Deschooling me
Laureen
Heya!
Rowan is almost 7. Kestrel is almost 4. Aurora, almost 1. None of them have
even so much as set foot in a school, and when I asked Rowan if he was
interested, the other day, he flat-out laughed at me. So far so good.
Here's my problem. I'm still catching myself being all happy when something
that I identify as schoolish benchmarks and accomplishments pops up. We
don't do spelling exercises or workbooks or anything; Rowan wants to spell
stuff so he can find things on the internet, or contribute his input to the
grocery list. And yet I am all giddy in my heart-of-schoolish-darkness that
he's *spelling*. He does amazing math in his head, when he's doing
construction projects with his father, and I'm all stoked because in my
brain I know that that's math I didn't do until 4th or 5th grade.
So I'm wondering when schoolishness gets eradicated from my thoughts? And
what's it attached to? And most importantly... does this kind of backbrain
chatter show through, and damage what I'm doing? Ack!
--
~~L!
s/v Excellent Adventure
http://www.theexcellentadventure.com/
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Rowan is almost 7. Kestrel is almost 4. Aurora, almost 1. None of them have
even so much as set foot in a school, and when I asked Rowan if he was
interested, the other day, he flat-out laughed at me. So far so good.
Here's my problem. I'm still catching myself being all happy when something
that I identify as schoolish benchmarks and accomplishments pops up. We
don't do spelling exercises or workbooks or anything; Rowan wants to spell
stuff so he can find things on the internet, or contribute his input to the
grocery list. And yet I am all giddy in my heart-of-schoolish-darkness that
he's *spelling*. He does amazing math in his head, when he's doing
construction projects with his father, and I'm all stoked because in my
brain I know that that's math I didn't do until 4th or 5th grade.
So I'm wondering when schoolishness gets eradicated from my thoughts? And
what's it attached to? And most importantly... does this kind of backbrain
chatter show through, and damage what I'm doing? Ack!
--
~~L!
s/v Excellent Adventure
http://www.theexcellentadventure.com/
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Sandra Dodd
-=Here's my problem. I'm still catching myself being all happy when
something
that I identify as schoolish benchmarks and accomplishments pops up.-=-
So do I, but it went from giddy and "AHA! Take THAT!" thoughts to my
current more "Cool, I should write that up on Always Learning."
I love easy questions!
-=-So I'm wondering when schoolishness gets eradicated from my
thoughts?-=-
Never.
-=- And what's it attached to?-=-
Self image and childhood expectations and fears.
-=- And most importantly... does this kind of backbrain chatter show
through, and damage what I'm doing? Ack!-=-
Maybe it shows sometimes, but there's probably less damage to
unschooling by it, because you're actively trying to change, than
there would be to your own personal growth if you didn't try to change
it.
(Wow. That swirled and whirlpooled... Wait...)
If you didn't let your backbrain chatter and then look at what you
were thinking, that might be more damaging than processing it on out
and seeing it for what it is.
I still have sudden thoughts of "Oh no!" and although they go away
quickly, they still do pop up like little weeds sometimes. I was out
picking weeds this morning. Some of those weeds that take two hands
to pull if they're grown can be pulled out with two fingers when
they're seedlings. And that's why I point out when people seem not
to be "pulling their little weeds" (like using "student" or "taught"
or "6th grader" or "have to"). Because I know they'll be harder to
get rid of the longer people wait to start.
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
something
that I identify as schoolish benchmarks and accomplishments pops up.-=-
So do I, but it went from giddy and "AHA! Take THAT!" thoughts to my
current more "Cool, I should write that up on Always Learning."
I love easy questions!
-=-So I'm wondering when schoolishness gets eradicated from my
thoughts?-=-
Never.
-=- And what's it attached to?-=-
Self image and childhood expectations and fears.
-=- And most importantly... does this kind of backbrain chatter show
through, and damage what I'm doing? Ack!-=-
Maybe it shows sometimes, but there's probably less damage to
unschooling by it, because you're actively trying to change, than
there would be to your own personal growth if you didn't try to change
it.
(Wow. That swirled and whirlpooled... Wait...)
If you didn't let your backbrain chatter and then look at what you
were thinking, that might be more damaging than processing it on out
and seeing it for what it is.
I still have sudden thoughts of "Oh no!" and although they go away
quickly, they still do pop up like little weeds sometimes. I was out
picking weeds this morning. Some of those weeds that take two hands
to pull if they're grown can be pulled out with two fingers when
they're seedlings. And that's why I point out when people seem not
to be "pulling their little weeds" (like using "student" or "taught"
or "6th grader" or "have to"). Because I know they'll be harder to
get rid of the longer people wait to start.
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]