seccotine_ch

Hello everybody

First, I'd like to apologize for my rusty English and awkward
sentences ... English is not my first language. I've learned it ...
at school ;), in books and also a bit at work - but it was in some
forgotten geological age !

I'm a mother of three (5yo, 3yo and ... 1/2 yo), living in Geneva
and ready, after zillion of sleepless nights thinking hard about it,
tons of reading on the subject and countless discussions with
friends, to unschool my 5yo son.

The problem is that it is very difficult here to UNschool. You can
HOMEschool if you like, providing you get the authorization, but you
have to follow the curriculum and people come to check if you do it
properly. I'm quite desperate about it, as I'm deeply convinced by
the benefits and the good sense of unschooling ... (When you say
that humans are natural learners, I would add that all living beings
are so - even bacteria learn how to resist ...)

Anyway, I read with very much interest and enthusiasm, and I'd like
to thank you all for this yummi food for thought

Helen

Michelle/Melbrigða

On 6/8/06, seccotine_ch <seccotine@...> wrote:
>
> Hello everybody
>
> First, I'd like to apologize for my rusty English and awkward
> sentences ... English is not my first language. I've learned it ...
> at school ;), in books and also a bit at work - but it was in some
> forgotten geological age !

Pat yourself on the back. Your English is fine!

> The problem is that it is very difficult here to UNschool. You can
> HOMEschool if you like, providing you get the authorization, but you
> have to follow the curriculum and people come to check if you do it
> properly.

Have you searched to see if there are any local (national or city)
unschoolers in your area and how they have dealt with this
requirement? Are there other ways in which you could homeschool that
maybe aren't publicized as much? I'd go google but, um I only speak
English and don't read "Swiss" at all (Isn't Switzerland sort of a
combination of French, Greman and Italian because of its local?)
Anyway, I'd hunt for local unschoolers and see how they have managed
the curriculum or found other choices.

I'm quite desperate about it, as I'm deeply convinced by
> the benefits and the good sense of unschooling ... (When you say
> that humans are natural learners, I would add that all living beings
> are so - even bacteria learn how to resist ...)

That's great. I'm going to use that sometime! Welcome to the group.
Most of us are in the US, but we have state differences here rather
than national requirements.



--
Michelle
aka Melbrigða
http://eventualknitting.blogspot.com
[email protected] - Homeschooling for the Medieval Recreationist

[email protected]

-----Original Message-----
From: Michelle/Melbrigða <pamperedmichelle@...>


That's great. I'm going to use that sometime! Welcome to the group.
Most of us are in the US, but we have state differences here rather
than national requirements.

-=-=-

We have a large number from Canada, some from Australia, the UK, the
Virgin Islands, and Japan.

Sandra has a link to a mom in Germany (where it's illegal to
homeschool).

www.sandradodd.com/unschoolingotherwise

That will also send you to many other sites about home/unschooling
around the world.


~Kelly

Kelly Lovejoy
Conference Coordinator
Live and Learn Unschooling Conference
http://liveandlearnconference.org

"The hardest problem for the brain is not learning, but forgetting. No
matter how hard we try, we can't deliberately forget something we have
learned, and that is catastrophic if we learn that we can't learn."
~Frank Smith

________________________________________________________________________
Check out AOL.com today. Breaking news, video search, pictures, email
and IM. All on demand. Always Free.

seccotine_ch

Thanks for the welcoming !

I'd love to contact some unschooling families here in Geneva, but I
don't know how to find them ... There must be 3 of them (there is a
researcher at our University who wrote his ... what's the word ...
the thing you write to obtain your degree ... about homeschooler and
he really had a hard time finding any of them).

I have to ask for authorization if I want to keep my children at
home, it is the law. I really don't know how I will manage to truly
unschool while making believe to authorities that I homeschool,
though I'm quite sure I'll find a way (making friendly with the
inspector and trying to show him the benefits of it ????)

Helene

PS about Switzerland : we have 26 different states, with different
laws - probably a bit like US, some laws are federal laws, some vary
from one state to another, and 4 different languages : German,
French, Italian and Rumantsch (in order of importance, ie of people
speaking them).


--- In [email protected], kbcdlovejo@... wrote:
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Michelle/Melbrigða <pamperedmichelle@...>
>
>
> That's great. I'm going to use that sometime! Welcome to the
group.
> Most of us are in the US, but we have state differences here rather
> than national requirements.
>
> -=-=-
>
> We have a large number from Canada, some from Australia, the UK,
the
> Virgin Islands, and Japan.
>
> Sandra has a link to a mom in Germany (where it's illegal to
> homeschool).
>
> www.sandradodd.com/unschoolingotherwise
>
> That will also send you to many other sites about home/unschooling
> around the world.
>
>
> ~Kelly
>
> Kelly Lovejoy
> Conference Coordinator
> Live and Learn Unschooling Conference
> http://liveandlearnconference.org
>
> "The hardest problem for the brain is not learning, but
forgetting. No
> matter how hard we try, we can't deliberately forget something we
have
> learned, and that is catastrophic if we learn that we can't
learn."
> ~Frank Smith
>
>
_____________________________________________________________________
___
> Check out AOL.com today. Breaking news, video search, pictures,
email
> and IM. All on demand. Always Free.
>

Michelle/Melbrigða

On 6/9/06, seccotine_ch <seccotine@...> wrote:

> I'd love to contact some unschooling families here in Geneva, but I
> don't know how to find them ... There must be 3 of them (there is a
> researcher at our University who wrote his ... what's the word ...
> the thing you write to obtain your degree ... about homeschooler and
> he really had a hard time finding any of them).

Well, just googling "switzerland homeschool groups" I go this:
http://www.home-school.com/groups/switzerland.html I'm sure if you
googled it in your own language you would find better hits, but it is
a start. I'm presuming if there are this many on this one website
there have to be other homeschoolers as well. Oh and the word is
dissertation or thesis.

>
> I have to ask for authorization if I want to keep my children at
> home, it is the law. I really don't know how I will manage to truly
> unschool while making believe to authorities that I homeschool,
> though I'm quite sure I'll find a way (making friendly with the
> inspector and trying to show him the benefits of it ????)

It may depend on what you are wearing when you answer the door ;-)
Seriously I would try to find other home/unschoolers that are in the
same restrictions as you are in and find out how they are doing.
Maybe find out who the inspector is for your area and ask him/her
(because you want to make sure that you comply with the law correctly)
what s/he is looking for when doing an inspection and how often these
inspections would occur.

> PS about Switzerland : we have 26 different states, with different
> laws - probably a bit like US, some laws are federal laws, some vary
> from one state to another, and 4 different languages : German,
> French, Italian and Rumantsch (in order of importance, ie of people
> speaking them).

Thanks for the information. 26 states in such a small country! I'm
always amazed when I look at a porportionally correct map and see how
small some countries are in comparison to the US. Maybe we would have
fewer problems if we weren't so huge. :)


--
Michelle
aka Melbrigða
http://eventualknitting.blogspot.com
[email protected] - Homeschooling for the Medieval Recreationist

Elissa Jill Cleaveland

I'm
always amazed when I look at a porportionally correct map and see how
small some countries are in comparison to the US. Maybe we would have
fewer problems if we weren't so huge. :)
*************
I remember seeing those maps that have each country printed with their actual size and noticing that the US was much smaller than the typical map size. There's another name for those maps, Does anyone know what they are called?
I tried googling *proportionally correct map* but didn't get it.
Elissa Jill
A Kindersher saychel iz oychet a saychel.
"A Child's wisdom is also wisdom." ~Yiddish Proverb

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

seccotine_ch

The usual projection is the Mercator one, in the 70's we used the
Peters one quite a lot (it was supposed to be more realistic) but is
seems that there are other ones, like the Robinson ...

More details here :
http://www.diversophy.com/petersmap.htm

Many thanks for your help anyway
Helen

--- In [email protected], "Elissa Jill Cleaveland"
<MystikMomma@...> wrote:
>
> I'm
> always amazed when I look at a porportionally correct map and see
how
> small some countries are in comparison to the US. Maybe we would
have
> fewer problems if we weren't so huge. :)
> *************
> I remember seeing those maps that have each country printed with
their actual size and noticing that the US was much smaller than
the typical map size. There's another name for those maps, Does
anyone know what they are called?
> I tried googling *proportionally correct map* but didn't get it.
> Elissa Jill
> A Kindersher saychel iz oychet a saychel.
> "A Child's wisdom is also wisdom." ~Yiddish Proverb
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

jlh44music

<seccotine@...> wrote:
> The usual projection is the Mercator one, in the 70's we used the
Peters one quite a lot (it was supposed to be more realistic) but is
seems that there are other ones, like the Robinson ...
More details here: http://www.diversophy.com/petersmap.htm>>>

Thanks for sharing the link Helen, interesting!
Jann (and your English is wonderful!)