Sandra Dodd

I'm used to being the one who's criticized. Joyce's motivations and
general goodness were questioned here:
http://familyrun.ning.com/forum/topics/sometimes-its-just-not-what-i
and although the post didn't go through, someone complained that Pam
was being bossy.

The two of those together have given me a new facet of perspective on
why people get cranky in unschooling discussions. I could be wrong,
or might have "discovered" something others of you have known a long
time, but I think maybe people have their "if/then" expectations
backwards.


IF someone wanted to unschool and IF Pam or Joyce or I (or fill in
your own sample person) said "you can if" THEN that might be bossy, I
suppose, in a way.

In both those cases above, though, it wasn't "if you want to unschool."

If was IF you want to be welcome in this discussion THEN you need to
be talking about unschooling.

If Pam is bossy (funny idea, because she's hardly ever anything *like*
bossy), she's not telling people what they have to do or how they have
to be at home with their kids. She's talking about how people need to
be in order for her to let their posts through to the list. <g>

If I'm bossy in my house, it's because it's my house and I get to say
whether people throw bottles or smoke cigarettes or set fire to paper
napkins at the table. I do! It doesn't mean you can't break glass or
set fire to your own table cloth with your own cigarettes at your own
house; I don't care. But IF someone asks online how to keep broken
glass and the smell of smoke out of their house, I might make some
recommendations. <g>

We're not unschooling on this list. We're discussing unschooling.
If someone wants to just play around with unschooling in her spare
time, once in a while, that's not the topic of this list.
This list is for people who really do intend to discuss and consider
unschooling in a serious, focussed manner.

Sandra