[email protected]

In a message dated 11/11/2005 10:16:27 AM Pacific Standard Time,
[email protected] writes:

If you get divorced, it will all be over, and horrible. Your child could
end up with steparents who were against homeschooling. Don't go that way.

Unschooling is not worth the loss of a family, and honestly, with the loss
of
the family, unschooling is almost always gone forever as well.

Sandra



*********Speaking as a divorced unschooler, I can say that life offers you a
big set of "challenges" when you decide to keep the children at home after a
divorce. Russ (former husband) didn't oppose the kids learning at home (our
divorce came long after the kids were learning at home), but he also did
everything in his power to make things hard for me financially, making my
situation extremely difficult. Let's just say he got the family home (which is big
anywhere and HUGE here in So. CA), and I was paying child support for a
while. That never made sense, but it added to the burden.

When you have a supportive husband the situation can be different. An
acquaintance of mine is divorced and he totally financially supports his wife and
two young children so that the kids can remain at home to learn. Needless to
say I told him I loved him!! :-)

Often husbands just need some time to get used to the idea. Russ was a
military man and didn't have the peer support that I did (thro LLLeague and my
un/homeschooling park group). Gradually he read things I left in the bathroom,
or would listen to me when I would share things that I had read. He saw how
happy we all were in our lifestyle. Later he became my biggest supporter.
I gave him material to "brag" about. Maybe it wasn't traditional, but since
he wasn't with the kids nearly as much as I was, it was difficult for him to
know what the kids were learning and doing. I also asked him to help with
some projects that the kids wanted to do that were fun - and things he liked.

The divorce was difficult enough, if Russ had been forcing the school issue,
I can't imagine the hell we would have to have lived through.

Flexibility is a difficult trait to exhibit when you are passionate about an
issue, but often if you can step back and approach with love and peace in
your actions and heart, you won't need to make huge changes in your ideas.
When I was young everything was black or white. Now I live in many shades of
gray ----

I second Sandra's statement - the marriage is the first priority -

Connie
www.homeschoolingreflections.com




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Sharon

Hi everyone,

Something we like to do is explore whatever my daughter is into with books, including fiction, and movies. We have never really done the whole unit study thing, we just do what she feels like. She finds writing very difficult so we usually don't do much along those lines. Sometimes I wish we were making something that could go into a portfolio, but it doesn't seem to work that way. I have two daughters who have unschooled all the way through and now are in college. They didn't have portfolios and didn't seem to need them, but sometimes I wish I had something as a memento of our years of learning. This isn't really a problem or even a question. I am just wondering what other families on the list do in this area.

By the way, she is currently interested in the French Revolution. She heard some comments about Marie Antoinette after the recent statements made by Barbara Bush about the Katrina evacuees and that sparked her interest. (It's always amazing to me to see how things things get started!) We are going to read Tale of Two Cities by Dickens. Does anyone out there have any other suggestions? I looked for a DVD of it and I haven't found one in the local stores yet. We like to read a book and then see the movie, if there is one, and then talk about how they compare. My daughter is 13 and a very good reader, with these more challenging books we usually do a combination of reading aloud together and reading on our own. Most often I read at least the first chapter to her and then she reads more later when I am doing something else. Then I have to catch up and then we read the next bit aloud again. It seems to promote discussion to do it that way and it's so fun!



Looking forward to your responses,

Sharon



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[email protected]

If you want to do a Dickens novel and then the movie, I recommend Nicholas
Nickleby. The movie that came out a few years back is really sweet, and the
book itself brought about some impressive social reforms in its day. You can
find that info with google or get a newish copy of the book in which such
things might be discussed in intros or notes.

There's also a movie coming out soon (a new one, there are others) of Oliver
Twist, I believe.

Sandra


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

Sharon

Hi Sandra,
Thanks! We saw Oliver in the theatre and it's really good. It's pretty scary so it's probably not recommended for younger kids, but we loved it. I have read Nicholas Nickleby but my daughter hasn't. We'll try that after we've exhausted this French Revolution interest. Thanks for suggesting the film, it's always good to get an endorsement from someone you trust!

Sharon



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donna nordin

Sharon,


Les Miserables is a wonderful book and musical. I don't know how historically accurate it is. I think it is supposed to take place shortly before the French Revolution?

This site has the book online with reviews and such:

http://www.online-literature.com/victor_hugo/les_miserables/


Have Fun,

Donna


----- Original Message -----
From: Sharon
To: [email protected]
Sent: Friday, November 11, 2005 3:34 PM
Subject: [AlwaysLearning] learning through books and film



Hi everyone,

Something we like to do is explore whatever my daughter is into with books, including fiction, and movies. We have never really done the whole unit study thing, we just do what she feels like. She finds writing very difficult so we usually don't do much along those lines. Sometimes I wish we were making something that could go into a portfolio, but it doesn't seem to work that way. I have two daughters who have unschooled all the way through and now are in college. They didn't have portfolios and didn't seem to need them, but sometimes I wish I had something as a memento of our years of learning. This isn't really a problem or even a question. I am just wondering what other families on the list do in this area.

By the way, she is currently interested in the French Revolution. She heard some comments about Marie Antoinette after the recent statements made by Barbara Bush about the Katrina evacuees and that sparked her interest. (It's always amazing to me to see how things things get started!) We are going to read Tale of Two Cities by Dickens. Does anyone out there have any other suggestions? I looked for a DVD of it and I haven't found one in the local stores yet. We like to read a book and then see the movie, if there is one, and then talk about how they compare. My daughter is 13 and a very good reader, with these more challenging books we usually do a combination of reading aloud together and reading on our own. Most often I read at least the first chapter to her and then she reads more later when I am doing something else. Then I have to catch up and then we read the next bit aloud again. It seems to promote discussion to do it that way and it's so fun!



Looking forward to your responses,

Sharon



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Joyce Fetteroll

On Nov 11, 2005, at 3:34 PM, Sharon wrote:

> By the way, she is currently interested in the French Revolution.

There's a new movie about her coming out but not until next year
unfortunately :-( starring Spider-Man's girlfriend :-)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0422720/

(There's lots of ways to search movies at IMDB. There's a drop down
menu for searching for Characters and such. If you click on "More
Searches" there's a form and some search options on the side. If you
click on "Search Central" it gives you more searches on the side. A
cool thing is the location search to find movies that were made where
you live :-)

There was a 1975 mini series

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0276694/

There's a list of movies by historical period at:

http://www.vernonjohns.org/snuffy1186/movies.html

Joyce
Answers to common unschooling questions: http://home.earthlink.net/
~fetteroll/rejoycing/
Weekly writing prompts: [email protected]




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

Sharon

Thanks Joyce!

There's a list of movies by historical period at:

http://www.vernonjohns.org/snuffy1186/movies.html



What a great resource, I hadn't heard of this site before. Thanks!

I am familiar with IMDB, and you're sure right, it's very useful. We live in Seattle and we've had a lot of fun finding movies that were made in this area and other places we have been. We went to London in September and we watched several "filmed in London" movies before we went.

Sharon


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Rebecca DeLong

Hi, I am waaayyyyy behind on email right now so someone may have already mentioned this...

My fave movie about the French Revolution is The Scarlett Pimpernel. I like the one with Anthony Andrews and Jane Seymor the best. The book is good but I like the movie better. :)

~Rebecca

Sharon <word@...> wrote:

By the way, she is currently interested in the French Revolution. She heard some comments about Marie Antoinette after the recent statements made by Barbara Bush about the Katrina evacuees and that sparked her interest. (It's always amazing to me to see how things things get started!) We are going to read Tale of Two Cities by Dickens. Does anyone out there have any other suggestions? I looked for a DVD of it and I haven't found one in the local stores yet. We like to read a book and then see the movie, if there is one, and then talk about how they compare. My daughter is 13 and a very good reader, with these more challenging books we usually do a combination of reading aloud together and reading on our own. Most often I read at least the first chapter to her and then she reads more later when I am doing something else. Then I have to catch up and then we read the next bit aloud again. It seems to promote discussion to do it that way and it's so fun!






You know, Hobbes, some days even my lucky rocketship underpants don't help."
-Calvin





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

Sharon

Thanks! We are finding a Tale of Two Cities a real challenge to read. The sentences are very long, we are having to stop almost every paragraph to figure out what is going on. I'm not sure we'll finish it. I'll see if I can find the Scarlett Pimpernel.

Thanks again,
SHaron

Rebecca DeLong <elfmama_2@...> wrote:
Hi, I am waaayyyyy behind on email right now so someone may have already mentioned this...

My fave movie about the French Revolution is The Scarlett Pimpernel. I like the one with Anthony Andrews and Jane Seymor the best. The book is good but I like the movie better. :)

~Rebecca

Sharon wrote:

By the way, she is currently interested in the French Revolution. She heard some comments about Marie Antoinette after the recent statements made by Barbara Bush about the Katrina evacuees and that sparked her interest. (It's always amazing to me to see how things things get started!) We are going to read Tale of Two Cities by Dickens. Does anyone out there have any other suggestions? I looked for a DVD of it and I haven't found one in the local stores yet. We like to read a book and then see the movie, if there is one, and then talk about how they compare. My daughter is 13 and a very good reader, with these more challenging books we usually do a combination of reading aloud together and reading on our own. Most often I read at least the first chapter to her and then she reads more later when I am doing something else. Then I have to catch up and then we read the next bit aloud again. It seems to promote discussion to do it that way and it's so fun!






You know, Hobbes, some days even my lucky rocketship underpants don't help."
-Calvin





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sam

--- In [email protected], Sharon <word@r...> wrote:
>
> Thanks! We are finding a Tale of Two Cities a real challenge to
read. The sentences are very long, we are having to stop almost every
paragraph to figure out what is going on.

Not about the French Revolution, but I'm reading Kidnapped, by Robert
Louis Stevenson to my 7yo currently. Stevenson used a lot of Scots
dialect, which is difficult sometimes, a little tongue twisting to
read out loud. Additionaly, Gaellic proper names are hard to read as
I have no frame of reference for pronunciation. Generally, we both
take a stab at it and go with whichever seems close.

Liz in AZ

Gaelic spelling/pronunciation is pretty regular once you know
the "rules". You needn't pronounce the names correctly to enjoy the
book, of course, but if you wanted to take a stab at more authentic
pronunciations you could check
http://www.daire.org/names/notes.html#scots (or similar) -- or email
me a list. I studied Gaelic for years and could give you pronunciation
hints.

Liz

--- In [email protected], "sam" <andextradays@y...> wrote:
>
> --- In [email protected], Sharon <word@r...> wrote:
> >
> > Thanks! We are finding a Tale of Two Cities a real challenge to
> read. The sentences are very long, we are having to stop almost every
> paragraph to figure out what is going on.
>
> Not about the French Revolution, but I'm reading Kidnapped, by Robert
> Louis Stevenson to my 7yo currently. Stevenson used a lot of Scots
> dialect, which is difficult sometimes, a little tongue twisting to
> read out loud. Additionaly, Gaellic proper names are hard to read as
> I have no frame of reference for pronunciation. Generally, we both
> take a stab at it and go with whichever seems close.

NANCY OWENS

We have Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe and Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson both illustrated by N.C. Wyeth in A Young Readers Edition of the Classic Adventure. My Mom got both for Jack and even though he isn't much of a reader (and I never thought he would touch books like these), he read both condensed editions and loved them both. He probably wouldn't have understood or liked the original versions at his age, but I think now he won't be as likely to pass them by later in life. And he probably won't be a put off by the language. Usually, I'm not a fan of condensed versions of books. I don't like the 'cliff note' take on any book, but that is just me. I'm thrilled Jack liked the books and has asked my mom for more.
~Nancy


Liz in AZ <eerrhhaz@...> wrote:
Gaelic spelling/pronunciation is pretty regular once you know
the "rules". You needn't pronounce the names correctly to enjoy the
book, of course, but if you wanted to take a stab at more authentic
pronunciations you could check
http://www.daire.org/names/notes.html#scots (or similar) -- or email
me a list. I studied Gaelic for years and could give you pronunciation
hints.

Liz

--- In [email protected], "sam" <andextradays@y...> wrote:
>
> --- In [email protected], Sharon <word@r...> wrote:
> >
> > Thanks! We are finding a Tale of Two Cities a real challenge to
> read. The sentences are very long, we are having to stop almost every
> paragraph to figure out what is going on.
>
> Not about the French Revolution, but I'm reading Kidnapped, by Robert
> Louis Stevenson to my 7yo currently. Stevenson used a lot of Scots
> dialect, which is difficult sometimes, a little tongue twisting to
> read out loud. Additionaly, Gaellic proper names are hard to read as
> I have no frame of reference for pronunciation. Generally, we both
> take a stab at it and go with whichever seems close.



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

NANCY OWENS

Do you know Welsh? Does anyone? Darin's Grandfather was Welsh, and we have been searching family names to see if any particular one jumps out at us for the baby. Problem is I can't pronounce half of them and don't like the ones I can. <g>

We want to give the baby family names. My Mom's middle name is Evelyn and my Dad's is White. My Mom doesn't like her middle name and isn't too sure she wants to see a grandchild with that name, but I like it. Darin had a great, great... grandmother with the name Aelwyn/ Aylwyn/ Eylwyn (spelled all three ways @ different times) and I *think* I know how it is pronounced, and it kind of, sort of reminds me, in a way of my Mom... maybe a nice compromise? There are a few others I also *think* I might like, but I can't give a baby a name I can't pronounce.
~Nancy


Liz in AZ <eerrhhaz@...> wrote:
Gaelic spelling/pronunciation is pretty regular once you know
the "rules". You needn't pronounce the names correctly to enjoy the
book, of course, but if you wanted to take a stab at more authentic
pronunciations you could check
http://www.daire.org/names/notes.html#scots (or similar) -- or email
me a list. I studied Gaelic for years and could give you pronunciation
hints.

Liz



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

Joyce Fetteroll

On Nov 24, 2005, at 1:01 AM, NANCY OWENS wrote:

> Do you know Welsh? Does anyone? Darin's Grandfather was Welsh, and
> we have been searching family names to see if any particular one
> jumps out at us for the baby. Problem is I can't pronounce half of
> them and don't like the ones I can. <g>

I have a Welsh baby name book with a pronunciation guide at the
beginning but are the words they're using as examples pronounced the
same in America?

A as in hard or ham (I assume they mean either pronunciation since I
don't pronounce those the same ;-)
B b
C k
CH as in Bach
D d
DD as "th" in them
E as the a in same or e in self. When it immediately folows "a" the
sound is "ee"
F v
FF ff
G g as in garden
NG as in long
H h
I as "ea" in tea or tin
J j
L l
LL as in Llanelli. [Very helpful ;-)] Prepare to say "l", but instead
of making a sound, blow voicelessly
M m
N n
O as in ore or pond
P p
PH ff
R r
RH rh
S as in song
T t
TH as in cloth
U ee (or French "u" in North Wales")
W w
Y as "ae" in tea or tin or run

Joyce

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

[email protected]

In a message dated 11/24/2005 12:03:41 AM Central Standard Time,
nancy-owens@... writes:

My Mom's middle name is Evelyn and my Dad's is White. My Mom doesn't like
her middle name and isn't too sure she wants to see a grandchild with that
name, but I like it. Darin had a great, great... grandmother with the name
Aelwyn/ Aylwyn/ Eylwyn (spelled all three ways @ different times) and I *think* I
know how it is pronounced, and it kind of, sort of reminds me, in a way of my
Mom... maybe a nice compromise? There are a few others I also *think* I
might like, but I can't give a baby a name I can't pronounce.



~~~

I love the name Eva. Name her Evelyn and call her Eva.

Karen


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Deb Lewis

***Even if you can pronounce it, others need to be able to do so. ***

My brother named his second daughter Gwynydd (pronounced Gwyneth) and is
now very frustrated when people ask about little Gwinid. <g>

They were kinder to their first daughter and named her Caitlyn. Cait
(Kate) seems pretty easy. My brother's name is Joe, by the way. He's
the only one of us bothered to learn Welsh and now it seems his kids are
going to pay for it. <g>

On my dad's side of the family there were Lloyds and Llewellyns and
Eulas. One of my brother got Llewellyn as a middle name, poor bastard.
Where does the insanity end? Not with me, it turns out, I named my son
Dylan. <g> I thought everyone would know the pronunciation because of
the poet Dylan Thomas or at least because of Bob Dylan. Not so. People
still say Dye linn. I suggested Dylan be kinder to his children and
name them Bob and Sam and he said he was leaning toward Rasputin or
Methuselah. <g>

Deb L

NANCY OWENS

Thank you Joyce. The list helps me lots. I actually did find another online. I think my problem goes back to that ole evil phonics. <g> I *learned* to read at home, before I went to school. Then I started school a year early and not because I was necessarily extraordinarily smart, but because my Mom never went to Kindergarten and didn't know when I was supposed to start. And because we lived in Iran at the time. And because all of her friends who had kids around my age were going, so I went too. The school I went to was a company founded American school and was more like a co-op play group. (too bad they aren't all like that) When we got back to the states I was *ahead* so to speak in some ways of my peers but seriously lacking when it came to phonics. I couldn't wrap my mind around the phonics. It didn't make sense to me and I still don't get it. Most times I wait on judgment on a word/name until I hear someone say it. Even then I'm hesitant since many people pronounce different
words/names different ways.

Tanya/Tonya
Sandra/Sondra
Dylan/Dyelan
Kristen/Kiersten
~Nancy

Joyce Fetteroll <fetteroll@...> wrote:

I have a Welsh baby name book with a pronunciation guide at the
beginning but are the words they're using as examples pronounced the
same in America?

A as in hard or ham (I assume they mean either pronunciation since I
don't pronounce those the same ;-)
B b
C k
CH as in Bach
D d
DD as "th" in them
E as the a in same or e in self. When it immediately folows "a" the
sound is "ee"
F v
FF ff
G g as in garden
NG as in long
H h
I as "ea" in tea or tin
J j
L l
LL as in Llanelli. [Very helpful ;-)] Prepare to say "l", but instead
of making a sound, blow voicelessly
M m
N n
O as in ore or pond
P p
PH ff
R r
RH rh
S as in song
T t
TH as in cloth
U ee (or French "u" in North Wales")
W w
Y as "ae" in tea or tin or run

Joyce




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