With each change my family has made away from a mainstream lifestyle, we have been pleasantly surprised by how many people that don't always understand our philosophies, have been more than willing to support us.
Early in the summer, Alexander was hired for a five day pet sitting job which turned into a weekly mother's helper job and now into delivering fliers for the family's home business.
What I appreciated about this opportunity for Alexander is the mother put it in his hands. She gave him all the information and allowed him the freedom to share it with me in his own time and way. Of course he was more than excited for this job. Besides confirming everything with the mother, I have been very hands off because I know that one of Alexander's many talents is planning.
As soon as he had the green light on doing the job, he began making plans of how he could do a Google Map of our neighborhood and the three others he will be delivering to. He decided to enlist Sophia's help at 1/3 of the price he will be receiving. He rationalized that he will be doing the planning, organizing and communicating with the mother, so he deserved the most pay. Sophia was more than happy with this arrangement. She has always thought it would be cool to deliver fliers to mailboxes and she wasn't about to miss out on this opportunity.
This morning they started out. Alexander set his watch timer as he headed out the door with a map, highlighter, pen, bag with fliers, cell phone and of course, pride and camaraderie!
To me, this is unschooling in action. Letting a child take on responsibilities and interests of their own and create out of it what works best for them. My job? To help guide them when and if they need it! Really, that is the tricky part of all of this - letting them take charge without interfering. However, it is so rewarding to see what your children can do when given the opportunity.
What a great opportunity indeed!! One of the things that I worry about for the future is how my kids will find these kinds of opportunities - apprenticeships aren't that easy to come by these days in Missouri. lol But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it...I find so many people don't attempt things in life (especially homeschooling) because they're worried about details down the road (like where to find places that will let my kids actually work and LEARN things hands-on). I'm more of the opinion that things will happen when they need to. I'm so happy your kids have found something they're excited to try and a great opportunity therein! :)
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