Cheryl Morkan

Hello to everyone. My name is Cheryl. I am deschooling myself and
my husband and unschooling my two sons, Nat 11.5 and Joel 3.5. We
pulled out of the school system last year and started school at
home.

My son attended the same elementary school from K through the fifth
grade with only two good years out of six. I have to say that he had
an excellent teacher in the second grade, one of those who manages to
inspire a whole classroom full of children with a love of learning.
And while I now feel so strongly about unschooling that my youngest
will never set foot in a school, I would like to give credit to that
extremely rare creature, the wonderful teacher. Yes friends, they do
exist, however endangered they may be.

But I was never one of those Mom's who cheered the first day of
school. And I always resented the homework. I mean, if I allow the
school to have my precious child for six hours a day, shouldn't they
allow me and my son a few hours together at home in the evening? And
then there was the FCAT. The first 3/4 of the schoolyear were spent
preparing for it. They actually got FCAT homework. I felt that it
was an enormous waste of time and energy.

But the proverbial last straw was the fifth grade teacher. My son
always hated writing essays and would usually freeze up and write
little or nothing. Mrs. C was infuriated by this. She accused Nat
of being lazy and stubborn. And if he questioned something she said
in class she felt threatened by him. She told me that he needed to
be *knocked down a few pegs* and that he would *have to conform*
(while beating her fist on the desk)! I was so upset that I told her
I might just start to homeschool and she responded that maybe I
should.

Well, I did! And it was the best thing I ever did! Even school at
home was better than that. We settled in with a classical ciriculuum
that I designed myself. And slowly dropped what we didn't like. In
January my husband and I went to a David Albert talk in Orlando. We
have been deschooling ever since.

I'm so glad to find this group. I am on other groups which I read,
but am afraid to post on because they are so large. I guess I have
stage fright. I am looking forward to the give and take.

Peace to all and thanks for taking the time to read this.

Cheryl

Tina

<<But I was never one of those Mom's who cheered the first day of
school. And I always resented the homework. I mean, if I allow the
school to have my precious child for six hours a day, shouldn't they
allow me and my son a few hours together at home in the evening? And
then there was the FCAT. The first 3/4 of the schoolyear were spent
preparing for it. They actually got FCAT homework. I felt that it
was an enormous waste of time and energy.>>

I couldn't agree with you more! I don't know how many times I have
said this. My step-children live with us 24/7, and they attend
public school. This drives me batty!

One thing that has become a positive for our family, although no one
really knows it but me as Pat doesn't know much about homeschooling
let a lone unschooling, is that I found unschooling. I have been
unschooling my 10 year old son since January. We schooled at home
before that and public schooled for a couple years before that. Even
though we have public schooled children in addition to our unschooled
child it effects the entire way of family life. You just tend to
look at things differently, thereby reacting differently. It's a
wonderful thing! Some day soon I hope to get Pat on the bandwagon as
well...

Tina

Deb Lewis

***Mrs. C was infuriated by this. She accused Nat
of being lazy and stubborn. And if he questioned something she said
in class she felt threatened by him. She told me that he needed to
be *knocked down a few pegs* and that he would *have to conform*
(while beating her fist on the desk)! ***

Too many people have this kind of experience with teachers. What about
the kids whose parents side with a lunatic teacher and make the poor kids
life at home as miserable as it is in school. That's just heartbreaking.


I'm glad you got him away from her.

Deb Lewis

[email protected]

Hi Cheryl!
Welcome!
Post post post!
syndi

We worry about what a child will be tomorrow, yet we forget that he
is someone today.
Stacia Tauscher


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