nellebelle

I got my HEM in the mail today and was disappointed that there was not a Sandra Dodd column. Is this a permanent loss for HEM?

Mary Ellen

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Jason & Stephanie

I got my HEM in the mail today and was disappointed that there was not a Sandra Dodd column. Is this a permanent loss for HEM?>>>>>>>>>>>

********Is this the July/August issue? I haven't gotten mine yet and thought it was delivered to someone else, my mail has done that before<g>
I hope that Sandra continues to write, it needs an unschooling perspective.
Stephanie




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nellebelle

********Is this the July/August issue? I haven't gotten mine yet and thought it was delivered to someone else, my mail has done that before<g>>>>

No, this is Sep-Oct. If you haven't received the July-Aug, you might contact them and ask for another copy to be sent out.

Mary Ellen

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Nichole in Round Rock, TX

I was going to subscribe to HEM right around the time of Helen's changes with the unschooling-101 board. She changed my mind. I don't think there's anything in the magazine for unschoolers anymore. I wonder what she is going to do with the archives of unschooling.com. Sandra, Joyce? Will she be giving them to you? Or does she want to erase all that history? It seems that HEM really felt it owned unschooling and when the unschoolers took over they didn't like the direction. Hmmm...

Sad.

Well, there's still Life Learning Magazine, and Live Free Learn Free.

Nichole
----- Original Message -----
From: Jason & Stephanie
To: [email protected]
Sent: Tuesday, August 24, 2004 12:40 AM
Subject: Re: [AlwaysLearning] HEM without Sandra?




I got my HEM in the mail today and was disappointed that there was not a Sandra Dodd column. Is this a permanent loss for HEM?>>>>>>>>>>>




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[email protected]

In a message dated 8/24/04 10:19:43 AM, ms_fausey@... writes:

<< It seems that HEM really felt it owned unschooling and when the
unschoolers took over they didn't like the direction. >>

I didn't feel that way.

When AOL was the big source of good homeschooling information, HEM had a
small forum, and then there was a separate homechooling forum run by AOL
volunteers, and it had a HUGE unschooling section, with a weekly live topic chat (I
moderated that) and downloadable edited-for-readability archives of those. It
was a pretty big deal.

Growing Without Schooling had been the magazine that encouraged me when Kirby
was little, and though I had seen one issue of HEM (before it had glossy
covers, it was more newsprintish), I hadn't subscribed. I had a thing published
that someone else had sent in (the little Gilligan's Island
stream-of-consciousness thing that's linked to the TV page now), and I subscribed along in there,
and was asked to do a column.

I missed a some issue (my own health and overwhelmedness got me) and had lost
my last-column place of coolness when I showed back up to work, as it were,
but except for that break in service which was my fault, the columns were
regular from 1998.

It was a good experience. I'm glad they asked me.

The politics of recent months are unfortunate, but I don't think it will keep
people from getting unschooling information.

Sandra

Nichole in Round Rock, TX

----- Original Message -----
From: SandraDodd@...
To: [email protected]
Sent: Tuesday, August 24, 2004 12:22 PM
Subject: Re: [AlwaysLearning] HEM without Sandra?


>>>>
The politics of recent months are unfortunate, but I don't think it will keep
people from getting unschooling information.
>>>>>

I don't think so either, but what's going to happen with those archives? Do you think that HEM will keep them being accessible? I used to go there frequently to try to find answers/suggestions for questions in my unschooling community (haven't done so recently because of personal busy-ness). Yahoo has made searching through YaHoo group archives very difficult since its latest round of updates. The HEM unschooling archives are a great resource. I hope they are not destroyed. That would really be a waste. Someone should filter through them and make a book or 10.

Nichole





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[email protected]

In a message dated 8/24/04 12:08:28 PM, ms_fausey@... writes:

<< That would really be a waste. Someone should filter through them and make
a book or 10. >>

I think you can still get to some of the older stuff if you use google. You
might go get your own stuff.

The archives belong to Home Education Magazine, but the individual writings
belong to the author. I've begged lots over the years, and have them linked
mostly from here:

http://sandradodd.com/life

That site might come back online, though, I just learned this morning.
Apparently a couple of people who work on it were at the HSC conference, and so I
have hope.

That site, though, hasn't been well maintained. Only the message boards were
in really good shape. The rest is kind of ghost-townish, with the links not
having been updated for years. The person who first set the site up had a
falling out with I don't know who all, and abandoned the project. I think
others didn't know how to maintain the pages, or something. So if they've gotten
someone new to revamp, that's wonderful!

Sandra

Jason & Stephanie

No, this is Sep-Oct. If you haven't received the July-Aug, you might contact them and ask for another copy to be sent out.>>>>>

I just emailed them for the second time, if that doesn't work I suppose I can call them.
Thanks.
Stephanie



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Ren Allen

"I'll stop now and save the rest of my rant for a letter to HEM."

Me too.
I'm hoping a lot of folks will write them. Helen hears from a very
limited group of people I believe, and trusts their input too much.
She's at my unschoolingbasics list if anyone wants to rant there!!:)

Ren

Ren Allen

"I hope that Sandra continues to write, it needs an unschooling
perspective."

It's never been an unschooling magazine in my opinion, but yeah, at
least it had an unschooling perspective (occasionally more than one).
This latest issue is SO homeschooling oriented that I'm canceling my
subscription.
It's sad.

Ren

Jason & Stephanie

<<<<It's never been an unschooling magazine in my opinion, but yeah, at
least it had an unschooling perspective (occasionally more than one).
This latest issue is SO homeschooling oriented that I'm canceling my
subscription.
It's sad.>>>>>
*****Ren,
How do you cancel, do you get a refund? Or do you mean that you will not renew. I am not interested if it is schooly. Maybe I will subscribe to Life Learning and I will look into that Live free learn free also.
Stephanie




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[email protected]

In a message dated 8/24/2004 7:27:14 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
thesixofus@... writes:

Maybe I will subscribe to Life Learning and I will look into that Live free
learn free also.<<<



I subscribe to both of these. I just got my copy of Live Free Learn Free in
the mail a couple of days ago. It is a great magazine if the first issue is
any indication. It was loaded with articles and with a huge unschooling
slant. I also subscribe to Life Learning and enjoy that as well.

JMO

Pam G


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[email protected]

do they have a website so anyone can order the magazine?


On Tue, 24 Aug 2004 19:40:09 EDT, Genant2@... said:
>
> In a message dated 8/24/2004 7:27:14 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
> thesixofus@... writes:
> Maybe I will subscribe to Life Learning and I will look into
> that Live free
> learn free also.<<<
> I subscribe to both of these. I just got my copy of Live Free
> Learn Free in
> the mail a couple of days ago. It is a great magazine if the
> first issue is
> any indication. It was loaded with articles and with a huge
> unschooling
> slant. I also subscribe to Life Learning and enjoy that as
> well.
> JMO
> Pam G
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
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[email protected]

In a message dated 8/24/2004 8:04:41 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
cece4@... writes:

do they have a website so anyone can order the magazine?<<<
I saw the web site for Life Learning was posted. Live Free Learn Free is
_http://www.livefreelearnfree.com_ (http://www.livefreelearnfree.com)

Pam G


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Jason & Stephanie

do they have a website so anyone can order the magazine?


www.livefreelearnfree.com I saw that Nichole sent Life Learning.
Stephanie

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Sylvia Toyama

I already sent my letter -- even cancelled the rest of my subscription and asked for a refund. I can read it for free at my favorite bookstore, subscribing was about giving tangible support to homeschooling. While I enjoyed some article most issues, the only reliably enjoyable part of it was Sandra's article. In recent months, the whole mag had felt rather unschooly. When I saw the news about Live Free Learn Free, it sounded interesting but kinda pricey. I've decided it would be worth pricey if it's more unschooling friendly.

I have wondered if maybe the reason HEM seems eager to push radical unschoolers out is because we aren't viewed by advertisers as being lucrative consumers. I mean, if word got out that children can learn without a complete curriculum every year, what would happen to the advertisers? Sort of the way I felt when a couple of the 'workshops' at Rethinking Education turned out to be nothing more than a sales pitch for the presenter's product. That conference didn't feel as unschooly as I had hoped.

Syl


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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Gold Standard

"I have wondered if maybe the reason HEM seems eager to push radical
unschoolers out is because we aren't viewed by advertisers as being
lucrative consumers. I mean, if word got out that children can learn
without a complete curriculum every year, what would happen to the
advertisers?"

Yes Syl, I agree. There is so little these days that isn't driven by money.
Without endorsers, why would they keep going? (cynical question) Is there a
way to ask why this has happened?

Jacki

Nichole, in Round Rock, TX

----- Original Message -----
From: Sylvia Toyama
To: [email protected]
Sent: Tuesday, August 24, 2004 11:04 PM
Subject: Re: [AlwaysLearning] HEM without Sandra?


I mean, if word got out that children can learn without a complete curriculum every year, what would happen to the advertisers? Sort of the way I felt when a couple of the 'workshops' at Rethinking Education turned out to be nothing more than a sales pitch for the presenter's product. That conference didn't feel as unschooly as I had hoped.<<<<<<<<<


That was just on Friday, though, right? Friday was for homeschoolers and the rest of the weekend was really unschooly. I can understand why they have to do that. They need to pay for their space and it's paid for by advertisers who get there, and leave, on Friday. Did you make sure to fill out the evaluation? Barb Lundgren is long-time unschooler and they really try to make the conference mostly for unschoolers.

:o)
Nichole, who spent most of Friday (of the conference) at the pool



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[email protected]

In a message dated 8/24/04 10:06:24 PM, sylgt04@... writes:

<< I have wondered if maybe the reason HEM seems eager to push radical
unschoolers out is because we aren't viewed by advertisers as being lucrative
consumers. I mean, if word got out that children can learn without a complete
curriculum every year, what would happen to the advertisers? >>

I don't think there are enough unschoolers to hurt advertisers. We'll always
be the minority because it's so much damned work to make it seem so easy.

-=-Sort of the way I felt when a couple of the 'workshops' at Rethinking
Education turned out to be nothing more than a sales pitch for the presenter's
product. -=-

Sorry to hear that. At mainstream conferences that's to be expected, but...

Oh well!

Sandra

Sylvia Toyama

That was just on Friday, though, right? Friday was for homeschoolers and the rest of the weekend was really unschooly. I can understand why they have to do that. They need to pay for their space and it's paid for by advertisers who get there, and leave, on Friday. Did you make sure to fill out the evaluation? Barb Lundgren is long-time unschooler and they really try to make the conference mostly for unschoolers.

******

yeah, as I think back on it now, I enjoyed the Saturday & Sunday sessions more than Friday. I wasn't aware it was broken up that way. I did see some vendors thru the weekend. It seemed those Schiller Math guys were everywhere -- not only were they clearly only there to sell their product, the presenter did a really poor job of it. I'm guessing he was somebody's brother-in-law.<g>

I may go back next year, because it's driving distance for us and overall I had a good time. If we do go, we'll stay in the hotel so the kids can join in.

I'm still trying to talk dh into the October 05 conference in Pensacola. He thinks it's too far to drive, and it would be too expensive for us to fly. Maybe I can find some sights to see along the way (well, besides my aunt & grandma in Brenham TX). I guess we could overnight with her and the drive would be less taxing.

Syl


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Sylvia Toyama

I don't think there are enough unschoolers to hurt advertisers. We'll always be the minority because it's so much damned work to make it seem so easy.
Sandra
****

I can see where it might feel like a lot of work, but no more so than attachment parenting, continued into the older years. I guess, tho, there are parents who expected the work years to end once they could pack the kids off to school.

Maybe in the case of school-at-homers, that break comes in being able to follow a curriculum and someone else's hard and fast philosophy, rather than finding your own path. I find it much harder to try to do things someone else's way -- I know I'm in the minority there. It seems that with parenting, people like that assurance that if they just follow 'the plan' they'll turn out a good kid. Darn it, my kids just don't follow anyone else's plan -- they insist on doing it their own way! <g>

Syl







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[email protected]

In a message dated 8/24/04 10:53:37 PM, contact@... writes:

<< Is there a way to ask why this has happened? >>

Not without stirring up weird politics and intergroup rivalries I'm not even
involved in.
Personalities are just different, and it's their magazine, and I was in for a
while and now I'm not. It's not going to keep any of us from unschooling.
It's okay.

Sandra

AM Brown

> Rethinking Education turned out to be nothing more than a sales pitch for
the presenter's product. That conference didn't feel as unschooly as I had
hoped.<<<<<<<<<
>
>
> That was just on Friday, though, right? Friday was for homeschoolers
and the rest of the weekend was really unschooly. I can understand why
they have to do that.
>


I felt the same way - Friday was just 'pay the bill day'. I skipped it.
The rest was great. I did fill out an evaluation about it though.
Anna

nellebelle

>>>It's never been an unschooling magazine in my opinion, but yeah, at
least it had an unschooling perspective (occasionally more than one>>>>

I've subscribed to HEM for a couple of years, beginning after Growing Without Schooling folded. Overall, I've enjoyed the magazine, even though not all articles spoke to me. Yes, it's full of ads, but nobody forces me to read them. Magazines without advertising tend to be way more expensive per word than those with.

One reason I began to subscribe was to support a homeschooling magazine that at least included unschooling ideas. Who knows how many "homeschoolers" were inspired by an unschooling article to at least loosen up, enjoy doing with their kids more and focusing on academics less?

I'm not going to cancel because Sandra's column is gone, but when my renewal time comes up, I'll definitely consider where else I could spend that $25.

Mary Ellen



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Barbara Chase

Yeah, we wish there weren't such a thing as school around here. At the
moment it's hard to live our lives as if school didn't exist. We live
rurally, and there aren't that many kids around to play with - and even
then it involves lots of driving. So at the moment, things look pretty
dreary in the playmate department because of school.

My daughter's best friend is going back to school, and that means she won't
be available to play. She's not really available to play much in the
summer either, because their family is so busy doing all of the non-school
things they can't do during the school year.

Last Spring we found out about a new homeschool park day, met some new
friends, and have been really enjoying that. It's been a small group of
4-5 families. However, it's going to dissolve because 4 of the families
are going to send their kids to a homeschool school 2 days a week, and they
just don't have the time to hang out at the park and do all of the other
adventures they want to. My daughter is furious. She says, how can you
have a homeschool school? She wants to find a new homeschooling group
where the folks promise that they will really be "home" schoolers.

What she really wants is someone who can play anytime without all of those
ridiculous parental limitations! "Not after school, she needs some quiet
time." "Not on the weekend, we need some family time." "Not after dinner,
she needs to go to bed early because of school tomorrow." "Not this
morning, she needs to do her school work." "Not tomorrow, I've (the
parent) got a lot of work to do." I have heard every one of these excuses.
The last one, in particular, really gets me going... so because the parent
is busy the kids can't play?

I just read Sandra's article on playing. I think that playing is a dying
art. I remember being able to run out of the house the moment I got home
from school so I could go play until dinner. But then when I was a kid I
lived in a neighborhood without fences between everyone's yard. Once
outside, it was free... the space, the decisions, the play. It was all
free. Here in California every house is fenced, if you live in or near the
cities. Where I live there aren't any fences, but there aren't any
neighbors either. It doesn't seem to matter though, kids still don't seem
to be able to get together when they want to. What happened?

So, I'm wondering what to do next. I need some new creative ideas in order
to provide the play that my daughter needs. I can play with her some, but
I really can't be her full time playmate. We don't have any siblings for
her to play with. I'm starting to think that staying where we are may not
be the right thing for her, and thus for the whole family. She's lonely.


Thanks for listening to me rant. If anyone has any stories to share, I'd
love to hear them. For now, we're going to try to find another
homeschooler's park day. It won't be close to home, but who knows...
perhaps it will be if we find some serious homeschoolers, as my daughter
puts it. Hey, anyone have any houses for rent/sale in their neighborhood??


--bc--

Gold Standard

===So, I'm wondering what to do next. I need some new creative ideas in
order
to provide the play that my daughter needs. I can play with her some, but
I really can't be her full time playmate. We don't have any siblings for
her to play with. I'm starting to think that staying where we are may not
be the right thing for her, and thus for the whole family. She's lonely.


===If anyone has any stories to share, I'd
love to hear them.
--bc--

We decided to move from a rural beautiful country setting to a family
neighborhood and our kids were sooooo much happier. I miss the sound of the
babbling brook and the wind in the trees though :(
Jacki

Sarah

I'm having back to school woes, too. Sophia just
asked me "Aren't there *any* homeschooled kids I can
play with?" We don't live rurally, but there are very
few families homeschooling here. We are going to try
to get involved in an unschooling group, but it is two
hours from us...so it won't be too often (once every
other week, maybe). Anyone living in a planned
unschooling community? Just kidding (kind of).

I have been trying to focus on the good things of
back-to-school and keep it seamless, but there aren't
really museums and things around here. Damn I wish we
were heading to the conference!

Just wanted to commiserate for a second...I feel your
pain!

Sarah Anderson-Thimmes

--- Barbara Chase <barb@...> wrote:

> Yeah, we wish there weren't such a thing as school
> around here. At the
> moment it's hard to live our lives as if school
> didn't exist.



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denice

<<What she really wants is someone who can play anytime without all of those
ridiculous parental limitations! "Not after school, she needs some quiet
time." "Not on the weekend, we need some family time." "Not after dinner,
she needs to go to bed early because of school tomorrow." "Not this
morning, she needs to do her school work." "Not tomorrow, I've (the
parent) got a lot of work to do." >>

Oooohhh! How old is your daughter?? Wanna come live near me? We could play EVERY day!

These reasons are the exact reasons we have a difficult time with friends. We have neighbors who are self-proclaimed anal. We had a big blow-up recently because their kids were outside standing on the fence that borders our house, it was around dusk, and their kids asked if our kids could come into the field that separates our two houses so they could "feed bats" (throw bread in the air and watch the bats swoop). My kids ran in to ask, and I said sure. I got in bigtime trouble with the parents because I broke the "note" rule. My kids and their kids have to have notes signed by the parents before they can play together!!! Ack! How could I forget the note rule???

We would so love to have true, bosom friends here. :-/

denice
in very rural Amish country

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