Unschooling in Austria?

How it all began

2008-12-15T12:04:00.004+01:00

Well, how did we slip into radical unschooling?

I guess it started with a neighbour who gave me a copy of Jean Liedloff's book when I was pregnant with Bee. After she was born in September, I started goig to university in October, leaving her with family members and my milk in a bottle. Apart from that, she was nursed till the age of two, we co-slept and carried her in slings and the like.

Then, two years later, Joy was born, and a few months later I decided to take them to a nanny's place while I was studying. Bee refused to sleep there, but apart from that she seemed to be fine. Joy got some instant milk there, since pumping didn't work well, and as before, I carried (mostly Joy from then on), we co-slept, and Joy weaned herself at 15 months of age.

During that time, we moved from my family's house to our own apartment, and so I decided to send them to a daycare that was nearer to us. After visiting many, we finally chose a bilingual daycare for kids from 1 1/2 to 6 years old, where they were able to go to the other groups, the atmosphere was peaceful, and parents were welcome to join in. While Joy, 3 at the time, soon was storming in in the mornings, Bee, 5 back then, wanted to cuddle as much as possible in the mornings, but was happy and sometimes not ready to leave when I came to pick them up.

Finally, I started thinking about school, and whether to send Bee there earlier, at almost six. So, we visited many different schools, and finally I picked one near the daycare, which offered more English than regular schools, and was not crowded. Bee liked the headmastress, and was wandering around there with other kids during a "day of getting to know the school for future students". But somehow, I couldn't quite imagine leaving her there alone at the very first day, with total strangers.

Then, our partner/daddy decided to go abroad for working reasons, and since we planned to join him there in the long run, I started thinking of homeschooling to spare Bee a changing of schools.

And so, I deregistered Bee from school, aplied for homeschooling, and off we went in September 2006. Since I decided not to go back to uni that semester, the girls also gradually refused to go to daycare, and so in December we finally were together at home full-time.

That first year, we didn't take the exam, and canceled the early entrance into formal education. So, at almost 7, like she should have, Bee entered 1st grade, and the stress of exam preparation fully hit us. Bee wasn't into writing and reading at all, while the counting and calculating took care of itself. During that time, we also moved bck in with my family for several reasons. After thinking back and forth, and with my ideal of radical unschooling in mind, we decided to drop the curriculum, and finally join daddy instead, in a country where homeschooling is less regulated. So far, we have done the first one, and are still preparing to do the later.

All in all, I have spent the last 2 1/2 years reading about homeschholing, unschooling, peaceful parenting, natural learning, life learning, life-long learning, and I'm not done yet. We'll see where else it'll take us...

Home-ed neighbours?!

2008-11-30T05:23:00.002+01:00

I almost can't believe it, but, last week a new mother joined our yahoo group, and it turned out that she's from my immidiate neighbourhood!

Well, it might be to soon to celebrate, she's only thinking of homeschooling her (many) children so far, but, still, it's sooo great!

Now, who was it, talking about moving away? Me, really...?

IFED - International Freedom in Education Day

2008-09-15T23:39:00.000+02:00

So, we celebrated it around here.
We did plan something like a park day, on the campus of the University of Vienna, but the wheater definitely didn't support that, so we went to a museum instead.

Later in the evening, there was a talk on "Freedom in Education" - what else? There was an intro by the organiser and then stories by two current homeschooling mothers, one grown unschooler, and the fouder of a private outdoors pre-school.

It was really interesting and encouraging, and the children enjoyed each others company in the front room.

Bee turned eight today!

2008-09-13T23:45:00.001+02:00

We planned a party for today, but decided to postpone it due to health and absence reasons. So, there was the three of us and grandpa, who prepared breakfast for them - salty fish sandwiches:

Home-made chocolate cake:

Later, we went out to do some shopping, and caught a ride on an ancient tram, which had no doors and we got to stand there in the entrance while driving - weird...

Then we decided to go to a middle ages festival nearby, and got to see all kinds of folk and stuff and even a sword fight. Joy bought a wooden sword, while Bee couldn't decide to spend her money.

These slimy things were bought in rememberance of our holiday with friends, who are celebrating their birthdays tomorrow, and will get some slime, too, of course.

2nd Summer Gathering

2008-06-30T23:09:00.000+02:00

We had our second annual gathering in Upper Austria, near the german border, by the river Danube.

And, like last year, we had a really good time, with old friends and new faces.

Of course, we had a fire, actually several, since the children wanted some of their own.

Then there was some splashing in and around the water and the mud.

Wooden sticks to play with and all sorts of wood to keep the fire burning were gathered.

All kinds of snacks, contributed by all the participants, were eaten, some after being prepared in the fire.

One family decided to sleep right on the beach, in their sleeping-bags.

We had a dog amongst us, which wanted to play with everyone, with triggered some fear in some people, but somehow we were able to work it out so that everybody felt safe.

Some swans and boats and ships swam by, and we had a waving session even.

Somebody brought some home-made clay to play with in the grass.

Since it was well after the exams some children had taken, we exchaned info on how it went, and evrybody we knew of had passed them.

Well, so we had a geat time, and are very keen to come there next year!

International participants are very welcome!

Cooking

2008-04-16T03:48:00.006+02:00

The girls have been into cooking over the last weeks, and the things they prepared were not only edible, but yummy!

One day, I was busy upstairs, then went to the kitchen, where I found my daughters in the midst of dough-making! They had a bowl each, mixing, and through asking them and visible evidence on the table, I got to know the ingredients: flour, eggs, chocolate, butter, cocoa, sugar - I might have forgotten something, it has been a long time.

Anyway, they got baking forms, two for each of them, filled them with dough, while I turned on the oven and started putting away things and cleaning. We didn't have time to try the cakes right away, since we were on the run to take care of our cousin/niece, but got our chance in the evening upon returning. Those cakes were really good, no less than the ones I produce using recipes and measuring.

The next morning, there was not that much left anymore, because grandpa especially liked his granddaughters' bakings very much!

Then, there was Bee and salad - cucumber and kohlrabi. She used the grater, and probably added some salt, later happily wandering around with bowl and fork, giving everybody at home a chance to taste it. She herself liked it tremendously.

On another accassion, they cooked hot chocolate for grandma, using the stove and her beloved soy milk, of course.

Ultimatelly, one day around noon, I started frying courgettes/zucchinis, and, as it happens to me from time to time (cooking is just not one of my passions), I frogot about them. Guess what happened? The girls took over, and I got a great vegetable dish. They even added onions for the flsvour, only to remove them later on because they themselves don't like to eat them, and thought the same must be true for me.

Now, my daughters definitely do like cooking, as long as they can do it on their terms.
(And I get to learn some new vocabs writing about it, didn't do much vegetable/kitchen talking in English so far...)

P.S. While selecting matching pictures, I also stumbled upon this creation, a present for me from both of them. It's bought cookies, glued together with sugar and water, and decorated using many different things - candles, nuts, sugar colo(u)ring.

The Teenage Liberation Book in German!

2008-03-17T07:09:00.004+01:00

It actually came out in February or even January this year, and since I preordered it, it arrived as soon as it was available.

To be honest, I've still not read everything, and I was quite astonished to see how thick it was.

Anyway, just to let you know that the word is spreading, and though for me personally English woud have been just fine, the German copy I have is of more use around here, because by far not everybody is willing or able to read in English.

Seeking out information

2008-03-15T04:23:00.003+01:00

In Austria, every child is entitled to get school books each school year, contributing 10% of the price. And there is a limit as to which amount can be spent on one pupil. Homeschoolers are supposed to get their books, if desired at all, through a school.

A mother just asked her districts school person whether one can choose the books and materials to order, and the answer was "no", gotta take what the particular school chooses. She insisted she has a right to decide by herself, so the peron asked the next in the school hierarchy, and guess what, homeschoolers can choose!

Would she have given up after the frist "no", probably none of us would have ever inverstigated further. The mostly exercise books themselves are not of much use, for us anyway, if not as a guide to what the exam might look like. So, ordering (probably) more usefull stuff is nice!

I think that goes along the lines of hospitalising a child for school anxiety before ever mentioning homeschooling as a possible solution... Sigh...

Exam preparation and relaxed gathering

2008-03-05T23:28:00.001+01:00

Today, five families went to the school that we've chosen to take the exams at. You can basicly choose any school all over Austria, no matter where you live, that is certified to give out report cards to "external" folk. Now, that particular school is the only one I know of that mentions homeschooling on its website! And, really, they were really nice and forthcoming and informed. Let's see now the exams turn out. At least, the kids now know each other, and parents can stay in the room, as well.

When we had enough of school, we left to go to a nearby playground, despite our reservations due to the cold. And it was really good, the kids running around and getting to know each other (better), the parents talking or joining in the game.

Then, we went to a family's place, which is also a daycare, and had a great time there. Exchanging books on peaceful parenting and homeschooling, tapes, learning materials, discussing and making plans, hearing each others journeys into home- and unschooling, playing games, snacking away, admiring the pets, reading, tatooing, and what not.

Really, really, a good experience for us outcasts!

And later, one family, friends from further away, came with us to our home for a sleep-over. Especially the girls enjoyed it soo much.

Homeschool-Community-Building

2008-02-29T18:33:00.005+01:00

So, there are about 8 million people living in Austria, roughly 16% of them are under the age of 16, and about 1.ooo of them are homeschooled children. Which probably equals something like 300 homeschooling families, assuming that such families tend to have more kids than the average population (1.36).

(Numbers taken from this site, data from the year 2005.)

Now, where are they? And how many of them do want to (radically) unschool?

It's been 1 1/2 years ago that I created a yahoo-group to gather austrian homeschooling families, and so far, we are 38 members, with quite a few families from Germany, either simply interested, or preparing to flee their country.

Actually, most members do follow their child's lead in learning, or at least do so as much as it is possible given the exam situation, and think of ways to change it or to find some way around it. But, still, many have reservations in one area or another, like food, reading after the age of ten,...

And still, I'm very happy to have those folks to talk to, to meet them, to exchange ideas with.
Fortunatelly, we are becoming more and more people and more and more confident in our cause, spreading the word on several websites and through flyers, even contemplating to write a book.

Our sleeping

2008-02-27T10:26:00.008+01:00

When we moved back in with family almost a year ago, we decided to take only one room for ourselves, since the girls didn't want to sleep on their own anyway, and I didn't feel like taking care of too much space.

So, right now, we have two single beds, one above the other. Today the three of us slept together in one of those. Other times it's either me with one of them, or them sharing one bed, and me sleeping on my own. Sometimes, they sleep in the grandparents' bed, sometimes they sleep on the sofa in uncle junior's room.

Besides, tonight, dd5 was wearing two dresses while sleeping. She did mention feeling hot when falling asleep...

Update

2008-02-27T09:56:00.003+01:00

So, I didn't write on this blog for quite a while.
Just now I gave it a new look.
In the days coming I might add backdated posts to fill in the gap.
Watch out for news, new and old!

Meeting Homeschoolers

2007-11-10T20:25:00.002+01:00

(Backdated post, written in Febrauary 2008.)

Today, we met again, about 8 families, 2 newcomers, 1 coming all the way from Germany.

As before, it was a good mix of everything - fun for kids and adults, discussing personal and (home) schooling topics, relaxed and engaged, exchanging all kinds of info and even agreeing to disagree in some points.

The location was a good one, too, the private playgroup two preschoolers from our group attend (when they feel like meeting their friends). Big enough to meet all our playing and talking needs, but small enough not to get out of sight of each other.

International Freedom in Education Day 2007

2007-09-15T19:41:00.004+02:00

(Backdated post, written in February 2008.)

Through a german member of our group we got to know of the IFED, and decided to participate. The following events all took place in Vienna, Austria's capital, where I live.

On Friday, September 7th, there was a speech and discussion on the topic of - Freedom in Education. It was organised by a local institute, and had the following speakears:

founder of above institute
austrian homeschooling mother
german unschooling mother
headmistress of a waldorf/steiner school

Some of us brought the kids along as well (which was announced to be alright in advance), and they were having a great time drawing, exchanging stickers, listening, eating, chatting.

On Saturday, September 8th, some homeschooling families met in the city, on the playground in the park by the city hall. That day not too many other people came along, but we managed to share some flyers and gave some information to interested folks.

We ourselves had a good time, talking and sharing books, the children were drawing with finger paint and chalk, playing with sand and water, swinging and climbing. Until the rain made us pack up and leave. Some families spent the rest of the day together at various places.

On Friday, September 14th, a Montessori-school-founding initiative devoted its 2nd "Montessori in the Park" to the IFED. I personally wasn't there that time, but the one before, and there was a good atmosphere, with many peaceful parenting families around.

Teamwork

2006-12-31T07:08:00.001+01:00

My daughters did it this week. I was doing something else, so I wasn't innvolved in any way. Later on, I found it on the floor.

At first I thought that dd6 did it, because there's all the datails like eye, nostrils, tail, ear,... So I asked her about it, and found out that it actually was dd4's idea, and dd6 helped her doing it.

It was a big piece of drawing paper, they drew and painted it together, and dd4 did the cutting out.

My daughter and her dogs

2006-12-31T06:47:00.001+01:00

This Friday, dd6 finally fulfilled her dream - she now has two dogs! They're the ones with the shaky head, which people keep in their cars. She spotted them in a store, wanted to stroke them, and found out about the shaking being part of the fun. Well, she then started asking me whether her pocket money would be enough to buy one, and two,...? Since they were 2,99 Euro a piece, she was able to buy two, using this weeks money (5 Euro) and some left-overs from previous weeks.

She took her time choosing the right ones, payed by herself, and then put them into the stroller, where dd4 was sleeping. At home, we just had a little snack, and then went straight to bed. The dogs got a cozy and warm place on the sofa in my room, since the three of us are sleeping in my bed.

The next day, as well as today, first thing she did was taking the dogs, playing with them, holding them, kissing them. She also watched them closely, discovering that one was calmer (not shaking that much). Her sister was allowed to hold them, but she's not cautious enough to take care of them for a longer time. I also got one, it was sitting on my lap. Later I left it on the table, so dd6 took it back immidiatelly. Later that day, dd6 and her dogs took a nap on the sofa in the living room.

The dogs already have names, the brown is Boofy (it was Goofy, Koofy,... and then became Boofy). The white with the black spots is Snoopy, because it ressembles him. Dd6 also found out that they have penises, some kind of little unevenness on their stomaches. She did coerce them a bit, and was cuddling them a lot. One was barking a lot, the one with the shakier head, I guess...

Watching TV

2006-12-30T14:29:00.001+01:00

On Tuesday, we woke up quite early, around 5 AM. The girls turned the TV on very soon, and they were showing a "Lassie" movie. I didn't watch it with them, but I passed by a lot while doing other things.

Well, they commented a lot about what was going on there. Sometimes Bee (6) came over to tell me what just had happened. When there was an unclear situation, they tried to interpret it, like "That boy is dead, or lost consciousness, or is sleeping". Joy (4) cried out loud "Look, there's a little horse or a little pony!" She loves them, you know.

The dog-topic surfaced again. Bee decided that she wants a big and a small one when she's ready to care for them by herself. Maybe one like the one in the movie - I told her it's a Collie.

After the movie, there were cartoons. And guess what - there was silence. Maybe because the pace changed? "Lassie" is an older movie, so the sceneries don't change that fast, I guess. Whereas the cartoons are full of fast action, so they had to really concentrate to keep up with it? Anyway, we did talk about "Lassie" being an older movie, and about Lassie being a real dog, an artist.

Bee continued to watch for a longer time, barely moving, but she did relocate a few times. Joy was doing other things in the same (living) room - eating, drinking, writing, playing with her dolls, chatting,...