mary_cimo

Hi everyone,

I'm fairly new to the list and have been enjoying the discussions
immensely. I have an 11yo son and 2yo daughter. This past year, we
tried homeschooling and have never looked back. As the year went on, I
became drawn to unschooling. The more I have read and discussed, the
more I know that this is a philosophy that makes sense in my heart. I
know that since my ds has been in school for some time, there will be
adjustments, and I'm glad that my dd will never have to go to school.

The biggest issue I'm having right now is that every person in my home
is a right-brained thinker, and I'm the sole left-brained thinker. Why
should that matter when you're unschooling? Well, I have been doing my
best to follow their interests and really stretching myself to try
things I never would have. I have enjoyed it very much and am glad
that we're on this adventure together. I guess that I sometimes feel
drained when most of our activities are centered around activities
that right-brained thinkers enjoy, like playing in the mud and
building. Like I said, I've enjoyed things like this, but I feel that
things can be out of balance because I would love spending the day
reading or doing quieter activities. I'm not saying that I want things
my way, but rather I'm wondering if someone can help me see how
everyone's needs get met when our interests are all over the board. I
also want to avoid all of us leading a solitary existence under the
same roof.

Please be easy on me...I'm new to all of this and maybe I'm missing
something fundamental to the homeschooling philosophy. I really want
to make this work. Friends have told me to just let go, but
left-brainers and right-brainers go about this in completely different
ways ;)

Thanks for all of your input and understanding. I'm glad I found such
a thoughtful group of people.

Mary

[email protected]

I would first recommend not defining people as just left-brained or
right-brained.
If you're not familiar with Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences theory,
maybe google some of that. I think it's a really helpful model for
unschooling.

You could maybe think of yourself as a supply officer and be involved in
their interests at least at the level of providing materials and opportunities,
even if you yourself don't hang out and do the physical stuff so much. Find
them other partners too, maybe--playmates, visitors, opportunities.

But if you define yourself as "a thing" or "a way," it will probably
encourage you to see your children more narrowly than is helpful too.

Maybe you've already found this, but
_http://sandradodd.com/deschooling/_ (http://sandradodd.com/deschooling/)

_http://sandradodd.com/checklists/_ (http://sandradodd.com/checklists/)

Maybe just shake it up every day or two, and do something new. It doesn't
have to be organized and involve everyone. It could be just you, yourself, and
if a kid or two gets interested, great; if not, great.

I had a really hard time accepting that some of my ideas were of no interest
to Kirby, when we were first homeschooling. It would hurt my feelings. I
reasoned with myself to snap out of it, and I eventually got over it. <g>

Sandra


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