Sandra Dodd

I was corresponding with another unschooler who's a keen, prolific
writer about terminology and how it affects thought and all that cool
stuff I like. But I said it helped me to think of what the opposite
of the term would be, the other side. That I thought Unschooling was
opposed only to Schooling. (Not an exact quote; maybe I could find
that e-mail if this discussion doesn't fizzle out too soon.)

Today I was at Family RUNning, where each profile template asks new
members
what does "radical unschooling" mean to you?

I wrote:
Learning always in all ways, learning how to make choices by making
choices, and living whole lives in the real world.

I came across one today, and I don't want to pick on the author nor
even point out who it is at all; it's not about that. But one person
wrote:

"Radical unschooling means going against the grain and fighting social
norms as a family and for your children."

It seems tiring and negative and scary and isolating. The children in
that family are young. That means a dozen or fifteen years MORE of
going against the grain and fighting social norms.

One of the questions I'm going to be asked in an interview (video, at
HSC in August) is, in part, about when I started unschooling:
"...what resources were out there? Did you feel isolated and
unsupported?"

I didn't feel isolated. I don't want anyone to feel isolated. One
thing that might help is encouraging people to see unschooling in a
soft, positive, gradual-growth way rather than a sudden jump behind
sandbag barriers in opposition to society and tradition.

Sandra


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

k

>>>I didn't feel isolated. I don't want anyone to feel isolated. One
thing that might help is encouraging people to see unschooling in a
soft, positive, gradual-growth way rather than a sudden jump behind
sandbag barriers in opposition to society and tradition.<<<

Unschooling doesn't have to be about society at all. Some people's
interaction with life is a big focus on society and they're likely to
notice how unschooling is different from many things in mainstream
society.

The same thing is true of religion or sexuality or whatever. It's
possible to view one's religion as a personal spirituality only or how
it works in society OR as a combination of both (either strictly or
just somewhat).

>>>a sudden jump behind sandbag barriers<<<

Unschooling as war seems more than a little anticlimactic to me. To
learn all the wonderful ways it's possible to open the world to a
child to learn from and then it seems one must avoid a great deal of
the world after all? I don't think so.

Knowing local homeschooling laws and expectations can help with
unschooling confidently.

~Katherine





On Tue, Jul 27, 2010 at 1:07 PM, Sandra Dodd <Sandra@...> wrote:
> I was corresponding with another unschooler who's a keen, prolific
> writer about terminology and how it affects thought and all that cool
> stuff I like. But I said it helped me to think of what the opposite
> of the term would be, the other side. That I thought Unschooling was
> opposed only to Schooling. (Not an exact quote; maybe I could find
> that e-mail if this discussion doesn't fizzle out too soon.)
>
> Today I was at Family RUNning, where each profile template asks new
> members
> what does "radical unschooling" mean to you?
>
> I wrote:
> Learning always in all ways, learning how to make choices by making
> choices, and living whole lives in the real world.
>
> I came across one today, and I don't want to pick on the author nor
> even point out who it is at all; it's not about that. But one person
> wrote:
>
> "Radical unschooling means going against the grain and fighting social
> norms as a family and for your children."
>
> It seems tiring and negative and scary and isolating. The children in
> that family are young. That means a dozen or fifteen years MORE of
> going against the grain and fighting social norms.
>
> One of the questions I'm going to be asked in an interview (video, at
> HSC in August) is, in part, about when I started unschooling:
> "...what resources were out there? Did you feel isolated and
> unsupported?"
>
> I didn't feel isolated. I don't want anyone to feel isolated. One
> thing that might help is encouraging people to see unschooling in a
> soft, positive, gradual-growth way rather than a sudden jump behind
> sandbag barriers in opposition to society and tradition.
>
> Sandra
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>

Pam Sorooshian

On 7/27/2010 1:48 PM, k wrote:
> Unschooling doesn't have to be about society at all. Some people's
> interaction with life is a big focus on society and they're likely to
> notice how unschooling is different from many things in mainstream
> society.
>
> The same thing is true of religion or sexuality or whatever. It's
> possible to view one's religion as a personal spirituality only or how
> it works in society OR as a combination of both (either strictly or
> just somewhat).

YES. I love that you said this. I haven't been able to articulate this,
even to myself.

I am a suburban Southern Californian hippy/surfer girl who got an
advanced degree in econometrics when there were probably only about a
dozen other females in the field, changed my religion (to Baha'i),
married an Iranian refugee, quit a high-paying job where I was on track
to become one of the first female officers in a company that was the
largest employer in Southern California, and didn't send my kids to
school and, what's more, didn't even school them at home.

With all that - I was truly taken by surprise, one day, when Sandra
called me unconventional. I don't feel anti-society in the slightest. I
don't feel like I am "fighting 'The Man'" or "The Establishment" or
"Corporate America." Nothing like that. I'm making my own individual
choices for completely personal reasons.

Well - as soon as I wrote that I thought - "Uh-uh - not so true." I made
the choice to get my degrees in economics under the strong influence of
the women's movement with the idea of breaking into a completely
male-dominated field and not at all out of any passion or even real
satisfaction in the subject or work itself. And that's the one
decision I have regrets about, too.

Living "against" something is negative by definition. Negativity isn't
conducive to a happy life with children.

-pam

Jenny Cyphers

***"Radical unschooling means going against the grain and fighting social
norms as a family and for your children."***

It seems to me, that this is an aspect that turns some men off, when it comes to
unschooling. Some men, partners and fathers, would like to be "normal", they'd
like to have kids that won't be weirdos, they don't want to go against the
grain. Even my artsy, musical husband was a bit that way at first. Standing
out isn't something that everyone strives for.

I prefer to blend in a bit. My teenage daughter makes it hard to blend in,
while in public, hanging out together.

I like to think of unschooling as going with what works the most peacefully, not
going against things.





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

Sandra Dodd

-=-I like to think of unschooling as going with what works the most
peacefully, not
going against things.-=-

Me too!

And I think unschooling families should be a part of the world, not
"apart from" the world.

Sandra

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