A Day in the Life of Josh

Here's what a typical day looks like for Josh, my unschooling 8 year old.

Yesterday he woke up around 11am and promptly ate "breakfast". Then he rode his scooter to the park with all of us. When we left the park he headed to his friend's house down the street. He was there for a couple hours maybe, I didn't really keep track.

When he came back home he ate something and watched tv for maybe an hour. After his show he headed to his room and played with legos and built a wooden t-rex puzzle. Then another friend came over to play so he headed back outside. The rest of the afternoon was a blur of playing at this person's house, or that person's house.

Around 7pm he came home for the evening and inhaled dinner. I had made chicken for everyone and saved him a plate. He hung our with everybody and was in and out of his room til 9ish. He checked his email while I put Bug down to bed. When I was done with Bug, Josh was in the garage working on his bicycle, taking the wheels off and on, messing with the chain, etc. Around 10:30 he came inside and washed up. I was ready for bed, but he wanted to watch a little tv. So he did. And he came to bed whenever he was finished.

I'm sharing this very unexciting day because sometimes we get hung up on all the amazing things we hear of other unschoolers doing and start comparing. And sometimes when we start comparing we start feeling like our kids are "behind" or "not as good as". While Josh does amazing things too, those moments come in spurts. He spends most of his time being an 8 year old kid. I truly feel it is having the freedom to just be a kid that allows for him to also dive into the more challenging things when the mood strikes him. They grow up so quickly, let them be kids while they can.