Immerse Yourself

What I have noticed about our children is that when they find something they are interested in, they like to immerse themselves in it. Do you do that? I do. Maybe we all do, when we get the chance.

When I was learning how to do website design, I spent hours learning HTML code. My mom often questioned why I was spending so much time on something that wasn't bringing in money. (I was about 35 at the time and worked at home on my computer doing medical transcribing). Funny thing is that later I landed two great-paying jobs because of my computer/web skills, though that hadn't been my reason for spending so many hours learning about website design. I was learning because I liked it, because that is what I chose to do at the time. Time flew by as I learned how to change colors and fonts, add images, make tables, and fool around with various designs.

Lately our children have been immersing themselves in video games (Halo and Minecraft), movies/TV shows (X-Men and Rugrats), soccer (Dante played on 3 different teams this season!), parkour skills (Eli and Avery) and rollerblading (Emily and Sophia). Of course, they still partake of their regularly scheduled events, like violin and guitar lessons, horseback riding, and nature classes, but during the day, when they have nothing else scheduled, they spend hours immersing themselves in these activities.

And what I love about our unschooling life, is that they can.

There is no bell ringing every 50 minutes to move to the next subject or the next building, a new teacher, or whatever. They have no artificially imposed interruptions to their own rhythms. I love that they have the time to immerse themselves and get in the flow that comes from being so engaged in learning/doing something so meaningful (to them).

I also love that they can do it just because they want to, and not with the intention of later having to do something with it - pass a test, get a job, build a career...

Sometimes people worry about children (and adults) being addicted to TV or video games or obsessed with horses or Barbie dolls (or whatever - you fill in the blank), but I see that our children immerse themselves into a variety of activities, and when they have their fill, they move on. Sometimes they move on after a short immersion experience (a day or two), and sometimes their interests become passions, and they continue for years.

When Eli (now 13) was 6 and Avery (now 11) was 4 they were totally into BMX racing. We drove 1 hour (each-way) to Port Angeles two or three times per week so they could practice and race. We traveled throughout Washington, Colorado, New Mexcio and California to race. They amassed a HUGE amount of trophies and Eli won the Washington State Championship race when he was 10. He was ranked 3rd overall in the state for that year. Avery won many BIG races and was 7th in the state for his age (8 at the time) that same year. After about 4 years of pretty intense BMX racing seasons, and after having both become Experts (winning over 35 races to pass through beginner and intermediate designations. Eli wants me to tell you that he won way more than 35 races.), they decided to move on to other interests (mountain biking, skiing, soccer). They loved BMX racing while they did it, and then they were ready to try something new.

I love immersing myself in my own interests (right now it is Words with Friends on Facebook pretty much every night until midnight!) and I most certainly love being witness to the variety of experiences the children decide to pursue, whether it is for a few hours, a few days, a few years or their lifetime!

Here is a very short video of Emily and some friends rollerblading around the kitchen/living room. They have been doing this daily for hours. Emily is in the middle. Eli is at the computer. He's their DJ.



Here is a slideshow that shows the kids involved in various activities that were really important to them during the past couple of years. They are older now: Eli (13), Avery (11), Sophia (10), Dante (9) and Emily (8). Some of these things they still do, and others are just sweet memories. Activities include: cake decorating, Lego animation, building with Lego blocks, soccer, skiing, BMX racing, trampoline, dressing up, swords, playing at the beach, and welding.



ADDED BONUS: While Eli and I were making this slideshow, we discovered a new musician Chris Joss, whose song "I Want Freedom" plays during the slideshow. Great beats on his site - check him out!