intro. and question
Ren Allen
"So I'm curious what unschooling families do--skip big sit
down big meals, have them completely optional, etc. "
You'll get as many different answers as there are families!
But I think that in general, unschoolers don't worry about a sit-
down meal if it's not convenient, since they spend so much of their
lives being connected with each other.
Around here, it's a rare occurence.
Today was fairly typical, so I'll use it for an example.
I made a big pot of lentil stew around lunchtime, and I ate on it
all day (which is good for me since I have such a limited diet right
now), and then something was ready when dh got home later.
The kids had sandwiches, salad, noodles, apples, peanut butter,
etc...throughout the day, most of them eating a bowl of the lentil
soup at some point. Sierra was just asking for some Thai noodles, it
was about 10:30pm here.
Yesterday we had a small friend over. I had platters of
cheese,homemade bread, breadsticks, grapes, cut apples, peanut
butter, jelly, yogurt and M&M's, all set out on the table. The kids
grazed all day. They love it when I have platters set out!
I would personally love to get into more of a pattern of eating
meals together in the evening. If you like that, and it works for
you, GREAT. If something else works better, GREAT.:)
Right now, it just isn't working out for us to all be together at
the same time in the evenings...other times we are and I feel like
cooking. It all depends.
We don't have much of anything set in stone over here. We do what
works today, and don't worry about it. Hope that helps.
Ren
down big meals, have them completely optional, etc. "
You'll get as many different answers as there are families!
But I think that in general, unschoolers don't worry about a sit-
down meal if it's not convenient, since they spend so much of their
lives being connected with each other.
Around here, it's a rare occurence.
Today was fairly typical, so I'll use it for an example.
I made a big pot of lentil stew around lunchtime, and I ate on it
all day (which is good for me since I have such a limited diet right
now), and then something was ready when dh got home later.
The kids had sandwiches, salad, noodles, apples, peanut butter,
etc...throughout the day, most of them eating a bowl of the lentil
soup at some point. Sierra was just asking for some Thai noodles, it
was about 10:30pm here.
Yesterday we had a small friend over. I had platters of
cheese,homemade bread, breadsticks, grapes, cut apples, peanut
butter, jelly, yogurt and M&M's, all set out on the table. The kids
grazed all day. They love it when I have platters set out!
I would personally love to get into more of a pattern of eating
meals together in the evening. If you like that, and it works for
you, GREAT. If something else works better, GREAT.:)
Right now, it just isn't working out for us to all be together at
the same time in the evenings...other times we are and I feel like
cooking. It all depends.
We don't have much of anything set in stone over here. We do what
works today, and don't worry about it. Hope that helps.
Ren
Joan Labbe & Salvatore Genovese
"So I'm curious what unschooling families do--skip big sit
down big meals, have them completely optional, etc. "
Personally I have bad memories of being forced as a child to sit through
meals for a certain amount of time, so it's not a value or goal for me
personally and given our family schedule it would be hard to come by in any
event. Sometimes we do end up at the table together kind of by accident
almost it seems, and that's fun. It's also fine with me for them to eat
where they feel comfortable (only rule around here is no food on beds). I
do suggest meals at a certain time, since they are likely to just forget to
think at all about it and become cranky and not know why, but my goal is for
them to identify when they are hungry and eat then, not to wait on any kind
of external "schedule" for eating.
Joan
down big meals, have them completely optional, etc. "
Personally I have bad memories of being forced as a child to sit through
meals for a certain amount of time, so it's not a value or goal for me
personally and given our family schedule it would be hard to come by in any
event. Sometimes we do end up at the table together kind of by accident
almost it seems, and that's fun. It's also fine with me for them to eat
where they feel comfortable (only rule around here is no food on beds). I
do suggest meals at a certain time, since they are likely to just forget to
think at all about it and become cranky and not know why, but my goal is for
them to identify when they are hungry and eat then, not to wait on any kind
of external "schedule" for eating.
Joan
Dana Matt
--- Joan Labbe & Salvatore Genovese
<salgenovese@...> wrote:
eat. Do we have a table? I think it's under a pile
of tie-dye stuff in the kitchen. :)
Whenever dh and I eat, it always involves leaning up
against pillows in bed. I only use the table for
thanksgiving, or if we have guests, as probably others
would be uncomfortable eating in my bed ;) My 11 yo
sometimes eats with us, but my 6 yo never does, as she
can't stand the smell of our food. The kids eat
wherever and whenever they get hungry...
Dana
in Montana
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<salgenovese@...> wrote:
> "So I'm curious what unschooling families do--skipI don't think we have "meals" at our house. We just
> big sit
> down big meals, have them completely optional, etc.
> "
eat. Do we have a table? I think it's under a pile
of tie-dye stuff in the kitchen. :)
Whenever dh and I eat, it always involves leaning up
against pillows in bed. I only use the table for
thanksgiving, or if we have guests, as probably others
would be uncomfortable eating in my bed ;) My 11 yo
sometimes eats with us, but my 6 yo never does, as she
can't stand the smell of our food. The kids eat
wherever and whenever they get hungry...
Dana
in Montana
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Friends. Fun. Try the all-new Yahoo! Messenger.
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Michelle
Hello:
I am Michelle, mom to Ethan 6, and wife to Todd, who travels a lot for work. We are in the process of figuring out this same question. When we changed over to the unschooling way of thinking, things have not settled into a set routine. Hubby wants to have sit down dinners when he is home. He travels 4-5 days a week, and usually is gone 2-3 weeks out of the month. Since we have changed our way of thinking, my son is into watching TV whenever we are home. He loves cartoon network. He does not want to leave the TV to eat dinner. We had a talk just today, and came up with several alternatives that work for all of us, so everyone is happy. We have decided that we will now eat dinner at a later time some nights, so he will not miss the shows that are the most important to him. On those nights, I will have a snack ready for hubby, if he is in town. When he gets home from work, he is starving, but said that it would work out for him that way. We also agreed-ed that we would video
tape the shows he is missing if we have an earlier dinner, an he can watch after he is done with dinner. This agreement is good with everyone, and no one feels like they are being slighted.
Michelle
Dana Matt <hoffmanwilson@...> wrote:
--- Joan Labbe & Salvatore Genovese
<salgenovese@...> wrote:
eat. Do we have a table? I think it's under a pile
of tie-dye stuff in the kitchen. :)
Whenever dh and I eat, it always involves leaning up
against pillows in bed. I only use the table for
thanksgiving, or if we have guests, as probably others
would be uncomfortable eating in my bed ;) My 11 yo
sometimes eats with us, but my 6 yo never does, as she
can't stand the smell of our food. The kids eat
wherever and whenever they get hungry...
Dana
in Montana
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
I am Michelle, mom to Ethan 6, and wife to Todd, who travels a lot for work. We are in the process of figuring out this same question. When we changed over to the unschooling way of thinking, things have not settled into a set routine. Hubby wants to have sit down dinners when he is home. He travels 4-5 days a week, and usually is gone 2-3 weeks out of the month. Since we have changed our way of thinking, my son is into watching TV whenever we are home. He loves cartoon network. He does not want to leave the TV to eat dinner. We had a talk just today, and came up with several alternatives that work for all of us, so everyone is happy. We have decided that we will now eat dinner at a later time some nights, so he will not miss the shows that are the most important to him. On those nights, I will have a snack ready for hubby, if he is in town. When he gets home from work, he is starving, but said that it would work out for him that way. We also agreed-ed that we would video
tape the shows he is missing if we have an earlier dinner, an he can watch after he is done with dinner. This agreement is good with everyone, and no one feels like they are being slighted.
Michelle
Dana Matt <hoffmanwilson@...> wrote:
--- Joan Labbe & Salvatore Genovese
<salgenovese@...> wrote:
> "So I'm curious what unschooling families do--skipI don't think we have "meals" at our house. We just
> big sit
> down big meals, have them completely optional, etc.
> "
eat. Do we have a table? I think it's under a pile
of tie-dye stuff in the kitchen. :)
Whenever dh and I eat, it always involves leaning up
against pillows in bed. I only use the table for
thanksgiving, or if we have guests, as probably others
would be uncomfortable eating in my bed ;) My 11 yo
sometimes eats with us, but my 6 yo never does, as she
can't stand the smell of our food. The kids eat
wherever and whenever they get hungry...
Dana
in Montana
__________________________________
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To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]