- Jul 9, 2019

Self Directed Learning: Swimming

Self Direted Learning: Swimming Freeschoolin' Blog Article

Our Unschooler is Teaching herself to Swim!

We have been hitting up the beach since the hot weather hit over the past month. There's been lots of swimming going on!

Hope swimming at the beach this past week.

How Hope Started Up until about 3 years ago, Hope was afraid to put her head underwater. She wasn't afraid of the water but would only go as deep as her chest, never dunking down. At that point, her only swimming exposure was lake and wading pool swimming When we visited a community pool, Hope requested a mask out of the blue and within minutes Hope went from being afraid to go under, to diving down to the bottom of shallow areas in the pool. Since then, she's continued to spend a lot of time diving and going under. It's her favorite thing to do. (I was so like her at her age!)

She learned last year that floating rings and things do not provide safety in the water, and that lesson is turning into her holding her breath and diving longer to move through deeper waters this year. She's learning how to move her body to keep more afloat and to gain momentum in the water.

Water Safety Is Vital While at the beach this week we went through an incident where we couldn't find Hope. (She was totally fine.) Thankfully we were with homeschool friends who helped us look and keep our heads straight as I was totally panicked having lost my son less than 2 months ago. Hope had been asked not to go past the buoy line and agreed as the beach dropped off and we weren't in the water with her to guide her. But she saw some rocks along the shoreline, still on the beach and not far, and went with a new friend she made to play there. I had been watching her intently so when she was all of a sudden not there, I noticed right away. Another homeschool Mom friend who was also watching, noticed her absence too, and responded immediately to me not being able to find her. Before the long, the entire beach was alerted and the swimmers pulled from the water. Only in the buoy line. After checking the bathrooms and beginning to check the playground, she was finally located by Jaze, much to my desperate relief. I wanted to collapse, my knees buckled as my mind realized I wasn't losing Hope this day. We talked to Hope and expressed our worry, concerns and made boundaries so we could all feel safe when at the beach together, no matter what. She even went back in the water.

I have professional lifeguarding experience, took synchronized swimming as a youth and am very confident in the water, so I share what I've learned with her as she requests and allows. If Hope ever is interested in swimming lessons we will be happy to sign her up. Our education method through Unschooling/Self Directed Learning/Freeschoolin' is to offer her every opportunity for learning what she wants to learn without coercion or obligation.

This Week

We watched fireworks with some awesome friends, went to our beloved local beach and hit up Barrie Centennial Beach with our homeschool friends, camped out and finally got our first day of volunteering at Big Curve Acres! This will be our 4th season there and we absolutely adore our time spent at this wonderful farm. Our family will be there every Wednesday and Friday 12 -4PM in July and Aug volunteering so if your local or traveling near the Barrie, Ontario, Canada area, we'd love to see you out! Click here to connect with Big Curve Acres!