Part of my “Organized Plan” involved visions of my children doing certain things each day. My Plan included them doing something related to reading/writing each day and something “mathy” each day. My Plan, also, included doing something related to science, geography, foreign languages, history, etc. somewhere throughout the week. And, all of this was supposed to happen in a non-forced, fun kind of way. Hmmmm . . . .
As it turns out, it’s fairly impossible to go through a day without something related to each of these “subjects” coming up in some form. Imagine my surprise. 
Do I take the initiative sometimes to encourage something to “come up”? Weeelllll, I DO have all these cool ideas and projects all planned out and tucked away . . . .
Example: Mr. E had been trying (just on his own – not because of anything I had done) to do some skip counting (e.g., by 2′s, by 3′s, by 4′s, etc.). He had 2′s and 5′s down pretty well, but kept getting frustrated while trying others. So, one fine morning, I cleared off our back porch (concrete surface), grabbed a measuring tape, and pulled out the sidewalk chalk. I did my measuring and began drawing lines. The kids were doing their own thing – playing inside for a while; playing outside for a while. They eventually asked me what I was doing. “You’ll see,” I said. I wasn’t trying to be manipulative in any way. I just wanted to surprise them with what I was making. After drawing out 100 squares, I began filling in the numbers. It didn’t take the kids long to figure out what I was doing and took over filling in the numbers.
Once we had it filled in, they came up with all kinds of games to play with our huge “Hundred Chart.” The games included some adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing, skip counting, and more. Toy dinosaurs, rocks, and various other items were involved as well.
Did I create the situation? Yes.
Did I tell the children they had to participate? No.
Did I tell the children what they were “supposed to” or “had to” or even “should” do? No.
Did the children come up with ideas that I would have never, ever thought of? Yes.
Did something “mathy” happen? Yes.
Did we have a fabulously fun time together? Yes. :-)
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I love this! “I” have tons of ideas too–some the kids want to join in on and others they don’t. For me, unschooling certainly does not mean I can’t put stuff out there. Yes, sometimes it’s hard to not attach intention to it or have assumptions that everyone will be interested but you never know if you don’t try. And your post shows perfectly how their ideas often take it in a direction to make it what they need it to be!
Thanks so much for your comment, Kristen! I love how you expressed that: “how their ideas often take it in a direction to make it what they need it to be!” Exactly!!
And, I love your blog!! (and, your description of yourself). I get so tickled when super-cool folks like you visit my blog.
Peace!!!
Roni