ interesting things about her house. Not so much along the lines ‘I want my kid to learn about degrees and angles, so I’ll buy a protractor and leave it on their beside table.’ Instead she may have found an interesting fruit or shell or book and brought it home to enjoy with her kids. It wasn’t loaded. It wasn’t a provocation. Unschoolers ran with the term and it became a ‘thing’ unschoolers should do. Instead she explains how it’s just part of life and sharing. If things deel dull she mixes it up with something new. I found that interesting.
Chelsee,
I love how you decribe strewing. I often think about Sandra Dodd and shells. I must have listened to the podcast you mentioned or perhaps read something on Sandra’s blog. I think I’d much rather find a shell lying on the table waiting for me to discover than a protractor. Of course, we’re all different. There might be some mathematically-minded children whose eyes would light up with interest if they saw a protractor! (Not my daughter Gemma-Rose!)