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Originally posted on Real Life

After college, I taught K-8 General Music, Chorus and Drama
for 4 years. When I had my first daughter, I organized homeschool music classes
for a while, and began teaching private piano and voice lessons from home.

Around the beginning of the year, parents
usually start asking me about getting music lessons for their kids. I usually
don’t take on more students in the middle of the year. Sometimes, they’ll get
someone else, and sometimes they say they’ll wait till August, and I put them
on the waiting list.

There are
several reasons your children might not be able to start lessons right away:

• Lesson times are unavailable
• You have monetary challenges
• The child is not quite old enough
• Your schedule is too packed

There are also several ways to start teaching basic music skills,
even as a non-musician parent. I’ll outline
a few things you can do at home to make sure your child is ready for lessons,
gains music skills as a homeschooler, or just wants to have some creative fun.
These suggestions are more for younger children (6 and under), but if your kids
enjoy them, then go ahead with them.

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Originally published on The New Unschooler

I started writing a response to Alistair, who was kind enough to come back and elaborate on his earlier comment about unschooling being “woefully irresponsible” in his eyes, but then I realized I was running out of space and (on a more exciting note) I sounded like I knew what I was talking about, so I decided I’d better make it a regular post. (I really have got to take advantage of those moments when I sound like I know what I’m talking about!) I’ve struggled with explaining unschooling to people this past year. Usually I direct them to the web sites or blogs of more experienced, and more eloquent, people. I just can’t seem to put into words why I think it’s a great way to live–and a smart way to “teach.” But Alistair seems to have helped me find my voice.

So here goes:

Thanks, Alistair, for coming back and explaining your views a bit more. I can see how you would think that. Honestly, I was very wary when we began this journey (it wasn’t even a year ago) and I’m only just starting to see how full Jerry’s education might be (very full indeed!), without looking like Education at all.

You wrote that by allowing Jerry to focus on the interests he already has (video games, animation, computers, etc.) he wouldn’t be exposed to other subjects and ideas. What’s amazing is how all of the things he’s interested in somehow link to ideas, concepts and subjects that are totally unrelated.

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