Barbara Miller

Thanks for the welcome, Jann. I did think of one question - I'm sure I will
have more. With the unschooling philosophy of your children pursuing what
interests them, i.e. making learning and doing a natural part of life, along
with working at their own pace, how do you do your summer break? Or, how do
you stop "school" for the summer?



Barbara



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

[email protected]

<<How do you "do" summer?>>

There is no noticeable difference other than the kids have more kids around to play with. We just simply live our lives.

Julie S.

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

[email protected]

-----Original Message-----

With the unschooling philosophy of your children pursuing what
interests them, i.e. making learning and doing a natural part of life,
along
with working at their own pace, how do you do your summer break? Or,
how do
you stop "school" for the summer?

-=-=-=-=-

Around here we say: "Every day is Saturday. Every month is July."

Several years ago. my nephews envied my boys during the school year
'cause they thought Cam & Dunc did nothing all year. But they pitied
them in the summer 'cause I told them that we don't take the summer off.

Then one of them came and stayed for a week one summer.

<G>

They get it now.

Unschooling is about living as if school didn't exist. So, what would
*you* do if school didn't exist?

One mom, when discussing what to call her homeschool, tossed around
"Our Lady of Perpetual Vacation" ( I wish I could remember who said
that! <G>).

Since we don't "start" school, we don't "stop" school either! Learning
happens.


~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.

Alice Sackman

<<With the unschooling philosophy of your children pursuing what
interests them, i.e. making learning and doing a natural part of life,
along with working at their own pace, how do you do your summer break?
Or, how do you stop "school" for the summer?<<

**You can't stop it and it never ends!!! It's like asking how do you
stop "life" for the summer? You can't and why would you want to? We
take vacations from things/activities that we are forced to do or that
don't come naturally or honor our natural rhythyms. What if you lived
your whole life like you were on vacation? What if everything you did,
you did because you chose to do it, wholeheartedly and with joy? When
would you need a break of the schoolish kind? Never! Sure, there would
be periods of rest and periods of activity but it isn't the same as
saying "I'm on summer vacation (can do what I want) until September when
I have to resume doing things I dislike". Its more like, "I'm tired
right now and I need to rest but as soon as my energy level is back up,
I'll be back at it!"

Just my two cents for whatever it is worth! I am having a particularly
lazy day today BTW!
-alice




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

Alice Sackman

kbcdlovejo@... wrote:
Around here we say: "Every day is Saturday. Every month is July."


**Various people have said about us that we're on "extended vacation"
and the neighbor down the street says, "It's ALWAYS recess time at the
Sackman house!".
And I am like, Dang right, that's when you learn the most about life!
-alice



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

Elissa Jill Cleaveland

how do
you stop "school" for the summer?

There is no school to stop!
Our summers are far busier than the winters, we try to get out every day if only to run to the little store for a soda. Most of our days are spent traveling, swimming at the lake, playing with friends, going to the many local events (Apple Blossom Festival, Mountain Heritage Craft fair, Flea markets, Farm Day, etc.) being outside, camps (I think Emily is going to FOUR this summer!) Camping, hanging out on the banks of the Shenendoah, we may go on a Tubing trip this year, reading, watching movies, Strolling around Shepherdstown, WV, and loads of other stuff. I love to get out and about and winter time makes for much more nesting in our home although it is not very different than any other time of the year.

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]

[email protected]

>> how do you stop "school" for the summer?>>

By never starting school in the first place. :o) Our summers run the same as any other time of year. Our activities are governed by weather, availability of friends and resources, time, money and interest. So our day to day activities may look different in the summer but the unschooling is still the same. I support their interests, strew their path with new and interesting things and know that they are learning.


--
~Mary
http://zenmommasgarden.blogspot.com/

"The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the
green earth, dwelling deeply in the present moment and feeling truly
alive."
~Thich Nhat Hanh

-------------- Original message ----------------------
From: "Barbara Miller" <BarbMiller@...>
> Thanks for the welcome, Jann. I did think of one question - I'm sure I will
> have more. With the unschooling philosophy of your children pursuing what
> interests them, i.e. making learning and doing a natural part of life, along
> with working at their own pace, how do you do your summer break? Or, how do
> you stop "school" for the summer?
>
>
>
> Barbara
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
>

[email protected]

>>One mom, when discussing what to call her homeschool, tossed around "Our Lady of Perpetual Vacation" ( I wish I could remember who said that! <G>).>>

I think it was Sandra.


--
~Mary
http://zenmommasgarden.blogspot.com/

"The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the
green earth, dwelling deeply in the present moment and feeling truly
alive."
~Thich Nhat Hanh

-------------- Original message ----------------------
From: kbcdlovejo@...
>
> -----Original Message-----
>
> With the unschooling philosophy of your children pursuing what
> interests them, i.e. making learning and doing a natural part of life,
> along
> with working at their own pace, how do you do your summer break? Or,
> how do
> you stop "school" for the summer?
>
> -=-=-=-=-
>
> Around here we say: "Every day is Saturday. Every month is July."
>
> Several years ago. my nephews envied my boys during the school year
> 'cause they thought Cam & Dunc did nothing all year. But they pitied
> them in the summer 'cause I told them that we don't take the summer off.
>
> Then one of them came and stayed for a week one summer.
>
> <G>
>
> They get it now.
>
> Unschooling is about living as if school didn't exist. So, what would
> *you* do if school didn't exist?
>
> One mom, when discussing what to call her homeschool, tossed around
> "Our Lady of Perpetual Vacation" ( I wish I could remember who said
> that! <G>).
>
> Since we don't "start" school, we don't "stop" school either! Learning
> happens.
>
>
> ~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.
>





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

[email protected]

In a message dated 6/10/2006 4:40:54 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
zenmomma@... writes:



>>One mom, when discussing what to call her homeschool, tossed around "Our
Lady of Perpetual Vacation" ( I wish I could remember who said that! <G>).>>

I think it was Sandra.






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

I was thinking about this the other day, when Kelly was talking about the
church of unschool.

I remember it as someone from Alabama needing a church-sounding homeschool
name for the state and Sandra coming up with Our Lady.

I could be wrong.....been wrong before. Either way, it's funny. I don't
care who ya are, that's funny right there! (we saw Cars....doing a little
Larry the Cable Guy.....my kids are SO impressed that I can talk like Mater! <g>)

Leslie in SC


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

[email protected]

In a message dated 6/10/2006 4:35:17 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
zenmomma@... writes:

>> how do you stop "school" for the summer?>>




********

Well, I take a break from the state required paperwork.

Or rather, I take a break from intending to do the state required paperwork
and stressing about it.

Leslie in SC


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

freepsgal

Hi Barbara,

A belated welcome to the list. I've been crazy busy this past week
with VBS at church and just haven't been online much which has felt
very strange for me! :)

We don't DO summer anymore than we DO any other traditional school
break. Life doesn't stop during the summer. We live and learn
every day of every year during our entire lifetime. The whole point
of unschooling is to learn to step away from the nonsensical method
of viewing learning as being able to happen only in certain places
(i.e. classrooms, labs, etc.) or at certain times (from Sept to May,
Monday through Friday, 8am to 3pm).

The one thing I see most newbies to unschooling misunderstand is
that life and learning happen without us pointing it out to one
another, whether to our spouses, friends, children, or whoever. New
unschoolers expect their children to choose to do schoolish things
like work through a Math textbook, study a certain time period in
History perhaps through reading regular books, set up a Science
experiment, etc. It truly helps to focus YOUR thinking away from
schoolish things. All the things we do in life can be categorized
in some manner if you speak educationlese, but one wonders WHY you
need to do that? For example, when you prepare your grocery list
and complete your shopping, do you award yourself a grade or some
other form of external reward for doing something in Home
Economics? Do you consider your Math lessons done for the day when
you balance your checkbook? Adults do not, normally, separate
everything into subjects but we sure expect that of our children.

When I first started unschooling, I had to genuinely believe that it
was OKAY that my children may never, never do anything that looks
like schoolwork. Over time, I've become so excited by that fact
that I now take a double-look when I do see them choosing something
that looks like schoolwork! *lol*

I may repeat this alot and it's also for my sake, but I think
the 'unschooling' term is more for us parents trying to let go. I
don't think of my kids as unschooling because they aren't trying to
undo anything. Instead, they are living life... actually WE are
living together and that encompasses so very much if you truly stop
and marvel at it.

Beth M.

Michelle/Melbrigða

On 6/10/06, Barbara Miller <BarbMiller@...> wrote:
>
> Thanks for the welcome, Jann. I did think of one question - I'm sure I will
> have more. With the unschooling philosophy of your children pursuing what
> interests them, i.e. making learning and doing a natural part of life, along
> with working at their own pace, how do you do your summer break? Or, how do
> you stop "school" for the summer?
>

Summers look just like winters but it's hot. (At least here in
Florida LOL!) Depending on your neighborhood or your children's
relationships with schooled children, there might be more kids at your
house in the summer than the winter on more days than in the summer
than the winter. If you "stop unschooling" for the summer then it
would mean you would be schooling during the summer.


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