This is mostly for us but thought others may be interested. As Scout turned 2 last week we think about the progress she has made as an unschooler. We are VERY happy with our decision to unschool and feel fortunate we have been able to do it from birth. The following list is in no particular order, we are just putting it down to look back on next year and the years to come.
- She can count to 8.
- She speaks in sentences using nouns, verbs and prepositions.
- She walks up and down stairs by herself.
- She can clap, walk on a balance beam, climb a ladder, hang from a bar, hop on two feet and balance on one.
- She can eat with a spoon and fork and can drink from a cup with no lid.
- She understands and uses social graces (please, thank you, hello, good bye, sorry, excuse me, bless you, I love you).
- She has been potty trained since 19 months old.
- She skis, kayaks, canoes, rides horses, hikes, swims with just a bubble, knows 10 yoga poses, climbs. She has gone horse camping.
- She can scribble with crayons, use stamps, apply stickers and paint with fingers and brushes.
- She engages in creative, imaginative play. Talking on her toy phone, training her toy horses and dogs, caring for baby dolls, setting up cookie parties with a group of dolls and horses, cook in her sandbox, garden, shovel snow, pick up her toys.
- She loves to help cook, feed the animals, sweep the floor, do the laundry, clean up spills, throw trash away, put her laundry in the basket and wants to help with anything we are doing.
- She does not watch TV ( her choice), she likes to be read to, she loves music and can sing trying to match pitch and tone and say the words.
- She loves to be outdoors. She bird watches, walks the trails behind the house, runs, jumps and climbs, explores, observes and listens to everything.
- She has traveled to Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, New York, Washington DC, Virginia, Connecticut and Rhode Island.
- She leads the horses and dogs and copies the commands we use (walk, whoa, good boy).
- She uses many toy musical instruments.
- She loves to look at the pictures we take when they are downloaded into the computer.
- She can tell stories about something she did yesterday or last week.
- She can brush and floss her teeth, apply body lotion and wash her hands and face.
- She can put on her boots and hat by herself and take them off as well as take off her coat, mittens, socks and pants. She can pull up and down a zipper. She can pull up and down her pants with help.
- She can recite the names of everyone she knows and group them together by family, place or activity. She know all the names of our animals (that is a BIG group)!
- She asks to go to bed at night or for a nap when she is tired.
- She eats healthy wholesome foods and has little interest in junk (except ice cream and chocolate of course). She would prefer a carrot or grape to a cookie.
- She sleeps on a twin mattress on the floor of her room.
- She weighs 26 pounds, is 33 inches tall and wears a size 2T.
Scout just turned 3, again in no particular order
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She weighs 30 pounds and is 35" tall. She wears a size 3T and 8 1/5 shoe.
- She counts to 20 in English and 12 in Spanish.
- She speaks with amazing diction and complete sentences with a huge vocabulary.
- She tells stories about things that have happened and imaginary stories she makes up in her head.
- She acts out stories and adventures with her dolls and toy animals, usually mimicking events that have happened recently in her life.
- She rides Tonto, her pony, without assistance on the trails behind the house.
- She rides with me on my horse on trail rides up to an hour long.
- She is very concerned with the welfare of our animals all the time.
- She is very aware of the needs of her body. She uses yoga everyday to stretch her body as needed. Her food choices demonstrate to us that she is keenly aware of her bodies needs.
