Robyn Coburn

<<<The reason the AlwaysUnschooled list was created is that I objected
to people with babies saying they were unschoolers. Sometimes I feel
one way about it and sometimes I feel another, but I just found this
comment on a blog, out there, by "anonymous" and it reinforces my
feeling that it clutters up unschooling for people to say they've
done it if they give up at "school age.">>>>>

As one of the original founders of Always Unschooled, I feel gently
called to defend the concept of the list very simply by paraphrasing
the list description: to discuss how the principles of unschooling
apply to young children up to the age of 8 or so. Part, a really big
part, of the goal was to help people see how the attachment parenting
ideas and ideals they were living, or could be living, *could*
seamlessly and beautifully carry forward to the school years, that
there was no need to change what they were doing in response to their
kids suddenly becoming school age.

It was not to promote how like unschooling AP is, but rather to point
out how like AP unschooling is, especially when it is real radical
unschooling.

If someone posted the sentiments expressed in that disappointing blog
post on Always Unschooled a pretty spirited discussion of all those
issues mentioned would ensue. That person would be strongly
encouraged to rethink those plans.

Probably the authenticity of their "unschooling" up to now would be
questioned. They would be challenged to justify their beliefs and the
clarity of their thinking. Many of the ladies over on AU are
extremely rigorous intellectually, and just as picky about word use
and mindful speech as anyone here. (And much smarter than me!)

I relinquished co-ownership of the list once Jayn was a little past
school age in CA, because I felt it kept me looking backwards instead
of focussing such writing as I had time for on how Jayn is now. I was
overwhelmed by the volume and time I was spending on line - so I cut
back on participating in many lists, leaving the archives available
when I need to refresh my memory.

But up to that time, the list was extremely valuable to me and
definitely helped me with my unschooling foundation.

Robyn L. Coburn
www.Iggyjingles.etsy.com
www.iggyjingles.blogspot.com

Sandra Dodd

-=-As one of the original founders of Always Unschooled, I feel gently
called to defend the concept of the list very simply by paraphrasing
the list description: to discuss how the principles of unschooling
apply to young children up to the age of 8 or so. Part, a really big
part, of the goal was to help people see how the attachment parenting
ideas and ideals they were living, or could be living, *could*
seamlessly and beautifully carry forward to the school years, that
there was no need to change what they were doing in response to their
kids suddenly becoming school age.-=-



I know. It wasn't criticism of that list, it was criticism of me.

But it's probably best for readers to have that place to focus on
very young children, and this list to more for older ones. It's not
as though either list is hurting for members or traffice. But there
are problems. If people there are hearing mostly from others with
only very young children, they're not getting the depth and breadth
of advice they would get from people who have done it long enough to
look back and see what they might've done differently. I'm pretty
sure there are people there who are on other lists too, though, so I
hope that has taken care of that concern.

Sandra

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

Margaret

I don't think AlwaysUnschooled needs defending. It is a great list
and there are a lot of good things about having a list focused on
younger children. I read AlwaysUnschooled for quite a while and found
it to be very helpful. It was what got me from where I started
(planning to be an ecclectic or relaxed homeschooler) to really having
radical unschooling ideas sinking in and deciding that this is how I
wanted to live. I ended up stopping reading it and finding myself
more interested in this list at some point, but that's just me.
AlwayUnschooled is an excellent list and I am really glad that it was
created :)

Margaret

On Sun, Sep 7, 2008 at 10:34 AM, Robyn Coburn <dezigna@...> wrote:
> <<<The reason the AlwaysUnschooled list was created is that I objected
> to people with babies saying they were unschoolers. Sometimes I feel
> one way about it and sometimes I feel another, but I just found this
> comment on a blog, out there, by "anonymous" and it reinforces my
> feeling that it clutters up unschooling for people to say they've
> done it if they give up at "school age.">>>>>
>
> As one of the original founders of Always Unschooled, I feel gently
> called to defend the concept of the list very simply by paraphrasing
> the list description: to discuss how the principles of unschooling
> apply to young children up to the age of 8 or so. Part, a really big
> part, of the goal was to help people see how the attachment parenting
> ideas and ideals they were living, or could be living, *could*
> seamlessly and beautifully carry forward to the school years, that
> there was no need to change what they were doing in response to their
> kids suddenly becoming school age.
>
> It was not to promote how like unschooling AP is, but rather to point
> out how like AP unschooling is, especially when it is real radical
> unschooling.
>
> If someone posted the sentiments expressed in that disappointing blog
> post on Always Unschooled a pretty spirited discussion of all those
> issues mentioned would ensue. That person would be strongly
> encouraged to rethink those plans.
>
> Probably the authenticity of their "unschooling" up to now would be
> questioned. They would be challenged to justify their beliefs and the
> clarity of their thinking. Many of the ladies over on AU are
> extremely rigorous intellectually, and just as picky about word use
> and mindful speech as anyone here. (And much smarter than me!)
>
> I relinquished co-ownership of the list once Jayn was a little past
> school age in CA, because I felt it kept me looking backwards instead
> of focussing such writing as I had time for on how Jayn is now. I was
> overwhelmed by the volume and time I was spending on line - so I cut
> back on participating in many lists, leaving the archives available
> when I need to refresh my memory.
>
> But up to that time, the list was extremely valuable to me and
> definitely helped me with my unschooling foundation.
>
> Robyn L. Coburn