Angela

Hi. I just joined the list and although I've been an unschooling
mom for 11 years, I'm having a hard time with unschooling my boys.

My first child was a girl - 11yo -(if that has anything to do with
it) and we used to READ, READ, READ and I guess that satisfied the
need in my mind for a lot of 'learning'. I felt like I was doing
something intelligent. She is currently enrolled in a charter
school, by her own choice, of course.

So, now I've got my boys - 9 & 6yo -at home with me all day and they
won't sit still for reading, except at bedtime. Our days end up
with me hanging out with our horses and cleaning up this property we
just bought and moved onto(nightmare: many junk cars and tons of
other junk too) and them running around playing, driving their go-
carts, playing PS2 and watching movies.

Is this all fine and good? Or am I right to feel uneasy about it?

Thanks.

Angela Barbera
in Florida

scrapgal

--- In [email protected], "Angela" <taomom@e...>
wrote:
>

> So, now I've got my boys - 9 & 6yo -at home with me all day and
they
> won't sit still for reading, except at bedtime. Our days end up
> with me hanging out with our horses and cleaning up this property
we
> just bought and moved onto(nightmare: many junk cars and tons of
> other junk too) and them running around playing, driving their go-
> carts, playing PS2 and watching movies.

Wow, sounds like a full day to me! Learning can come in more forms
than just reading. Some people just don't enjoy reading (I know-
shocking isn't it?) but I find that my kids learn a lot from playing
games, watching movies and chatting with their online friends. They
are exploring their world and I bet they know a lot more about
horses than my kids! Get them involved with the horse and cleaning
up (if it isn't too dangerous). They might enjoy lending a hand. I
know Keon really got into the yard clean up after the hurricane. I
lost him one day and found him 3 houses down the street hauling
branches for a neighbor!

>
> Is this all fine and good? Or am I right to feel uneasy about it?
>
Sounds fine and good to me :-)

Michelle

TreeGoddess

On Apr 6, 2005, at 1:20 PM, Angela wrote:

-=-So, now I've got my boys - 9 & 6yo -at home with me all
day and they won't sit still for reading, except at bedtime.
Our days end up with me hanging out with our horses and
cleaning up this property we just bought and moved onto
(nightmare: many junk cars and tons of other junk too) and
them running around playing, driving their go-carts, playing
PS2 and watching movies.

Is this all fine and good? Or am I right to feel uneasy about it?-=-

It sounds wonderful, rich and fun to me -- yes, all fine and good. :'D
How lucky they are to have such freedom! In case you haven't seen it,
here's a collection of "typical days" of other unschoolers that Sandra
Dodd has collected at her web site. http://sandradodd.com/typical

-Tracy-

"Peace *will* enter your life, but you
need to clear a spot for her to sit down."

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soggyboysmom

Sounds okay and like they're doing great. If you're uneasy, maybe
spend more time with them, in their pursuits, rather than spending all
the time with the horses and the junk autos. I know you're probably
already doing that but just wanted to bring it out into the open. Your
post points out that big emphasis our culture puts on reading, if
you've got one kid reading (even if it is bodice ripper romances) and
one who is learning to take apart and rebuild car engines, somehow the
one reading is seen as doing something "better".

Try books on tape when you're in the car or play them while you are
doing the dishes or making dinner. The exposure to the cadences of
different literature will be there without the need to "sit still and
listen".

Brandie

>>I've been an unschooling
>>mom for 11 years, I'm having a >>hard time with unschooling my >>boys.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Oh, Angela....this is excellent, in my opinion! Let them do these things all the time, if that is what interests them. What a great life these boys are leading!

I have a ds13 who plays computer games or PS2 almost every waking hour, but he also loves history and science, so he will take breaks and watch Tech TV, The History Channel, Discovery Channel, etc. There is some other stuff filled in here and there, but overall, that is his day. dd14 LOVES tv...she watches a lot of tv. I call her a walking TV Guide...she can tell you what is on, what channel it is on, and who is in it...and not just on things she watches. She does other things too -- loves the library and art books, writing poems/songs, cooking, music, etc....but TV and movies is the major focus of her days.

And while I can list all this off right now, it won't stay this way for a real long time...I bet that 75% of their current interests will change within the next couple of months (but ds will still love his games and dd will still love her TV, I can assure you).

So, I say you are doing a wonderful job...continue to let them have their freedom to choose what they want to do. If they want the bedtime stories continue with that, but don't think that if your children aren't doing "scholarly" things, that they aren't learning....they most surely are learning something right now as we speak.

Brandie


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Angela

Thank you all for your wonderful encouragement!

One person suggested I do some of their activities with them. They
do ask me to watch movies with them, but I have a hard time sitting
through a whole movie during the day. I'll try though because I do
love sitting and snuggling with them.

They do also help me - considerably for their ages, I think. And we
always have good conversation while we work. Those usually stay in
my head and ease me to sleep at night.

As for me, I LOVE MY LIFE. I'm pretty sure my boys love their's
too, from things that they say. I just have that little voice in my
head telling me that someday they will be angry with me for not
making them 'learn' stuff....Hmmm, I guess if they don't learn it
now, there's always later, when they choose....duuuuhhhh.

I just wish (rubbing on my 9yo's shaved head)I knew one unschooler.
I used to know one, but she moved across the state, now I'm alone
again. I'm going to the conference in October (even if I have to
walk!) and I sure hope that fuels me for a while!

Angela
Howard's End Ranch
Dade City, FL

Ruth

Hi Angela

My two youngest are boys - twins aged 6 -and they don't read much. They play and play at all sorts of stuff. Computer games, watching T.V, pretend games, on the trampoline, sword fighting e.t.c. They learnt the alphabet off Nick Junior and can both read some but it is not a priority for them. I didn't teach them. They picked up words from me reading to them -and believe me we don't read much - and stuff they saw on T.V. They don't do it much cos they are not into it. They do like me to read books on their current interest tho. ( about once a day for 10 minutes tops lol) At the moment it is castles and knights and they like me to read books about castles and knights and go computer website games about castles e.t.c. One takes old stuff apart like a old printer and microscope that got broken and the other likes to make stuff with wood. Sometimes if they need to demonstrate they can do somethg they will. Like just recently one went for an eye test. He read the letters and numbers and multiplied numbers and I didn't even know he could. I know all the playing is getting them where they want to be and increasing their understanding of things they need to understand for themselves and that is what counts. It is amazing how learning takes place bouncing or laying on a trampoline for hours. I am glad they are not my first at unschooling otherwise I may have lost my bottle.

Ruth

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Alison Barrows Ronn

Hi, I'm Alison, mom to three boys. After reading about homeschooling for
a few years, we just took the plunge and committed to not sending our
oldest to kindergarten next year. Rachel from Diaper Free Baby sent me!

So this morning my oldest decides he wants to set up a lemonade stand.
There's a lot of things he's doing that will make it difficult for him
to sell any lemonade, which is frustrating for him, but he doesn't want
much guidance from me. How would you approach this? I'd like to help him
make a clearer sign, set the price "right," and have him set up on a
nice day when people are walking by. There's a general question in this
-- At what point do you intervene to avoid too much frustration, and how
do you do it?

Alison
Mama to Parker 11/9/99 Mason 3/3/02 and Evan 3/29/04
http://everydaybest.blogspot.com/

scrapgal

> So this morning my oldest decides he wants to set up a lemonade
stand.
> There's a lot of things he's doing that will make it difficult for
him
> to sell any lemonade, which is frustrating for him, but he doesn't
want
> much guidance from me. How would you approach this?


Just let him do it his way! Keon (my 6yo) wanted to have a lemonade
stand this past Sunday. Now you have to understand that we live on
a street with maybe a dozen houses, no sidewalks, very little foot
traffic (we have a few people who are walking in the evenings), and
no other kids on the street. I mean NONE. It's just our kids.
Well, to start with we had no lemonade nor lemons. So I told him
that we didn't have any lemonade fixings. He decided instead he was
going to have a water stand. So he took an old box, wrote a sign
(wotr stand $5), took my best pitcher, a bunch of paper cups and
went to go have a water stand. He was out there about 20 minutes
before he decided that he wasn't making any money and abandoned
his "wotr stand." It was cute and I wish I had remembered to go out
and take pictures.

Anyway, for your son, what if you had him make a sign on the
computer and print it off? Show him how to change fonts and sizes.
Maybe you could find a font that he could color in (by hand or by
computer). Help him make a list of the things that he needs for his
lemonade stand. And then let him have a lemonade stand. If he
doesn't sell any lemonade, well, you at least have something to
drink later. And if he does happen to sell some, then great!

Who knows you might have an entrepeneurer on your hands!

Michelle - mother to a son who currently has a toy store in their
home