Sherri-Lee Pressman

Hi everyone,



So what John Holt book would you recommend for the first book to read? I
have a list of many of his books, but not sure which one to start with. Just
to remind you my dd is 4 if that matters.



Thanks,

Sherri-Lee

Need safe and natural health products?

http://www.aloeessence.com





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[email protected]

In a message dated 7/1/2004 12:37:32 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
sherri--lee@... writes:


So what John Holt book would you recommend for the first book to read? I
have a list of many of his books, but not sure which one to start with. Just
to remind you my dd is 4 if that matters.



<<<<

Depends. Are you in a hurry? <g> I'd start at the beginning and read first
to last----which is exactly what I did! The neat thing about that is that you
can see his progression from school reformer to unschooling advocate.

~Kelly


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

Dana Matt

Learning all the time is my favorite, and the only one
I've made it through (I've attempted the others many
times over the last 15 years but never finished
them!). I would suggest it :)
Dana
in Montana

--- Sherri-Lee Pressman <sherri--lee@...> wrote:
> Hi everyone,
>
>
>
> So what John Holt book would you recommend for the
> first book to read? I
> have a list of many of his books, but not sure which
> one to start with. Just
> to remind you my dd is 4 if that matters.
>
>
>
> Thanks,
>
> Sherri-Lee
>
> Need safe and natural health products?
>
> http://www.aloeessence.com
>
>
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been
> removed]
>
>
>
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>
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>
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>
>




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TreeGoddess

I always feel silly when I read posts on how many John Holt books
people have read because I struggle to read them. I'm an avid reader
and I just can't get through his books. They're very DRY to me and so
I end up just skipping lots and just reading small chunks of them here
and there. Anyone else struggle with these books or am I just a dork?
LOL
-Tracy-

[email protected]

In a message dated 7/1/2004 12:46:41 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
treegoddess@... writes:

Anyone else struggle with these books or am I just a dork?


<<<


You're a dork. <g>

But I'm that way with Barbara Sher's book, Wishcraft. I *know* it's probably
chocked FULL of smart stuff, but I can't seem to plow through more than the
first chapter or so. Everything she said, I already understood. I live my
life that way already. I kept waiting to get to the "good" stuff!

So maybe you already "get" what Holt has to say, and it's just blah----like
Sher's book for me. The Holt books were incredibly novel to me when I first
read them, in order----so I took a lot from them.

Maybe?

~Kelly


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

TreeGoddess

On Jul 1, 2004, at 1:53 PM, kbcdlovejo@... wrote:

> You're a dork. <g>

Ok, now you sound like my sister. ;)

> Everything she said, I already understood. I live my life that way
> already. I kept waiting to get to the "good" stuff!
>
> So maybe you already "get" what Holt has to say, and it's just
> blah----like
> Sher's book for me.

Ya know, that could be it really. I try to read his different books
because friends of mine have said how enlightening and life changing
they were and I keep looking for something REALLY "profound" in them
but don't see "it" -- in other words, I'm not reading anything that I
don't know / do / live already. You may be right, Kel! ;)
-Tracy-

Joan Labbe & Salvatore Genovese

You're not alone. I love reading and ordered one of Holt's books only to
put it down. Couldn't get through it...

Joan


-----Original Message-----
From: TreeGoddess [mailto:treegoddess@...]
Sent: Thursday, July 01, 2004 11:09 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [unschoolingbasics] Getting started on Holt's books



I always feel silly when I read posts on how many John Holt books
people have read because I struggle to read them. I'm an avid reader
and I just can't get through his books. They're very DRY to me and so
I end up just skipping lots and just reading small chunks of them here
and there. Anyone else struggle with these books or am I just a dork?
LOL
-Tracy-





Yahoo! Groups Links

Valerie

Maybe *I'm* the dork because I devoured every word he wrote like it
was chocolate. I wonder if the difference is that I had no other
place to read/hear about unschooling. I felt I was the only person
in the world (back in 1980) that had ever heard of John Holt, much
less unschooling. I remember feeling faint when I read the interview
with John Holt in Mother Earth News. I had a crush on that man! ;-)

love, Valerie

--- In [email protected], TreeGoddess
<treegoddess@c...> wrote:
>
> I always feel silly when I read posts on how many John Holt books
> people have read because I struggle to read them. I'm an avid
reader
> and I just can't get through his books. They're very DRY to me
and so
> I end up just skipping lots and just reading small chunks of them
here
> and there. Anyone else struggle with these books or am I just a
dork?
> LOL
> -Tracy-

TreeGoddess

On Jul 1, 2004, at 5:35 PM, Valerie wrote:

> Maybe *I'm* the dork because I devoured every word he wrote like it
> was chocolate. I wonder if the difference is that I had no other
> place to read/hear about unschooling. I felt I was the only person
> in the world (back in 1980) that had ever heard of John Holt, much
> less unschooling. I remember feeling faint when I read the interview
> with John Holt in Mother Earth News. I had a crush on that man! ;-)

Well, sure that makes all the difference in the world. Back before the
days of the Internet ideas weren't as easily transfered great
distances; people with similar thoughts and interests were not able to
connect like we do today. Reading his books back then WAS probably
very enlightening!!! I've been online for about 5 years now and -
thanks to people like you gals and Sandra and Peggy O'Mara etc. - I've
"heard" about all this stuff already and seen it in real life working.
So, for me, to go back now and read these books I guess is a little
redundant and that's why they seem "dry".

If this is all new to you though then I'm sure they'd be really cool!
:D

-Tracy-

[email protected]

In a message dated 7/1/2004 12:46:50 PM Eastern Standard Time,
treegoddess@... writes:
Anyone else struggle with these books or am I just a dork?

******************


When I read Holt, I was new to the whole concept of unschooling. I read
everything by him and numerous other notable unschooling authors.

Now, that we've been at this for a bit and I've done more reading than I
should admit, I'm beginning to have trouble getting through much of anything on
the subject. Most notably, Frank Smith, whose "Insult To Intelligence" would
have held me enraptured a year ago. I feel I've finally reached my saturation
point. We're living it, we're doing it. Everything he writes makes sense, but
I'm no longer "fascinated".

Linda


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

Sherri-Lee Pressman

Hi Dana,


Thanks for the recommendation.



Can I ask why you haven't made it through the others ones in that long? Is
it some reason with the books or just life in general..



Thanks,


Sherri-lee



_____

From: Dana Matt [mailto:hoffmanwilson@...]
Sent: Thursday, July 01, 2004 7:49 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [unschoolingbasics] Getting started on Holt's books



Learning all the time is my favorite, and the only one
I've made it through (I've attempted the others many
times over the last 15 years but never finished
them!). I would suggest it :)
Dana
in Montana

--- Sherri-Lee Pressman <sherri--lee@...> wrote:
> Hi everyone,
>
>
>
> So what John Holt book would you recommend for the
> first book to read? I
> have a list of many of his books, but not sure which
> one to start with. Just
> to remind you my dd is 4 if that matters.
>
>
>
> Thanks,
>
> Sherri-Lee
>
> Need safe and natural health products?
>
> http://www.aloeessence.com
>
>
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been
> removed]
>
>
>
> ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
> --------------------~-->
> Yahoo! Domains - Claim yours for only $14.70
>
http://us.click.yahoo.com/Z1wmxD/DREIAA/yQLSAA/0xXolB/TM
>
--------------------------------------------------------------------~->
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/unschoolingbasics/
>
> [email protected]
>
>
>
>




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[email protected]

In a message dated 7/2/2004 12:13:14 AM Eastern Standard Time,
Eberwhite@... writes:

> I feel I've finally reached my saturation
> point. We're living it, we're doing it.
>
> I'm finding this even carries over to my reading online. When we first
started unschooling about a year ago, I never missed reading anything on the
message boards or lists. I read and read and read. I became aware that we
were truly unschoolers when less and less of the information I was reading
seemed new to me.

I still don't post much but I know how I would respond to most of the
posts because we do live the life and I can never imagine going back. I read
now because I feel connected to many of the people who write or I like their
writing style. I tend to just lend my John Holt books out to people who
express an interest in unschooling....in fact I just mentioned to my daughter,
Brenna, that all my John Holt books and Valerie's "The Unprocessed Child" book
were missing....I need to track them down..:-)

Gail



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

Dana Matt

> Can I ask why you haven't made it through the others
> ones in that long? Is
> it some reason with the books or just life in
> general..
>

I guess what everyone else has said...Learning all the
time spoke to me when I got it, the others were just
dry and hard to get through for me. I read learning
all the time when my daughter was an infant, and I
guess it was just what I needed when I needed it. I'm
surprised--I have always loved educational
philosophy...But I guess I already had all I needed
and reading the rest was just a repeating it. I
recently tried "How children learn" one more time, and
again didn't get past the baby at the beginning's
second birthday or so...Ya got me! I don't know!
Dana
in Montana




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Dana Matt

--
> Ya know, that could be it really. I try to read his
> different books
> because friends of mine have said how enlightening
> and life changing
> they were and I keep looking for something REALLY
> "profound" in them
> but don't see "it" -- in other words, I'm not
> reading anything that I
> don't know / do / live already. You may be right,
> Kel! ;)
> -Tracy-

I felt like this too when I read...Something about
"Your spirited child" (is that the name?)..It had been
so talked about for years, I found it at a garage
sale and had to pick it up...But gads, it was so
disrespectful, so "DUH!!"...I couldn't get through
more than the first chapter...I can't give examples
now, but stupid things like "Your kid runs around and
gets into things....has it ever occured to you that
maybe he's NOT bad?" UGH! I know where they were
going with it, but it WAS NOT a book for me!
Dana
in MOntana




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Sherri-Lee Pressman

Thanks Dana,



Glad to hear it wasn't the books themselves, just other stuff.



Thanks,



Sherri-Lee



_____

From: Dana Matt [mailto:hoffmanwilson@...]
Sent: Friday, July 02, 2004 8:09 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: RE: [unschoolingbasics] Getting started on Holt's books




> Can I ask why you haven't made it through the others
> ones in that long? Is
> it some reason with the books or just life in
> general..
>

I guess what everyone else has said...Learning all the
time spoke to me when I got it, the others were just
dry and hard to get through for me. I read learning
all the time when my daughter was an infant, and I
guess it was just what I needed when I needed it. I'm
surprised--I have always loved educational
philosophy...But I guess I already had all I needed
and reading the rest was just a repeating it. I
recently tried "How children learn" one more time, and
again didn't get past the baby at the beginning's
second birthday or so...Ya got me! I don't know!
Dana
in Montana




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AnneO

Hi Everyone!

I just got an e-mail from Ren with a link to this group at the bottom
of it ~ so I joined! And I just wanted to write about John Holt ~

When my son was very young, I read parenting books and magazines and
none of them seemed to fit my child. One day in the library, *divine
intervention* placed my hand on a John Holt book. When I read that
book, I cried. Someone finally knew my child and understood how I
wanted to parent him ~ to me, it wasn't a book on *education*...it
was a book on life with my child.

I ate up every John Holt book I could, fell in love with the man, and
deeply mourned when I found out he was no longer alive. I wished he
could have been a Dad himself.

I lend out all of my John Holt books, too...but recently got *Instead
of Education* from the library and I just love that one. I have to
buy that one.

Be Well ~
Anne

Beth Fleming

> From: Dana Matt [mailto:hoffmanwilson@...]
> Sent: Thursday, July 01, 2004 7:49 AM
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: Re: [unschoolingbasics] Getting started on
> Holt's books
> >
> > So what John Holt book would you recommend for the
> > first book to read?
> >
> >
> I have just finished a great unschooling book
written by a student of Holt's and former public
school teacher that I found very easy to read and
interesting....documents her and family's journey
through unschooling from the beginning all the way
through her son being admitted to college. The title
is Homeschooling Our Children, Unschooling Ourselves
by Alison McKee
Very supportive to the new unschooler since she talks
about her doubts and resolutions, highs and lows....
but you get the overwhelming sense that unschooling
really worked for this family.
Good Luck!
Beth in MA

Robyn Coburn

<<<I just got an e-mail from Ren with a link to this group at the bottom
of it ~ so I joined! And I just wanted to write about John Holt ~>>>

AnneO is here! Now my cup runneth over!
Robyn L. Coburn


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