unschool

The other day Lucy and I were doing a spot of gardening and spied a little snail crawling around in the garden.

I called Lucy over and showed her the snail. We looked at it's curly shell, It's slimy trail and its wiggly antennae. We watched it crawl along and learnt not to touch the snail otherwise it would shrink back into it's shell and be very scared.

It made me think about the things Lucy and I do together. Most of the time we just coast along but I like the idea about being intentional with the things we do. She is like a little sponge at the moment. She picks up actions to songs, instructions and I'm guessing information about snails.

I don't think a regimented scheduled program is what we need but I'd like to think more about teaching her the ways of the world with a little music and craft thrown in for good measure.

Do you unschool your toddler? Is it something you thought about or did it just come naturally? What did you do? How did it work? Have you ever eaten snails?