[email protected]

Hey, I am doing a health report on the benefits of video games for Health 1
at my high school and wanted to tell you that your web page is a valuable
resource. Thanks for giving games a chance and realizing the truth behind
the fastest growing entertainment market today. You rule!

Thanks Again!
Link89


PostScript: If you ever get any complaints about the validity of your site
or some modern-day VG Nazi insults you, remember this letter and know that
there are thousands of us supporting you!



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

Pam Sorooshian

On May 23, 2005, at 9:05 PM, SandraDodd@... wrote:

>
> PostScript: If you ever get any complaints about the validity of your
> site
> or some modern-day VG Nazi insults you, remember this letter and know
> that
> there are thousands of us supporting you!
>

That brought tears to my eyes. It just hit me how MANY kids there are
out there who are made to feel guilty and shamed for loving to play
video games.

-pam

Brandie

That is exactly what I was thinking Pam....on TechTV they have a commercial for a college where you can become a video game designer or something. They say something in it like "...and my mom said my video games would never amount to anything". My son looked at me and said "poor kid". That felt great -- to know I am a mom who doesn't say that to her son -- to know my son isn't treated the way so many are when it comes to video games. My son does dream of designing video games, but even if he didn't, all his game playing is a-okay with me.

Brandie


Pam Sorooshian <pamsoroosh@...> wrote:
just hit me how MANY kids there are
out there who are made to feel guilty and shamed for loving to play
video games.

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Julie W

Pam Sorooshian wrote:

>
> On May 23, 2005, at 9:05 PM, SandraDodd@... wrote:
>
> >
> > PostScript: If you ever get any complaints about the validity of your
> > site
> > or some modern-day VG Nazi insults you, remember this letter and know
> > that
> > there are thousands of us supporting you!
> >
>
> That brought tears to my eyes. It just hit me how MANY kids there are
> out there who are made to feel guilty and shamed for loving to play
> video games.
>
> -pam
>
We do this Tuesday/Thursday thingee (it was started to be a type of
"freeschool", but is working more like a co-op but with free choice, on
my blog I use the term perpetual recess) and one of my son's first
questions was "can we play video games?" My response was "of course, the
whole idea is for the community members to choose what they want to do
there. That includes video and just hanging out." My idea was that a
structured activity has just as much value as playing VGs and hanging
out as long as it is the child's choice.
What a can of worms.
My whole focus this year has been to preserve the rights of the gamer
kids to make their choices free of interference from some of the other
moms while staying sane and not saying things to ruin long friendships.
With some folks being tolerant only seems to go one way when it has to
do with electronic media. Now these moms have no problem if the kids are
playing Magic or Heroscape, they just wish that the kids had never
chosen to play video games there (some of the issues have to do with the
controls they place on their children and the fact that their kids at
times would prefer to be in the gamer room then go to another activity)
and are quite vocal about it and have made my son, at times, feel like
he had done something wrong by even starting the gamers group.
Of course I have noticed that kids like my son will move from thing to
thing (like an ethnic cooking lesson or boffer swords---as long as it is
something he is interested in doing) because he is already aware that
the video games will always be there, he can play whenever he wants to
and he'll be able to play at home. Some of the other boys have had a
hard time because their moms will control the amount of time they can
play and they either are not allowed at home OR their VG time is limited
at home. It has gotten better for these guys as they see that every time
we get together the VG will be available, but some of the moms are so
focused on those evil video games that the have a hard time seeing that
the kids do choose to leave the games and go do something else when it
strikes their interest.
I feel for those other kids---they are kids I've seen grow up and I
really like. What they want to do, what they think is important is not
valued by the adults most important to them.
It sucks.


--

Julie W

http://jwoolfolk.typepad.com/theothermother/



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

soggyboysmom

--- In [email protected], Julie W
<jjjwoolfolk@s...> wrote:
>like an ethnic cooking lesson or boffer swords>
> Julie W

Boffer swords! Where did you get them? We are looking for a good pair
of safe-ish swords for DH and DS to use. Plastic and wood and all are
out (ouch!) and the paper ones (DH can make an interesting sword-like
object with sheets from a big roll of brown paper) tend to self
destruct after a bit of banging.

Also, on the video game thing - DS and DH get together with another
family of hsers (3 boys around DS' age) once a week, the kids run
around and play, DH and the mom play long games of SCrabble or
Rummikub or whatever. It was originally intended to alternate houses
each week. Then they came over to our house and the boys played video
games all afternoon and didn't want to leave (they're very limited on
VG at their house). The mom has since made sure that the kids meet at
their house, not our house. Of course,that means we don't have to tidy
or anything which is okay by us but we think it's pretty silly.

Pam Sorooshian

My 14 yo daughter currently goes to a homeschool karate class at noon
on Tuesdays and Thursdays. There is a second room at the studio and the
kids hang out there all the rest of the day and play games - then she
goes to another karate class at 7:30 pm.

There are a dozen or so kids who spend time there - mostly boys ages 12
to 20. They play Risk, card games like Magic, the Gathering, they play
video games, they play physical games like dodge ball, and they "just
talk."

I love this. I so appreciate the karate studio owner - an unschooling
mom - who lets this happen there. Her kids (12 and 16) hang out, too,
most of the time - but sometimes they go do other things, and she still
lets the game time go on. It is so wonderful for the kids.

-pam

On May 24, 2005, at 1:25 PM, Julie W wrote:

> We do this Tuesday/Thursday thingee (it was started to be a type of
> "freeschool", but is working more like a co-op but with free choice, on
> my blog I use the term perpetual recess) and one of my son's first
> questions was "can we play video games?"

Julie W

soggyboysmom wrote:

> --- In [email protected], Julie W
> <jjjwoolfolk@s...> wrote:
> >like an ethnic cooking lesson or boffer swords>
> > Julie W
>
> Boffer swords! Where did you get them? We are looking for a good pair
> of safe-ish swords for DH and DS to use. Plastic and wood and all are
> out (ouch!) and the paper ones (DH can make an interesting sword-like
> object with sheets from a big roll of brown paper) tend to self
> destruct after a bit of banging.
>
This is where we got directions:
http://amtgard.com:8080/how2flat.pdf

Some of the boys made round ones (PVC pipe covered with a few layers of
pipe insulations then with duck tape) but the boys have found that these
bigger, flatter ones do not hurt as much when you get hit with them.

Of course, we have also had to deal with moms (there are some who just
really, only, want the kids involved in supervised activities) who are
uncomfortable with the kids hitting each other with these, but the kids
had already worked out the ground rules. The little guys, under 10ish,
seem to need more supervision when playing because they just have less
control and get mad if they get hurt.

Julie W in AR

Julie W

soggyboysmom wrote:

> --- In [email protected], Julie W
> <jjjwoolfolk@s...> wrote:
> >like an ethnic cooking lesson or boffer swords>
> > Julie W
>
> Boffer swords! Where did you get them? We are looking for a good pair
> of safe-ish swords for DH and DS to use. Plastic and wood and all are
> out (ouch!) and the paper ones (DH can make an interesting sword-like
> object with sheets from a big roll of brown paper) tend to self
> destruct after a bit of banging.
>
This is where we got directions:
http://amtgard.com:8080/how2flat.pdf

Some of the boys made round ones (PVC pipe covered with a few layers of
pipe insulations then with duck tape) but the boys have found that these
bigger, flatter ones do not hurt as much when you get hit with them.

Of course, we have also had to deal with moms (there are some who just
really, only, want the kids involved in supervised activities) who are
uncomfortable with the kids hitting each other with these, but the kids
had already worked out the ground rules. The little guys, under 10ish,
seem to need more supervision when playing because they just have less
control and get mad if they get hurt.

Julie W in AR


"List Posting Policies" are provided in the files area of this group.

Visit the Unschooling website and message boards:
http://www.unschooling.com


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--

Julie W

http://jwoolfolk.typepad.com/theothermother/



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

Lars Hedbor

I'll jump in briefly here and just say that my 17-year-old DD goes out and
fights with the boys every weekend with this sort of equipment, and has a
grand time beating them up. :-)

She likes to use the shafts from broken graphite golf clubs in place of the
PVC pipe, as it yields a lighter-weight, more maneuverable sword (and also
reduces the chance of injury - PVC can be heavy!). Just make sure that you
are working with graphite, and not a metal shaft.

Have fun!

- Lars D. H. Hedbor
Oregon City, Oregon

> -----Original Message-----
> From: [email protected]
> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Julie W
> Sent: Tuesday, May 24, 2005 5:35 PM
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: [UnschoolingDiscussion] Re: Very sorry. The fan mail I meant to
> quote before
>
>
>
>
>
> soggyboysmom wrote:
>
> > --- In [email protected], Julie W
> > <jjjwoolfolk@s...> wrote:
> > >like an ethnic cooking lesson or boffer swords>
> > > Julie W
> >
> > Boffer swords! Where did you get them? We are looking for a good pair
> > of safe-ish swords for DH and DS to use. Plastic and wood and all are
> > out (ouch!) and the paper ones (DH can make an interesting sword-like
> > object with sheets from a big roll of brown paper) tend to self
> > destruct after a bit of banging.
> >
> This is where we got directions:
> http://amtgard.com:8080/how2flat.pdf
>
> Some of the boys made round ones (PVC pipe covered with a few layers of
> pipe insulations then with duck tape) but the boys have found that these
> bigger, flatter ones do not hurt as much when you get hit with them.
>
> Of course, we have also had to deal with moms (there are some who just
> really, only, want the kids involved in supervised activities) who are
> uncomfortable with the kids hitting each other with these, but the kids
> had already worked out the ground rules. The little guys, under 10ish,
> seem to need more supervision when playing because they just have less
> control and get mad if they get hurt.
>
> Julie W in AR
>
>
> "List Posting Policies" are provided in the files area of this group.
>
> Visit the Unschooling website and message boards:
> http://www.unschooling.com
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *Yahoo! Groups Links*
>
> * To visit your group on the web, go to:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/UnschoolingDiscussion/
>
> * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> [email protected]
> <mailto:UnschoolingDiscussion-
> [email protected]?subject=Unsubscribe>
>
> * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of
> Service <http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/>.
>
>
>
> --
>
> Julie W
>
> http://jwoolfolk.typepad.com/theothermother/
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
>
> "List Posting Policies" are provided in the files area of this group.
>
> Visit the Unschooling website and message boards:
> http://www.unschooling.com
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>

Marjorie Kirk

Julie,

Could you tell us more about your Tuesday?Thursday thingee? It sounds very
interesting.

TIA,
Marjorie

****************************************************************************
**************************************
We do this Tuesday/Thursday thingee (it was started to be a type of
"freeschool", but is working more like a co-op but with free choice, on my
blog I use the term perpetual recess)........

Julie W

Marjorie Kirk wrote:

>
> Julie,
>
> Could you tell us more about your Tuesday?Thursday thingee? It sounds
> very
> interesting.
>
> TIA,
> Marjorie

I was one of the founding members, along with Tuckervill, of an
inclusive support group here in Little Rock. It has mostly been made up
of relaxed homeschoolers and unschoolers. One of the things have talked
about for years is having a"space" to hang out, having meetings in and
do activities that are not great for someone's home.
One of the other founding members of Live and Learn began working at an
after school care program at their church which had a lot of unused
space. She asked them if it could be rented and they were willing to
rent it at a very, very cheap price. We have one main room that was once
their sanctuary, a kitchen, den, 2 "classrooms" and use of the gym,
playground and grounds. We're there from 10ish to about 2:30 on Tuesdays
and Thursdays and we have a $20 a month fee. We decided not to be
affiliated with our support group, but most of the members of the
Homeschool Zone come from there. I think we have 15 - 20 families who pay.

I call it perpetual recess which is a title I stole from an article in
HEM last year about a co-op in the northeast. Our initial idea was to
have a part-time "free-school" type of situation. We soon realized that
in this part of the country a freeschool was not gonna happen and its
become more like a very loosely run co-op. We've found that in this part
of the country even a loosely run, non-religious, non-corrosive,
free-choice, its-ok-to-hang-out-and-play-video-games-all-day co-op has a
hard time attracting members. Everyone is just too busy "homeschooling"
and if they are going to do something that might take time out of their
"school day" it had better fill some kind of educational need.
~meh~
So we have a weekly schedule that comes out via email. This week's
schedule looked like this:
10-? Music Morning (one of the moms brings her accordion and auto harp
and will play tunes for us to sing to. Yesterday it was Beatles songs
and then she began teaching another mom who to play the autoharp)
During this time "doll club" was happening and video games were being
played also.
There was also moms sitting around talking, Tuckervill was in town so it
was nice to sit and talk to her about the baby. We talked some abut the
funshop I'm gonna try and do at the Live and Learn conference. I think
the girls went outside at some point to ride scooters.
11:45 Lunch
12:45 Cartooning (I'm meeting with some kids and moms who want to work
on drawing cartoons. We're all working out of different books and off
and on I'll point out something, but its fun just to work with others)
during this time moms with younger kids went to the playground.
The rest of the day kids played and hung out. I know at some point there
were a few guys out front hacking and slashing with boffer swords. I
know they went to the gym for awhile.

Thursday is like this:
10ish Old Tyme show and tell (bring in antiques and heirlooms and talk
about them...this is facilitated by a 9yr old girl)
10:45 Digital scavenger hunt (this is being facilitated by an 11 yr
old. He is coming up with a list and we will break into groups with a
van and digital camera and go find what is on his list. Afterwards we
will come back and look through the pics to see who found what.)
11:45ish Lunch
1:00 Cheerleading (one of our moms does this and we have this group of
little girls who just adore it)

Most days have more in them. I like the lightly scheduled days, but a
good amount of members just won't come if there is nothing scheduled.
They miss the best days at the Zone because those days end up being so
much better.


Looks like fun, huh?
For us it is---we have all we need there in an endless supply of boys
(and some girls) who will hang out with Josh and play VG or boffer
swords. Sometimes he will get out Heroscape and play that. He does the
cartooning with me and if there is some type of theater thing (like
imporv) going on will join in those classes. The truth is it is more
stressful for me. I make the schulde and deal with the complaints that
there is not "anything I can't do at home. Why would I miss a day of
school to do something I can do at home with my kids?"---arrggghhh, then
plan something you find value in and see if anyone else wants to do it.
I really think that this would be the case among any group of folks who
have some very distinct differences in how they raise their children and
how they homeschool. Don't get me wrong, it is working, there is just
always a group of folks with in any homeschooling thing I've ever been
involved in who want so much but want everyone else to do the work.
~sheesh~
I also spend time running interference for Josh and the moms who have
problems with VG.
This was our 1st year and over the summer we will go to just Thursdays
and discuss what worked and what did not work this year. One thing that
I've noticed is that the child facilitated activities seem to be better
attended and enjoyed, I also have seen a few flop because the child
facilitating had no support from their parent.
We also have a lack of teens. I hope we can work on getting more
families with older kids involved next year.


--

Julie W

http://jwoolfolk.typepad.com/theothermother/



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