Susan Fuerst

Only difficulty I had with this post, Kelli, is that I would expect to
see "principles" or "guidelines" as opposed to *rules*

Susan, just a lurker, but one who 'gets it'



Original message:
Subject: Re: I'm bored

In a message dated 1/31/2004 9:08:30 AM Eastern Standard Time,
[email protected] writes:
Are we to reject all that is school related?<<<<<<<<<<


Reject it. Yes, for now. Banish ALL school-think now. Every bit of it.
You
need to DEschool FIRST, then you can start looking at some "schooly"
things as
OK. More experienced unschoolers: ignore my school-speak.

Because you're looking at things in a "schooly" way, I want you to do
this
for me. You've just been enrolled in "The Church of John Holt School".
The
headmistress/guru is Sandra Dodd (it's her list, after all). Your
"teachers" are
all the experienced posters on this e-list (It's an internet based
school.).
They each have different "specalties, but they all "get it", so we're
all on the
same page.

Joyce is our voice of reason--she has a brilliant way of breaking things
down
for beginners and her anaolgies are spot-on!
pam (little p) is our math wiz, who will make sure you know that you are

surrounded by math daily and how best to *see* it.
Deb L can get a little loud about rights of children, so she's our
children's
advocate; she's also my comic relief.
Ren is our "spiritual leader" and a perfect example of someone who
struggled
to get here (her whole, strange trip is available in the archives of
unschooling.com boards) .
Kathryn's our new unschooling conference coordinator, enabling you to
meet
all these fine folks IRL.
Pam H had understood unschooling before her oldest could even walk!
Mary (Zenmomma) understands kids who are "labeled" and can move you away
from
labels quickly.
My husband last night called me the "Billy Graham of UNschooling". I am
the
evangelist---I scream the loudest! And I want to convert you! <BWG>.

Others of you "teachers", please write in and tell me your
specialties----I'm
busy typing, and although I don't want to exclude anyone, I'm on a
rollllllll.....



But right now, you're in UNschooling kindergarten. We want you to
PLAY----just like in "old-time kindergarten". We need for you to
understand that PLAYING
is LEARNING.

This is the first "rule" of unschooling. PLAY!

Second rule. Everything counts. Everything you learn----on purpose or
accidentally----counts. You WILL eventually make a connection with that
tiny bit of
information you discovered yesterday. Give it time. Connect the dots.

Third Rule. You will only remember what is important to Y-O-U! And that
can
change over time. The best way to learn things is through immersion IN
those
things. Passions.

Rule four. ALL things are connected. ALL THINGS! You know the "Seven
Degrees
of Separation of Kevin Bacon? I promise that there are fewer than seven
degrees between all things in the universe. Try us! <G>

Rule five. There is NO division in UNschooling. Now before pam (little
p)
chimes in with 6/3, let me clarify. We do NOT divide the world into
"subjects".
Math is art is science is history is music is literature. It's all
related and
inter-related. YOUR school makes these divisions; The Church of John
Holt
School does not.

Rule six. Well-roundedness is over-rated. At the same time, by immersing

yourself into a passion, you automatically cover all the "badschool
subjects". You
can't help it!

Rule seven. Ban Book Worship! You need to see all methods of getting
knowledge into the brain as equal. Books may take a back-seat in a
child's learning
for a while. That's OK. There are MANY ways to obtain information: TV,
games,
eating out/eating IN, movies, vacations, talking,----yeah! just plain
old
enagaging each other in conversation!

Rule eight. The only times we cannot learn are 1) when we are in a coma
(and
I don't know that for sure). 2) when we are frightened. Learning stops
when we
are scared. and 3) when we are forced. Coersion is not conducive to true

learning. Regurgitation, maybe. Learning, NO.

I'm sure there are some more "school rules" that some of our other
"teachers"
can add, but....I'm on a rollllll....


AFTER you ban the school-think and school-speak from your mind, THEN you
can
slowly start adding it in. But as unschooling "teachers", our first
lesson is
to get you to leave those words and acts behind. We *have to* get you to
see
that you are surrounded by opportunities to learn. You can't escape it.
You're
hard-wired to learn.

DEschooling is the healing process that takes place after school----for
YOU
and the child. You can't rush it any more than you can rush a broken leg
to
heal. You *can* do things to relieve that pain though. Offer to read to
him. Take
him out to the new Korean restaurant. Most importantly, stay away from
"classes and lessons" until he's ready to accept them as "just another
option". Our
culture puts too much emphasis on classes and lessons and teachers and
requirements and such. You'll need to keep that at arm's length for a
while until you
are comfortable with the idea that you CAN learn without them.

>>>>>>>>Isn't part of it having the choice to choose what you want to
learn
and how you learn it?>>>>>

Once you're comfortable with the idea that classes aren't the
be-all-end-all,
then you can offer some kind of specialty class---like karate or riding
lessons or piano (Consider that John Holt High School). AFTER you know
in your
heart of hearts that ALL learning is equal, that ALL learning can be
obtained
from *living*, THEN classes may eke into your unschooling life (College
of John
Holt).

OK. I'm going to send this before I lose it! <G> The rest of the faculty
can
join in. Maybe we can make it into a booklet for de-/unschooling! <BWG>

~Kelly


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