Allowing Creativity and Imagination to Flow at a Moment’s Notice {Real Life Homeschool Blog Hop April 2015}

I have often been amazed at the creativity of my children. I firmly believe that allowing them to be independently creative increases their ability to reason and work through problems.

And all because we homeschool.

I knew when my oldest was young that we had a comedian in our hands, and through the years I have been blessed to witness his fascinating imagination. He has been writer, producer, director, and actor in numerous plays that have been performed over the years.

My husband and I have been blessed to see a Thanksgiving play, a Christmas play, a play about a king and a knight, and an off-the-wall play about an evil scientist and a criminal. Looking back, I wish that I had taken videos of these plays, but I was usually informed of them mere minutes before they took place.

I do have this one though.

This is one of my favorites with my daughter and youngest son. We picked up the hand puppets earlier in the day, and I am so glad that I did! What fun they had, and me too!

Now, when I say letting the creativity flow, let me explain that a bit more. First off, we “do school” way more than it would seem. But since we “do school” enough in my opinion, I try to allow for extra time for drawing, painting, outside free time, singing, dancing, and all around imagination play.

Through the years I have noticed that the more that my children have to sit and “do school” the less they seem to actually retain. So, for a while now, my husband and I have relaxed the reins a bit and have allowed for more free time. In return for this free time, the children now will do school with a much better attitude and will retrain so much more information.

Call it what you will – Unschooling, Eclectic, Unstructured, Relaxed, Lazy even. But this is what is working for us. We have happy, creative, smart, funny, independent children. And for us, that is what is important.

Since we have relaxed our structure and allowed more imagination and creativity, I have seen my children bloom.

I have playwrights.

I have artists.

I have Thinkers.

I have manuscript writers.

I have painters.

I have sculptors.

I have bakers.

I have comedians, actors, and makeup artists (all rolled into one).

I have inventors.

I have master builders.

I have big dreamers.

I have any or all of these on any given day.

And since this is the way we are heading with our homeschooling, I have children that when “things” just click, they can whiz through grade levels at a blistering pace. Math that was a struggle is now finished for the year. Reading that was non existent is fluid and graceful.

Let them be little is a phrase that I used to think was foolish. But now, I see the beauty in the relaxed state that we live in.

Our children can spend hours upon hours outdoors, building, creating, and using their God given imagination. They can do anything.

This is why we let the creativity and imagination flow at any given moment in our Real Homeschool Life, for us, it is just our way of doing things.

And it works.

Homeschool isn’t always about “doing school” at home. It is so much more.

In His Grace.

Callie

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