So what about summer vacation are we as unschooling parents missing out on? Or I should say, what are our children missing out on? I can think back to when I was young and get impressions of sand castles....water sprinklers....ice cream cones dripping as I eat it....riding my bike...skating....swimming.... etc. I also remember mosquitoes, heat and, finally, boredom. Boredom? Yeah, because I had no one to tell me what to do, to direct my day and I was unused to being on my own. By the time fall rolled around I had forgotten the mind numbing boredom of school and was ready to return. About Thanksgiving, I had romanticized my summer vacation and was ready to be out of school again.
As unschoolers we don't really have anything to take a break from. Life? Learning? The projects we have been working on still acquire our attention. I couldn't imagine my daughter giving up her art, nor my son his science projects. If summer vacation doesn't mean giving up our projects and it certainly doesn't mean taking a break from learning, how can we make it special for our children?
For our family, the change of seasons is always special. Each season means different activities and different traditions. For the summer, that does indeed mean sand castles and water sprinklers, dripping ice cream cones, bike riding and swimming. What it doesn't mean is that we have to cram everything in before school starts again. When everyone else heads back to the four walls of a classroom, we will be heading to the now empty beach to continue with our learning/life.
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