Re: Personality types
Minninger
Hi!
I am new to the whole unschooling thing so I joined
this list a few weeks ago and have been lurking. I
live in SC and have 3 children. I am still trying to
figure out how unschooling works in practice. I
understand the theory! I have been enjoying the posts
immensely.
I had to laugh about the personality posts because I
am Type B. Definitely not A. I love to sit on my
porch and hang out. We do a lot of school on our
porch! Lots of folks in the Low Country of SC love
their porches!
I went to the coolest herpetology presentation not
long ago by a woman who works for an ecology lab. I
talked with her afterward, and she said she wasn't
into rigid definitions about what unschooling was or
wasn't, and thought it somewhat depended on the
person's reference point. Other unschoolers might not
call her an unschooler but she definitely leaned that
way. She said she had to make compromises because her
husband was more traditional about school. He was
ex-military.
Her co-workers definitely saw her as an unschooler.
She said if her kids weren't so bright that someone
would probably already have turned her in to DSS for
academic neglect. She grew up in Boston and knew
John Holt when he was a teacher. She said she always
knew she wanted to homeschool her kids according to
John's philosophy.
Anyway, all that to say that it was the first time I
had ever met someone who was Type A and was into
unschooling. I asked if a Type A unschooler was an
oxymoron and she said, "Nah. I just take all my energy
and put it into laying out opportunities and resources
for my kids to choose from and doing stuff I want to
learn." She said that she is probably ADHD, but has
learned how to harness the excess energy into other
avenues.
She did mention that her children didn't have the same
personality that she did. She would love for them to
embrace unschooling more, but they are not all that
spontaneous like she is and they didn't have to be
constantly on the go quite as much. She said they are
more reluctant to go and search out what they want to
learn and stick with it. Sometimes they want her to
do too much of the work, but she is gently nudging
them to do more on their own.
She said they take after her husband that way and it
is sometimes frustrating to her. She told me not to
sweat the small stuff and to do homeschooling
whichever way suited me and my kids.
I thought it was interesting when she said sometimes
we want to teach our kids they way we want to be
taught rather than how they want to be taught. So she
thought many styles of homeschooling could be
considered unschooling IF the child chooses that. She
thought unschooling was all about choices, learning
all the time, and learning outside the box. She
wished that someone had unschooled her, but she is an
unschooler now. She said she is always learning new
skills and hopes that role modeling rubs off on her
kids.
I think it is cool that I had never heard of
unschooling before and then I saw an article about it,
found this list, and met the ecology woman all in the
space of a few weeks. I find it all very exciting!
Rachel Minninger
__________________________________
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The New Yahoo! Search - Faster. Easier. Bingo.
http://search.yahoo.com
I am new to the whole unschooling thing so I joined
this list a few weeks ago and have been lurking. I
live in SC and have 3 children. I am still trying to
figure out how unschooling works in practice. I
understand the theory! I have been enjoying the posts
immensely.
I had to laugh about the personality posts because I
am Type B. Definitely not A. I love to sit on my
porch and hang out. We do a lot of school on our
porch! Lots of folks in the Low Country of SC love
their porches!
I went to the coolest herpetology presentation not
long ago by a woman who works for an ecology lab. I
talked with her afterward, and she said she wasn't
into rigid definitions about what unschooling was or
wasn't, and thought it somewhat depended on the
person's reference point. Other unschoolers might not
call her an unschooler but she definitely leaned that
way. She said she had to make compromises because her
husband was more traditional about school. He was
ex-military.
Her co-workers definitely saw her as an unschooler.
She said if her kids weren't so bright that someone
would probably already have turned her in to DSS for
academic neglect. She grew up in Boston and knew
John Holt when he was a teacher. She said she always
knew she wanted to homeschool her kids according to
John's philosophy.
Anyway, all that to say that it was the first time I
had ever met someone who was Type A and was into
unschooling. I asked if a Type A unschooler was an
oxymoron and she said, "Nah. I just take all my energy
and put it into laying out opportunities and resources
for my kids to choose from and doing stuff I want to
learn." She said that she is probably ADHD, but has
learned how to harness the excess energy into other
avenues.
She did mention that her children didn't have the same
personality that she did. She would love for them to
embrace unschooling more, but they are not all that
spontaneous like she is and they didn't have to be
constantly on the go quite as much. She said they are
more reluctant to go and search out what they want to
learn and stick with it. Sometimes they want her to
do too much of the work, but she is gently nudging
them to do more on their own.
She said they take after her husband that way and it
is sometimes frustrating to her. She told me not to
sweat the small stuff and to do homeschooling
whichever way suited me and my kids.
I thought it was interesting when she said sometimes
we want to teach our kids they way we want to be
taught rather than how they want to be taught. So she
thought many styles of homeschooling could be
considered unschooling IF the child chooses that. She
thought unschooling was all about choices, learning
all the time, and learning outside the box. She
wished that someone had unschooled her, but she is an
unschooler now. She said she is always learning new
skills and hopes that role modeling rubs off on her
kids.
I think it is cool that I had never heard of
unschooling before and then I saw an article about it,
found this list, and met the ecology woman all in the
space of a few weeks. I find it all very exciting!
Rachel Minninger
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
The New Yahoo! Search - Faster. Easier. Bingo.
http://search.yahoo.com
[email protected]
In a message dated 5/25/2003 9:31:03 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
steveminninger@... writes:
friends and have spoken on the phone a couple of times. She and a friend will be
presenting a funshop or two at the conference. I think she's bringing a baby
alligator and other critters! <G> Look for the funshop description soon.
Her kids help her at work A LOT. She works at the SC ecology lab. (She
reminds me of Deb L a lot---love of nature, hands-on, and funny! <G>) She's told me
several stories of what they've done: my favorite is that her kids have
hand-fed snakes dead, blendered frogs!
She also has wonderful stories about John Holt (so neat to know someone who
actually KNEW John Holt, our patron saint! <G>).
"I saw an article about it, found this list, and met the ecology woman"...and
will be at the the unschooling conference in Columbia and a new member of
SOS???..."all in the space of a few weeks."
I'm looking forward to meeting you soon, Rachel!
~Kelly
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
steveminninger@... writes:
> I think it is cool that I had never heard ofDee is a really interesting woman. We've never met IRL, but we're virtual
> unschooling before and then I saw an article about it,
> found this list, and met the ecology woman all in the
> space of a few weeks. I find it all very exciting!
friends and have spoken on the phone a couple of times. She and a friend will be
presenting a funshop or two at the conference. I think she's bringing a baby
alligator and other critters! <G> Look for the funshop description soon.
Her kids help her at work A LOT. She works at the SC ecology lab. (She
reminds me of Deb L a lot---love of nature, hands-on, and funny! <G>) She's told me
several stories of what they've done: my favorite is that her kids have
hand-fed snakes dead, blendered frogs!
She also has wonderful stories about John Holt (so neat to know someone who
actually KNEW John Holt, our patron saint! <G>).
"I saw an article about it, found this list, and met the ecology woman"...and
will be at the the unschooling conference in Columbia and a new member of
SOS???..."all in the space of a few weeks."
I'm looking forward to meeting you soon, Rachel!
~Kelly
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[email protected]
In a message dated 5/25/03 7:31:03 AM, steveminninger@... writes:
<< Anyway, all that to say that it was the first time I
had ever met someone who was Type A and was into
unschooling. I asked if a Type A unschooler was an
oxymoron and she said, "Nah. I just take all my energy
and put it into laying out opportunities and resources
for my kids to choose from and doing stuff I want to
learn." She said that she is probably ADHD, but has
learned how to harness the excess energy into other
avenues. >>
Sounds pretty familiar to the inside of me!
<<She did mention that her children didn't have the same
personality that she did. She would love for them to
embrace unschooling more, but they are not all that
spontaneous like she is and they didn't have to be
constantly on the go quite as much. >>
I'm lucky that my kids are all really active and curious and easily amused.
They don't like books the way I did when I was a kid, but I see clearly lots
of reasons why, and after my initial disappointment (which lasted years <g>),
now I'm coming to get over it, and to consider selling lot of my books to make
more room for their games.
All my hundreds of non-fiction books which have served me well all my life,
and whose contents I know so well that I can find information for people in
fifteen minutes are totally obsolete now, and are a drop in the ocean of
information available on either of two computers in this house which take no more
space than two dozen books and are updated regularly (unlike my books!).
<<I think it is cool that I had never heard of
unschooling before and then I saw an article about it,
found this list, and met the ecology woman all in the
space of a few weeks. I find it all very exciting!>>
Synchronicity.
Serendipity!
Destiny.
Sandra
<< Anyway, all that to say that it was the first time I
had ever met someone who was Type A and was into
unschooling. I asked if a Type A unschooler was an
oxymoron and she said, "Nah. I just take all my energy
and put it into laying out opportunities and resources
for my kids to choose from and doing stuff I want to
learn." She said that she is probably ADHD, but has
learned how to harness the excess energy into other
avenues. >>
Sounds pretty familiar to the inside of me!
<<She did mention that her children didn't have the same
personality that she did. She would love for them to
embrace unschooling more, but they are not all that
spontaneous like she is and they didn't have to be
constantly on the go quite as much. >>
I'm lucky that my kids are all really active and curious and easily amused.
They don't like books the way I did when I was a kid, but I see clearly lots
of reasons why, and after my initial disappointment (which lasted years <g>),
now I'm coming to get over it, and to consider selling lot of my books to make
more room for their games.
All my hundreds of non-fiction books which have served me well all my life,
and whose contents I know so well that I can find information for people in
fifteen minutes are totally obsolete now, and are a drop in the ocean of
information available on either of two computers in this house which take no more
space than two dozen books and are updated regularly (unlike my books!).
<<I think it is cool that I had never heard of
unschooling before and then I saw an article about it,
found this list, and met the ecology woman all in the
space of a few weeks. I find it all very exciting!>>
Synchronicity.
Serendipity!
Destiny.
Sandra
[email protected]
In a message dated 5/25/03 7:56:28 AM, kbcdlovejo@... writes:
<< my favorite is that her kids have
hand-fed snakes dead, blendered frogs! >>
It would be just cruel to use LIVE blendered frogs.
I've thought of hand-feeding mice blendered snakes. You could feed a lot of
mice on one of those big rodent-eating snakes. <g>
Sandra
<< my favorite is that her kids have
hand-fed snakes dead, blendered frogs! >>
It would be just cruel to use LIVE blendered frogs.
I've thought of hand-feeding mice blendered snakes. You could feed a lot of
mice on one of those big rodent-eating snakes. <g>
Sandra
BADOLBILZ
Sandra, I can really relate to the book problem...with my last pregnancy
I nested for about 6 months and decided I needed to get rid of some of
my books. I found a retirement home and donated over 1000 books. It
felt so great...and sad...it's like parting with old friends. I would
have rather donated them to a nursing home, but all the local ones would
only accept large print. I also donated about 200 children's books to
the Catholic school across the street. I'll NEVER do that again. They
didn't even have the courtesy to say thank you. I still have over 1000
books. One of these days, I really should go through them again.
HeidiC. - who sometimes likes to just stand in my library and look at
the books as if I were at a travel agency just trying to decide where to
go next...
SandraDodd@... wrote:
I nested for about 6 months and decided I needed to get rid of some of
my books. I found a retirement home and donated over 1000 books. It
felt so great...and sad...it's like parting with old friends. I would
have rather donated them to a nursing home, but all the local ones would
only accept large print. I also donated about 200 children's books to
the Catholic school across the street. I'll NEVER do that again. They
didn't even have the courtesy to say thank you. I still have over 1000
books. One of these days, I really should go through them again.
HeidiC. - who sometimes likes to just stand in my library and look at
the books as if I were at a travel agency just trying to decide where to
go next...
SandraDodd@... wrote:
>
>I'm coming to get over it, and to consider selling lot of my books to make more room for their games.
>
>All my hundreds of non-fiction books which have served me well all my life, and whose contents I know so well that I can find information for people in fifteen minutes are totally obsolete now, and are a drop in the ocean of information available on either of two computers in this house which take no more space than two dozen books and are updated regularly (unlike my books!).
>
>
>Synchronicity.
>Serendipity!
>Destiny.
>
>Sandra
>
>
>