Ellen LaFleche-Christian

I've been doing more reading about unschooling and want to make sure
I understand this correctly.

It basically means allowing your child to learn what they want
through doing things they enjoy? So if my son loves to read and
loves dinosaurs, it would be reasonable for me to have a dinosaur
book available for him to read and learn from.

Similarly if he enjoys reading about dragons it would be OK to offer
him books or movies on dragons and since he likes to write stories,
I could ask if he wanted to write me a story about the dragon he
just learned about?

He likes to work in "workbook" type books and do word searches, etc.
So is it OK to make those available to him as well?

He also likes to help me cook so as we are doing that, it's ok to
mention that a 1/4 cup is really 25% of a cup, etc.

He also likes to play with is globe & have us ask him to find
countries on it so as we do that I could talk to him about the
country he found as long as he expresses an interest to know more
information?

Just making sure I "get this".

Ellen LaFleche-Christian

Pampered Chef Michelle

On 4/10/06, Ellen LaFleche-Christian <scentednights2002@...> wrote:

He likes to work in "workbook" type books and do word searches, etc.
> So is it OK to make those available to him as well?


We have quite a few workbook type books in our house as well as word
searches (and sudoku and math books and workbooks on magnets and origami and
a whole bunch of other subjects that my kids have asked for.) They've seen
them in the store and look at these things like puzzles. Sometimes they
will get one of these workbooks down and spend hours doing every page and
then put them up for months before lookin at them again. I don't buy them
to "tempt" them but because I know that sometimes they like doing them (just
like they like coloring sometimes or cutting paper with scissors or planting
seeds or building Legos!)

He also likes to help me cook so as we are doing that, it's ok to
> mention that a 1/4 cup is really 25% of a cup, etc.


Sure. Although I find that perCENTs make much more sense with money. 25¢
is 25% of $1.00. If your child enjoys cooking he will learn through
experimentation and following recipes (or making them up) fractions
eventually and naturally. My dd has these mashed potatoes that she likes to
make. There are two packages in a box and sometimes she makes only one if
she just wants some but if the whole family wants some she makes two
packages. She's been making these for the past few months. When she makes
two packages she has just been measuring twice. So she would put in 2/3 cup
of milk and then another 2/3 cup of milk. 1/4 cup of water and another 1/4
cup of water. I've let her do it that way because it makes sense and the
potatoes turn out the correct consistancy. So tonight she is staring at the
box and looking at the measuring cups and is suddenly hit with an "ah-ha"
moment. "Mom! 2/3 cup plus another 2/3 cup is 1-1/3 cup! Hey that's
pretty cool." No; the cool part is that no one told her that! She then
went on to tell me what the other measurements were if she were to double it
rather than add the ingredients twice. How cool is that? :)

He also likes to play with is globe & have us ask him to find
> countries on it so as we do that I could talk to him about the
> country he found as long as he expresses an interest to know more
> information?


The key is that you stop thinking of everything you do as an "educational
moment" and start thinking of it as living. As adults we don't (or maybe I
should say as an adult I don't) think when we get the new National
Geographic in terms of "What will I learn from this months' issue?" Instead
I see that brown envelope in the mailbox and think, "Oh goodie!! I wonder
what wonderful things they have to share with me this month!" Sure I'm
learning but I don't think of reading NG as an "educational moment." I like
reading NG because it stretches my brain, gives me new ideas and insights to
places I have yet to go (but have an ever growing list of places I want to
go!) I feel alive when I read NG. I also enjoy getting several other
magazines each month. While interesting and maybe I learn something from
them, they don't excite me like NG does. That doesn't lessen their
importance in my life, just that I use them for different things. Sort of
like food. I eat cake because I enjoy cake. I enjoy other foods as well,
but I eat them for different reasons. I know if all I ate was cake I would
feel slow, tired, and lithless. And if I only eat beans and rice and cheese
and salad I will get bored. So I have a variety of foods that I eat to meet
the variety of needs that I have. And I'm trying to apply that to more
areas of my life.





--
Michelle
Independent Kitchen Consultant #413652
The Pampered Chef
850-474-0817
http://www.pamperedchef.biz/michellelr
Ask me how you can save 60% on some of our most favorite products!


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

Michelle Thedaker

Ellen,



I'm really new at this unschooling path also - isn't it interesting trying
to figure it all out? :-) From what I understand, all of what you are
saying here is great, so long as your son has the free choice to say, "No
thanks, I don't want to do that right now" and you respect his choice to do
something else. If he likes workbooks, make them available, but make it
completely okay for him NOT to do them if he doesn't want to. That kind of
thing.



I've been soaking in Joyce's site today and WOW! What great information!!
http://home.earthlink.net/~fetteroll/rejoycing/ is the site and I would
HIGHLY recommend browsing through it if you haven't already. Reading
through there today has created a great many "ah ha!" moments for me. :-)



Shell & Da Boys

Drew, 6.5 and Josh, 2.5

Life is like riding a bicycle. You don't fall off unless you stop pedaling.

http://thedaker.blogspot.com/

_____

From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ellen
LaFleche-Christian
Sent: Monday, April 10, 2006 8:15 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [unschoolingbasics] Making sure I understand



I've been doing more reading about unschooling and want to make sure
I understand this correctly.

It basically means allowing your child to learn what they want
through doing things they enjoy? So if my son loves to read and
loves dinosaurs, it would be reasonable for me to have a dinosaur
book available for him to read and learn from.

Similarly if he enjoys reading about dragons it would be OK to offer
him books or movies on dragons and since he likes to write stories,
I could ask if he wanted to write me a story about the dragon he
just learned about?

He likes to work in "workbook" type books and do word searches, etc.
So is it OK to make those available to him as well?

He also likes to help me cook so as we are doing that, it's ok to
mention that a 1/4 cup is really 25% of a cup, etc.

He also likes to play with is globe & have us ask him to find
countries on it so as we do that I could talk to him about the
country he found as long as he expresses an interest to know more
information?

Just making sure I "get this".

Ellen LaFleche-Christian







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

Joyce Fetteroll

On Apr 10, 2006, at 11:14 PM, Ellen LaFleche-Christian wrote:

> So if my son loves to read and
> loves dinosaurs, it would be reasonable for me to have a dinosaur
> book available for him to read and learn from.

Even more reasonable is to have book*s*, and videos and plastic dinos
and trips to dinosaur museums, and kits and fossils ....

Not all at once since that might be overwhelming, but open the world
up to him. Make it easy for him to access things that interest him.
Think of yourself as his partner. You're helping him with *his*
interests, not trying to funnel what you feel is important into him.

It's much like you might come across something your husband might
like and bring it home for him. But in the case of your son it's just
ratched up more since your son doesn't have the freedom or ability
your husband does to get out into the world. Think of yourself as
your son's arms and legs and eyes to help him reach out.

> Similarly if he enjoys reading about dragons it would be OK to offer
> him books or movies on dragons

Depends on the situation but if it's stuff from the library, I'd just
bring it home. Offer to read them to him, offer to watch the movies
with him. If he says no, leave them accessible and then go get more.
Make sure he always has access to things he might enjoy. Mix it up
with other stuff that you think he might like** so he as access to
new interests when he needs them.

(**Note the "think he might like" part. It's not "think might be good
for him" ;-) Most people divide the world into educational and
entertainment. Try to see it all the same. Spongebob is as good as
Shakespeare. It isn't the what that's important, it's the interest
someone has in it that's important.)

And of course take him to the library and bookstore too if he enjoys
it to pick out his own stuff. (My daughter didn't like the process of
picking. It was overwhelming to her and she preferred to have me do
the initial picking so she could go through it.)

> and since he likes to write stories,
> I could ask if he wanted to write me a story about the dragon he
> just learned about?

No and no. It will help to not think of him learning things but doing
things he finds interesting. Think of it more as summer vacation.
Learning will happen as a side effect of living. Your role is to make
a life he enjoys possible for him :-)

Give him free access to paper and pencils and pens and markers and
stapler and anything else that will spark his creativity.

If he has stories in him he wants to write but finds writing
difficult, take dictation. Give him a tape recorder and let him tape
them and you transcribe them. Let him use the computer to type them.
Show him how they can be made into books.

> He likes to work in "workbook" type books and do word searches, etc.
> So is it OK to make those available to him as well?

Anything he's enjoying is okay. If *you* see them as more important
than coloring books, then store them with the coloring books and
forget about them

> He also likes to help me cook so as we are doing that, it's ok to
> mention that a 1/4 cup is really 25% of a cup, etc.

Sort of. But you'll never see percent used that way in cooking.
(Maybe in a math problem! ;-) but not in the real world.)

Do what's natural to the situation. Often what happens to us is one
cup gets dirty and we need to cobble a measurement together from the
cups we have left like "The 1 cup is dirty, how can we measure 1 1/2
cups?"

I'd play things like that by ear though. My daughter saw those as
interesting challenges. A child who has been in school might hear
that as a quiz and shut down. It should be fun and intriguing, not
pressure to get a child from where they are to where you think they
need to be.

> He also likes to play with is globe & have us ask him to find
> countries on it so as we do that I could talk to him about the
> country he found as long as he expresses an interest to know more
> information?

Again, play it by ear. If he's interested, yes give him more
information.

But see it according to interest rather than what he's interested in.
You've chosen something -- the globe -- that most people would put in
the "educational" category. What would you do if you were going
through an album of your old family pictures and he pointed to you as
a baby and asked about it. How would you respond? Would you try to
get your whole family history in because you were afraid he might
never ask again? ;-) Gauge your answer by *him*, by his interest, by
what *he* wants from the experience.

Joyce

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

Sylvia Toyama

Similarly if he enjoys reading about dragons it would be OK to offer him books or movies on dragons and since he likes to write stories, I could ask if he wanted to write me a story about the dragon he just learned about?

*****
It's always good to help him find or suggest books on topics you think he'd enjoy -- we go to the library once or twice most weeks jsut for this reason. As to asking him to write.... when he wants to write a story about whatever he loves at that moment, he'll probably do it without invitation from you. For you to ask risks having what interests become just school-work, even if done at home.

Sylvia



Mom to Will (21) Andy (9) and Dan (5)

Let the beauty you love be what you do -- Rumi









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

Lesa McMahon-Lowe

That is SO COOL! :)


~*~*~
Lesa M.
LIFE Academy
http://lifeacademy.homeschooljournal.net/
-------Original Message-------

From: Pampered Chef Michelle
Date: 04/10/06 22:46:14
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [unschoolingbasics] Making sure I understand

So tonight she is staring at the
box and looking at the measuring cups and is suddenly hit with an "ah-ha"
moment. "Mom! 2/3 cup plus another 2/3 cup is 1-1/3 cup! Hey that's
pretty cool." No; the cool part is that no one told her that! She then
went on to tell me what the other measurements were if she were to double it
rather than add the ingredients twice. How cool is that? :)

--
Michelle

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

Deb

--- In [email protected], "Pampered Chef Michelle"
<pamperedmichelle@...> wrote:
>So she would put in 2/3 cup
> of milk and then another 2/3 cup of milk. 1/4 cup of water and
>another 1/4
> cup of water. I've let her do it that way because it makes sense
and the
> potatoes turn out the correct consistancy. So tonight she is
staring at the
> box and looking at the measuring cups and is suddenly hit with
an "ah-ha"
> moment. "Mom! 2/3 cup plus another 2/3 cup is 1-1/3 cup! Hey
>that's
> pretty cool." No; the cool part is that no one told her that!
Then again there are folks like me who hate having multiple
measuring cups to wash :-) so I'll use a 1/3 cup and do 4 scoops to
make 1 1/3 cups rather than use the 1 cup and the 1/3 cup.

> I like
> reading NG because it stretches my brain, gives me new ideas and
>insights to
> places I have yet to go (but have an ever growing list of places I
>want to
> go!) I feel alive when I read NG. I also enjoy getting several
>other
> magazines each month.
If you don't already get it, try a subscription/membership to
Smithsonian magazine - some really neat stuff in there, the articles
are based around tidbits from the various Smithsonian collections.
That's right up there with our NG subscription as the two magazines
we don't ever consider cancelling. They did a whole serial each
month over the past year (2005) of excerpts from the journals of the
Lewis & Clark expedition; they did a big article on the Wright
brothers; and so on.

NG is one of those magazines that is strew-ful: DS loves the pull
out maps (he got 'hooked' on maps as a 2 yr old when he found a map
of Antarctica from NG), DH and I both read it pretty much cover to
cover (although I always read magazines back to front for some
reason). I love the ZipCode articles in NG - all sorts of neat
places you may never hear of anyplace else.

--Deb