shirarocklin

Hi,

I'm going to be visiting the USA soon, and I'd like to get a couple of books about unschooling. The first will be Sandra's Big Book. (Is there still time to order before you go away Sandra?). I was hoping for a recommendation on a second book, keeping in mind that we have small children, and this is for my husband to read, mostly. What was your favorite book to read?

And, given all of the controversy out on the internet about what unschooling actually is... are there books that you think got it wrong?

Thanks,
Shira

Joyce Fetteroll

On Dec 11, 2010, at 12:22 PM, shirarocklin wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I'm going to be visiting the USA soon, and I'd like to get a couple
> of books about unschooling.
>

Definitely Rue Kream's book, Parenting a Free Child: An Unschooled Life.

http://www.freechild.info/

I don't know specifically that it appeals to men, but it's a very easy
read, exceptionally clear and well presented. Each question and answer
is only about a page long so it's easy to dip into. A good bathroom
read :-)

Joyce

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

Sandra Dodd

-=-And, given all of the controversy out on the internet about what unschooling actually is... are there books that you think got it wrong?-=-

Is there new controversy? Or you mean the same old controversy?


I have two books, you know. :-) The first one was more about little kids, because my kids were littler.

Any books bought in the next six days will be delivered before Christmas. If you have a U.S. address for those, Shira, let me know. Where in the U.S. (in general) are you visiting? Have you already found unschoolers to visit?

My two:
http://sandradodd.com/bigbook
http://sandradodd.com/puddlebook
Because of the existence of flat-rate priority mail, it's easier for me and less expensive (at priority rates) to mail them separately. Book rate is a possibility, but it involves more work on my end, and isn't as quick and great on the post office's end.

Rue Kream's book (linked here: http://sandradodd.com/books )
is more about parenting than the "learning part" of unschooling, but it's a great book.

Sandra

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

BRIAN POLIKOWSKY

Hey Shira you are welcome to come visit us here in Minnesota!

 
Alex Polikowsky

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

shirarocklin

> Is there new controversy? Or you mean the same old controversy?

No new controversy that I know of... but I remember the disucssions about other types of unschoolers sounding like they were 'selling' unschooling, but really it was some other flavor of unschooling (religious or otherwise). I'm still not sure how our unschooling is going to completely manifest, since my husband is and Orthodox Jew, and I'm somewhat traditional. I hope that one doesn't have to overshadow the other, that both unschooling and Judaism can be balanced out and work together. But I feel great right now, because I think that however it turns out will be at least 95% better than how we would have parented our kids without knowing about unschooling.

Sandra, I figured out last time that I almost ordered that I wanted the Big Book, but I don't remember why so much. I'll send in an order ASAP.

We're visiting my Mother-in-Law in Connecticut. I hadn't thought of looking for some unschoolers there to visit. What a great idea! Are there any unschoolers, little, big, or grown, who live near New Haven on this list?

> Rue Kream's book (linked here: http://sandradodd.com/books )
> is more about parenting than the "learning part" of unschooling, but it's a great book.

This was on my list of possibilities as well, so I think I'll buy it. The parenting part is more important right now, I think, for my husband, since that is where he struggles, and the learning part is mostly my job right now.

I'm curious, those who start unschooling before school-age... when you hit school-age, how long did it take to get into the groove? Up til now, its mostly coloring, bake cookies, go out to fun places, playdates, city programs, etc. At 4.5years old, Junior Kindergarten age, I'm not really considering this a real school-age year, since JK didn't exist when I was that age. I've sort of allotted in my mind the next two years for finding our way, learning to live that swirly life. Does that sound realistic? I feel like the last two years have been about learning the parenting side of unschooling.

Something that has been difficult, internalizing that there are no unschooling police (even the ones in my head) and that it takes time to get it all going smoothly, and that there may be some areas of life where circumstances make it difficult to find an unschoolish solution. Like, we don't and never did have bedtimes, but there are physical limits on how late my husband and I can stay up with little kids without things being unsafe for them. It took a while to realize that we should just do what makes overall life run more smoothly if it results in happier people, so after a certain hour of night, there is a push toward bed and sleep - with tons of flexibility built in and gentleness, and the knowledge on my part that the flexibility and freedom will only grow as they are older and able to stay-up alone without us.

Ok, I think I've taken this thread off-topic. :)

Shira

Lisa E Biesemeyer

"...I figured out last time that I almost ordered that I wanted the Big Book,
but I don't remember why so much."

I received the book a couple of weeks ago, and while I am enjoying it a lot, I
really feel like it is the ideal "bathroom book". Visitors, family members, my
husband are able to pick it up, read a page, get something from it, and put it
down. It doesn't ask that the reader engross themselves in it. I definitely
think it is a must-have unschooling text, especially if your goal is to share it
with others who have less interest or less patience with the topic.

Lisa B

Lisa Biesemeyer




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

Kelly Lovejoy

We're visiting my Mother-in-Law in Connecticut. I hadn't thought of looking for
some unschoolers there to visit. What a great idea! Are there any unschoolers,
little, big, or grown, who live near New Haven on this list?

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-


Deb Rossing and Erika Davis-Pitre are both in CT. Contact me offlist, and I'll put you in touch with them.


~Kelly

Kelly Lovejoy
"There is no single effort more radical in its potential for saving the world than a transformation of the way we raise our children." Marianne Williamson





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

Sandra Dodd

-=-I received the book a couple of weeks ago, and while I am enjoying it a lot, I
really feel like it is the ideal "bathroom book". -=-

Long ago in my first year of college, my first English instructor wrote "Funny, but good" on one of my papers.
The statement above reminds me of "funny, but good" in it's "I'm enjoying it, but..." :-)

It is my opinion that something can be funny AND good, and enjoyable AND an ideal bathroom book. Marty declared it a good bathroom book before it was ever published. He and Lisa are both right. :-)

Sandra

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

Laura Flynn Endres

Learning All the Time> Hi,
>
> I'm going to be visiting the USA soon, and I'd like to get a couple
> of books about unschooling.
>



I just bought and read Peggy Pirro's book, "101 Reasons Why I'm an Unschooler" and highly recommend it! It's a very quick read, too.
http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/101-reasons-why-im-an-unschooler/4721579

Laura

*~*~*~*~*
"Keep company with those who make you better." ~ English saying
*~*~*~*~*
www.piscesgrrrl.blogspot.com
*~*~*~*~*

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

Sandra Dodd

-=-I just bought and read Peggy Pirro's book, "101 Reasons Why I'm an Unschooler" and highly recommend it! It's a very quick read, too.
http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/101-reasons-why-im-an-unschooler/4721579-=-

I've bought replacement copies for those I've given away, of that one. Another good bathroom read, too.

Sandra

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

plaidpanties666

"shirarocklin" <shirarocklin@...> wrote:
>> I'm curious, those who start unschooling before school-age... when you hit school-age, how long did it take to get into the groove?
*******************

Are you thinking something is going to change in a big way when the magic number rolls around? If you have a "groove" going by that point, you'll keep on grooving, I suspect ;) Why wouldn't you?

Answering my own question, its not uncommon for parents who "unschool" the preschool years to have a surge of panic when their first child hits mandatory school age. Its not uncommon for kids to be curious about school around age 5 or 6, too - there's a looooot of "school is fun" propaganda aimed at helping kids make that transition, after all, so its normal for unschooling kids to want to know what the fun is all about. And there tends to be increased pressure on parents from spouses and extended family to "start doing school" if you're keeping the kids home. So mandatory school age is a challenging hurdle to overcome in that regard - and plenty of families do put kids in school after "unschooling preschool". That's one of the reasons seasoned unschoolers will sometimes say that unschooling doesn't really start until school age.

I'd say "getting in a groove" has more to do with adapting to developmental changes. Kids do change ;) and sometimes those changes can throw parents for a loop... just when you get things running smoothly, someone's needs change! That's something that will slow down a bit, though, as kids get older, rather than the seemingly endless variations you can get with toddlers.

---Meredith (Mo 9, Ray 17)

Lisa E Biesemeyer

'Long ago in my first year of college, my first English instructor wrote "Funny,
but good" on one of my papers.
The statement above reminds me of "funny, but good" in it's "I'm enjoying it,
but..." :-)"

Ah! Totally meant AND... It is a great read for me AND an ideal bathroom book

Lisa B

Lisa Biesemeyer




________________________________
F\

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

k

I think Meredith's whole post here is a very good explanation of what
unschooling looks like juxtaposed with school in those early years. I can
relate to Shira's description of feeling like she's in some no man's land
until her children are school age. When Karl turned 6, I waded through by
staying in no man's land a little longer. Or wait and see land. It was a
good place to be, and to stay. What I saw is that Karl continued to change
and to figure out more and more things. Unschooling proving itself to me
again, just as it had when Karl was much younger in those early toddler
lightening fast developments flying by but slowing down a bit, and moving
further on to other types of development than I was used to looking for.
Like being good with people of all ages and playing well with many of them.
Something that deepened: understanding and gelling with people, going by
their emotional responses to things he and others say and do. Something I've
gotten unused to in myself which I have been inspired to pay more attention
to.

It can be uncomfortable, and therefore motivated to learn more by dent of
not being in a groove of knowing what happens next. I think unschooling
works well when the parents are learning right along with their children and
realizing that they too have a lot more to figure out... or to figure out
again. It's a good way to see that slipping into teacher or
knowledge-provider mode need not happen, even if that makes one feel, as one
blog comment accused unschoolers of recently, a bit clueless. What is
probably being missed there is that being clueless is not a symptom of
having no information; it's a symptom of still being in the process or
(hopefully) open to the process of finding the meaning in the info-- which
is what learning really is. Learning is not "fact management" (same
blogpost), something you can use computers and calculators for. Instead,
sentient beings (humans) excel at learning.

~Katherine




On Sun, Dec 12, 2010 at 2:09 PM, plaidpanties666
<plaidpanties666@...>wrote:

>
> "shirarocklin" <shirarocklin@...> wrote:
> >> I'm curious, those who start unschooling before school-age... when you
> hit school-age, how long did it take to get into the groove?
> *******************
>
> Are you thinking something is going to change in a big way when the magic
> number rolls around? If you have a "groove" going by that point, you'll keep
> on grooving, I suspect ;) Why wouldn't you?
>
> Answering my own question, its not uncommon for parents who "unschool" the
> preschool years to have a surge of panic when their first child hits
> mandatory school age. Its not uncommon for kids to be curious about school
> around age 5 or 6, too - there's a looooot of "school is fun" propaganda
> aimed at helping kids make that transition, after all, so its normal for
> unschooling kids to want to know what the fun is all about. And there tends
> to be increased pressure on parents from spouses and extended family to
> "start doing school" if you're keeping the kids home. So mandatory school
> age is a challenging hurdle to overcome in that regard - and plenty of
> families do put kids in school after "unschooling preschool". That's one of
> the reasons seasoned unschoolers will sometimes say that unschooling doesn't
> really start until school age.
>
> I'd say "getting in a groove" has more to do with adapting to developmental
> changes. Kids do change ;) and sometimes those changes can throw parents for
> a loop... just when you get things running smoothly, someone's needs change!
> That's something that will slow down a bit, though, as kids get older,
> rather than the seemingly endless variations you can get with toddlers.
>
> ---Meredith (Mo 9, Ray 17)
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>


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

Sandra Dodd

-=- I think unschooling
works well when the parents are learning right along with their children and
realizing that they too have a lot more to figure out... or to figure out
again. It's a good way to see that slipping into teacher or
knowledge-provider mode need not happen, even if that makes one feel, as one
blog comment accused unschoolers of recently, a bit clueless. -=-

Is this a blog post I want to know about?

Because I didn't see the post to which you're referring... did someone suggest that starting to unschool made the mom feel clueless?
Or did someone accuse unschoolers of being "a bit clueless"?

Sandra

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

k

It was here where someone in the comments said they knew clueless
unschoolers:
http://thepioneerwoman.com/homeschooling/2010/12/unschooling-do-dont-why/and
the author of the blogpost seemed to think that some form of illogic
had
to be there in order to be able to unschool. It wasn't intended to be
unfriendly but it wasn't (as usual) a good description of what unschooling
is and what it does. The emphasis was on the author's (and several comment
emphases were on) need for order.

All of which in my opinion sound very much that you could have unschooling
in the picture or out of the picture, and the people would be the same: some
would be clueless and some would be very interested in how to keep things in
order. A whole batch of "tempest in a teacup" ironies there.

~Katherine




On Sun, Dec 12, 2010 at 7:58 PM, Sandra Dodd <Sandra@...> wrote:

> -=- I think unschooling
> works well when the parents are learning right along with their children
> and
> realizing that they too have a lot more to figure out... or to figure out
> again. It's a good way to see that slipping into teacher or
> knowledge-provider mode need not happen, even if that makes one feel, as
> one
> blog comment accused unschoolers of recently, a bit clueless. -=-
>
> Is this a blog post I want to know about?
>
> Because I didn't see the post to which you're referring... did someone
> suggest that starting to unschool made the mom feel clueless?
> Or did someone accuse unschoolers of being "a bit clueless"?
>
> Sandra
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>


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

BRIAN POLIKOWSKY

I followed a link to a blog that the person calls her self an unschooler.
Here it is:
http://www.strewing.blogspot.com/

No wonder there is so much confusion about what it and what is not unschooling.
 
Alex Polikowsky
.




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

maurakardash

The first unschooling book I read from front to back was
The Unschooling Unmanual.
(It's only 91 pages so it was the least overwhelming at the time.)
http://www.amazon.com/Unschooling-Unmanual-Nanda-Van-Gestel/dp/0968575455/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1292310603&sr=1-1

One review on Amazon says this, and I agree:
''The Unschooling Unmanual is a unique and empowering book about the growing trend of unschooling. It is the book to give to doubtful or fearing partners and family as well as anyone considering or interested in this life.''

I have a friend who really wanted to know more about unschooling after trying homeschooling for a month and hating it. I let her borrow The Unschooling Unmanual, directed her to Sandra's website, and she started unschooling the second she put the book down. (She and I love Sandra's Big Book of Unschooling because it is like her website put into a book so I am glad you are buying that!)

There is one chapter in The Unschooling Unmanual that alone is worth the price of the book. It is a speech given at a conference that explains why schools were started and how the curriculum has come to be. Mind-blowing. I can't look up the name of the chapter because my friend is lending the book to another friend who is interested in unschooling :)

Anyhow, I really can't recommend the book enough. Enjoy your trip! :)



--- In [email protected], "shirarocklin" <shirarocklin@...> wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> I'm going to be visiting the USA soon, and I'd like to get a couple of books about unschooling. The first will be Sandra's Big Book. (Is there still time to order before you go away Sandra?). I was hoping for a recommendation on a second book, keeping in mind that we have small children, and this is for my husband to read, mostly. What was your favorite book to read?
>
> And, given all of the controversy out on the internet about what unschooling actually is... are there books that you think got it wrong?
>
> Thanks,
> Shira
>

maurakardash

I decided to keep reading the reviews on Amazon for The Unschooling Unmanual and I thought it would be helpful to post this review since you want a book that can help your husband.

"My wife offered me the "Unschooling Unmanual" to check out a few months ago. At first I thought, "Oh no, not another book that will take me forever to get through." Once I opened it and started reading it though, I was so suprised that it was such an easy read. I loved how it has different essays so you can read one each day if you want. I learned so much from this book in such a short amount of time.
If you are unsure about Unschooling and parenting without punishments you have to read this book. It helped me so much as a father to understanding Unschooling from so many different perspectives.
I never thought I would be the type of person to recommend a parenting book to someone, but this book is the one I tell all of my Dad-buddies about. It really helped me "Get it" on a deeper level."



--- In [email protected], "shirarocklin" <shirarocklin@...> wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> I'm going to be visiting the USA soon, and I'd like to get a couple of books about unschooling. The first will be Sandra's Big Book. (Is there still time to order before you go away Sandra?). I was hoping for a recommendation on a second book, keeping in mind that we have small children, and this is for my husband to read, mostly. What was your favorite book to read?
>
> And, given all of the controversy out on the internet about what unschooling actually is... are there books that you think got it wrong?
>
> Thanks,
> Shira
>