[email protected]

In a message dated 1/14/2004 1:00pm, BonKnit@a... writes:

<<<<<<<< Somehow we got onto reading and he told me that all his
friends know he is not a good reader and they are OK with it. >>>>>>>

I've noticed this with Madelyn's (almost 13) schooled friends as
well.

When they were younger, they used to razz her about not knowing
her "math". She did feel bad about it. But about middle school age -
11 and up, they quit asking her schooly-type questions. No more math
quizzes or snarky questions about how could she learn
anything "important" without school.

Are they looking around and thinking maybe being in school isn't so
great? Are they questioning the wisdom of all those "great" teachers
(not the really good ones - the sarcastic ones, the fakey ones, the
passive-aggressive ones)? Are they realizing there is more to life
than what is offered in school?

Well - maybe that's too optimistic. . . . .

I'm just glad they've laid off.


<<<<<<< I feel so privileged to be along on this ride. >>>>>>>

Ain't it great?
Mercedes

[email protected]

In a message dated 1/17/2004 12:43:06 AM Central Standard Time,
mulwiler@... writes:


> Are they looking around and thinking maybe being in school isn't so
> great? Are they questioning the wisdom of all those "great" teachers
> (not the really good ones - the sarcastic ones, the fakey ones, the
> passive-aggressive ones)? Are they realizing there is more to life
> than what is offered in school?
>

Well, as Tom put it, "They know me now". I think Tom is one of the most
exciting things to come along in this neighborhood for a long time. We moved here
almost 3 years ago and he got many of the pop quizzes you mentioned. However
since then Tom had been the driving force in a number of construction projects
carried on in the neighborhood (mostly our garage), a couple of skateboard
ramps, several versions of hand gliders (to fly THEM, no success yet) and of
course the house, oh and several trials at springy shoes made out of an old box
spring. I once overheard him ask an overnight guest from his volleyball team "Do
you build?" Hmmmm, doesn't everybody? LOL
Laura Buoni


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


[email protected]

In a message dated 1/17/2004 1:57:25 PM Central Standard Time,
jocelyn@... writes:


> Have you seen this guys web site:
>
> http://www.cockeyed.com/incredible/shoes/shoes.html
>

Oh yes, someone sent me the link back when he was making them. They were not
easy to stay on, they kept tilting to one side. He had to put several springs
together as one and tilt them a certain way. He used duct tape. Lots of duct
tape. My kids have been known to fight over duct tape, LOL
Laura


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

Jocelyn Vilter

On 1/17/04 12:01 PM, "BonKnit@..." <BonKnit@...> wrote:

> In a message dated 1/17/2004 1:57:25 PM Central Standard Time,
> jocelyn@... writes:
>
>
>> Have you seen this guys web site:
>>
>> http://www.cockeyed.com/incredible/shoes/shoes.html
>>
>
> Oh yes, someone sent me the link back when he was making them. They were not
> easy to stay on, they kept tilting to one side. He had to put several springs
> together as one and tilt them a certain way. He used duct tape. Lots of duct
> tape. My kids have been known to fight over duct tape, LOL
> Laura
>
I think Rob says on the site that he used 5 springs on each shoe. And that
they weren't very stable. I just like his break-down-all-the steps approach
to all of his weird projects. He does the kind of "science experiments" I
wish I had been allowed to do as a child, how much shaving cream is in a
can, how much ink is in a Sharpie etc. I like his costume projects too,
making himself look like the state of California and a giant stack of Jenga
blocks.

Jocelyn

[email protected]

In a message dated Sat Jan 17, 2004 2:35am, BonKnit@a.. writes:


<<<<<< Well, as Tom put it, "They know me now". >>>>>>

We've lived here all Madelyn's life so they knew her then too < g >.

It just seemed those elementary years were the hardest when the ps
kids were getting different information from their school/home than
the information they were getting here.

One of the coolness factors that Madelyn has now, too, is that she is
really good at hair, fashion, make-up and clothes. She's also been to
modeling school (she did choose to stop attending for awhile so she
hasn't finished with that, YET < g >) and that's attractive to her
friends as well.

Mercedes
who completed her first attempt at cornrows in Madelyn's hair on
Thursday night - and fairly successfully! Next time it'll be better -
faster too, I hope.

[email protected]

In a message dated 1/17/2004 2:19:06 PM Central Standard Time,
jocelyn@... writes:


> He does the kind of "science experiments" I
> wish I had been allowed to do as a child, how much shaving cream is in a
> can, how much ink is in a Sharpie etc. I like his costume projects too,
> making himself look like the state of California and a giant stack of Jenga
> blocks.
>

We recently started playing around with balloons creating balloon sculpture
(the dog type thing). I had a couple of bags of balloons to practice, I kept
telling my son to go ahead and make more. He looked up and said "How many
balloons can I use?" for some reason that just broke my heart, I started thinking of
the limits we put on things. I told him he could use all of them if he
wanted. It was so great to watch after that anytime he wanted to see him get out the
balloons and sometimes the video's and he would just go at it.

That was really a defining moment for me, I started to think of other ways I
have put limits on things that we would be so much better off if I didn't.
Last night we started making Gingerbread and found out half way into it that we
didn't have any molasses. We went ahead and made it with Karo syrup but it was
yucky so we threw out. That was another step, we can try cooking things we are
not sure we like and if not we can let it go or give it away. Very freeing.
Laura Buoni


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

[email protected]

In a message dated 1/17/2004 2:20:44 PM Mountain Standard Time,
mulwiler@... writes:
-=-One of the coolness factors that Madelyn has now, too, is that she is
really good at hair, fashion, make-up and clothes-=-

Holly is that way too.

Tonight she and I went into the gamingshop to pick Kirby up after work.
Holly's hair has lately been cut about 1/2" short and dyed lighter (its purple
went to pink and is now blondish).

Kirby's boss is 40'sand has a daughter, schooled, late teens.

He said "Holly, I like your haircut. Most girls your age wouldn't be brave
enough to have their hair that short."

Holly smiled and shrugged and was friendly, and I said, "She's not in school.
That helps."

He looked at me like I had entirely changed the subject, and said most women
wait another ten years before they're brave enough to have a haircut like
that, or some such.

I know he meant it as a compliment, but it was a strangely disjoint (and
still friendly) conversation.

Sandra


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

Elizabeth Roberts

Sandra,

Wow! She's what, 12 now? Sounds pretty cool to me. I recently cut off ALL my hair down to like I used to wear it but I'm thinking about dying it purple or something fun while it's so short...

MamaBeth
SandraDodd@... wrote:
In a message dated 1/17/2004 2:20:44 PM Mountain Standard Time,
mulwiler@... writes:
-=-One of the coolness factors that Madelyn has now, too, is that she is
really good at hair, fashion, make-up and clothes-=-

Holly is that way too.

Tonight she and I went into the gamingshop to pick Kirby up after work.
Holly's hair has lately been cut about 1/2" short and dyed lighter (its purple
went to pink and is now blondish).

Kirby's boss is 40'sand has a daughter, schooled, late teens.

He said "Holly, I like your haircut. Most girls your age wouldn't be brave
enough to have their hair that short."

Holly smiled and shrugged and was friendly, and I said, "She's not in school.
That helps."

He looked at me like I had entirely changed the subject, and said most women
wait another ten years before they're brave enough to have a haircut like
that, or some such.

I know he meant it as a compliment, but it was a strangely disjoint (and
still friendly) conversation.

Sandra


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

[email protected]

In a message dated 1/18/04 8:49:25 AM, mamabethuscg@... writes:

<< Wow! She's what, 12 now? Sounds pretty cool to me. I recently cut off ALL
my hair down to like I used to wear it but I'm thinking about dying it purple
or something fun while it's so short... >>

She's 12, and I think if she were in school others would have told her her
clothes were NOT cool and her haircut was stupid, and so forth. I remember
when the kids were really little and Marty had a mohawkish (-ish) thing he had
designed, and neighbor kids came over and the form of the question was "who has
that?" It was asked with potential enthusiasm, and the question was really a
call for authorization. Had Marty named a famous athlete, musician or movie
star whose hair he had copied the kids' next response was going to be an awed
"coooool!" but as soon as Marty said "I thought it up myself," they were
deflated, and prepared (had there been a leader to start it) to say "That's stupid."
But the next question was "why did you do it?"

Marty said "Because I wanted to!"

They were uncomfortable, and the conversation changed. Maybe it was because
I was right there. They had no dialog prepared for the unexpected turn of
events. He made a decision on his own without copying, and was not ashamed.

They were literally dumbfounded: nothing to say.

So they played on the swings. <g>

In school, though, another batch of kids would have come by and eventually
someone would have made it clear to Marty that his options were to blend in or
to copy celebrities, and any other behavior was to be shamed right out of him.

It's interesting, the range of things I've seen having kids who weren't in
school.

Sandra

Wendy Carr

I cut all mine off yesterday too! It was really long, and now its up to my
Mid neck and layered!!

Congrats on the son that had a mohawk...stand proud! Wendy


>From: SandraDodd@...
>Reply-To: [email protected]
>To: [email protected]
>Subject: Re: [UnschoolingDiscussion] To Sandra (was now reading & stuff)
>Date: Sun, 18 Jan 2004 12:32:09 EST
>


Wendy Carr
When the first baby laughed for the first time, the laugh broke into a
thousand pieces and they all went skipping about, and that was the beginning
of fairies. - Barrie
Mom to Austyn(8) and Caitlin(5 months)

Proud To Home-school!

_________________________________________________________________
Rethink your business approach for the new year with the helpful tips here.
http://special.msn.com/bcentral/prep04.armx


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

[email protected]

In a message dated 1/18/2004 1:01:29 PM Central Standard Time,
WendyWCarr@... writes:


> I cut all mine off yesterday too! It was really long, and now its up to my
> Mid neck and layered!!
>

One of my younger sisters had her hair cut off several years ago, it was
beautiful, it fell to below her knees and was very thick. The guy who cut it was
amazed at the muscles in her neck, LOL. I really hated going anywhere with her
as people stopped her all the time to tell her that her hair was really long.
They were being nice but it became very annoying as she already knew that, LOL
Laura


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

Wendy Carr

I think if someone told me "Hey your hair is long!" I would say "NO! Omg!
How did that happen?" LOL
Can pictures be posted here or on a website of members?
Wendy


>From: BonKnit@...
>Reply-To: [email protected]
>To: [email protected]
>Subject: Re: [UnschoolingDiscussion] To Sandra (was now reading & stuff)
>Date: Sun, 18 Jan 2004 14:07:10 EST
>


Wendy Carr
When the first baby laughed for the first time, the laugh broke into a
thousand pieces and they all went skipping about, and that was the beginning
of fairies. - Barrie
Mom to Austyn(8) and Caitlin(5 months)

Proud To Home-school!

_________________________________________________________________
Rethink your business approach for the new year with the helpful tips here.
http://special.msn.com/bcentral/prep04.armx


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