Danielle Conger

We borrowed PBS's series Pioneer House from the library and watched it the other day. Emily (6) and I really enjoyed it--we watched it straight through pretty much, just taking a break for dinner. We had lots of great discussions, but mostly I just enjoyed having someone to watch it with.

I was amazed and saddened by the people on the show--most of them anyway. It was really interesting watching the 2 teenage girls from Malibu change and develop character as time went on. They went from smuggling makeup because they couldn't imagine going without it to being comfortable singing songs at a school show. They seemed to grow more mature as they stopped trying to pretend to be mature. It made me think of all the conversations unschoolers have about their children seeming both more mature and younger than schooled kids primarily because there is no posturing.

One woman talked about how sad she was that her children were going to go off to the one-room school house because she'd grown so close to them. She was saying that she knew she was being selfish, but I kept thinking how sad that she wants to be around her children and society has made her view that as selfish. The children were enjoying being with her and the animals, too, it seemed.

At the end, the directors caught up with each family 2 months after they had left their pioneer settlement and asked them how life was different. Everyone talked about how the 21st century just offers too many choices and how difficult it was to keep occupied. The people from Malibu moved into their new mansion, the foyer of which was probably the size of the cabin they'd left. The mother lamented how far apart everyone was in that house and how they missed the closeness of the cabin. The girls were in the hottub, makeup back on, talking about how bored they were. Boredom seemed to echo through everyone's 21st century lives.

I found myself thinking that these families traveled back in time and the things they valued most from that experience are the same kinds of things that unschooling offers today. But they couldn't see anyway to reconcile the two different time periods. I don't think any of them were overly-romanticizing their experience--there were a lot of difficult things to overcome and lots of hard work. What was sad was that they couldn't see a way to import the positive aspects of their experiences into the 21st century--more family togetherness, closeness, dependence on one another, spending *real* time with each other, living in the moment. Instead, it was just like, "well, we're back here now, so we have to follow along, be bored and boring, and lose that spirit of independence and self-worth that we nourished back in 1883."

It makes me feel so lucky to be living the life that we do. I enjoy being with my children--a joy that's reciprocated. Unschooling allows us to live life fully, in the moment, allows us to be together as a family and to carve our own path. Honestly, I can't even imagine herding my children and myself like so many sheep out the door to trod in the well-worn path of society. I think about how mechanized our society (US) has become--everyone doing the same thing, at the same time all across the country. How mind-numbing! No wonder everything seems so boring. It's not that there are too many choices, but that there are too few.

At any rate, I'm rambling now. Just gave me lots of food for thought.

--danielle



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

Melissa

--- In [email protected], "Danielle Conger"
<danielle.conger@c...> wrote:

<<We borrowed PBS's series Pioneer House from the library and
watched it the other day. >>

I loved that show when it originally aired a while back. My DH was
addicted to it too and he thgought that it would be "just another
reality tv show." I've even watched it on re-runs from time to
time. My sister is the one who told me about it, she actually
applied to be on it with her husband and daughter.

I too liked watching the dynamics change as the show progressed and
wondering if I would be able to give up everything that I have
become used to having to do something like that......not sure that I
could/would. Well, I suppose I could, if I had no other choice but
WOULD I, if I had the opprotunity? Not sure. It was really good to
see the two teenage girls learn some new values but also sad to see
them 2 months later and the father was still complaining and the
kids were talking about how they could be in the house and not even
know if someone else was there with them.

There was talk not too long ago about visiting Colonial
Williamsburg. I have been talking about wanting to visit there for
years and my DH just laughed me off. We both know that it's not the
same thing but, after watching this series, he actually agreed to
visit....if we ever save enough money. Yeah!

Melissa

Marti

At 01:03 PM 02/06/2004, you wrote:
>Instead, it was just like, "well, we're back here now, so we have to
>follow along, be bored and boring, and lose that spirit of independence
>and self-worth that we nourished back in 1883."

Yes, even my younger girls noticed this... "Why don't they just get out of
the hottub and go find something to work on?" Very sad indeed.

Be sure to check out the PBS website, http://www.pbs.org/wnet/frontierhouse/

Marti
Smithsburg MD

Marti

At 01:29 PM 02/06/2004, you wrote:
>There was talk not too long ago about visiting Colonial
>Williamsburg. I have been talking about wanting to visit there for
>years and my DH just laughed me off.

There is a Colonial House scheduled for this spring:
Airing May 17, 18, 24, 25, 2004 8-10pm on PBS

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/colonialhouse/

We've really enjoyed all of the series (Frontier House, 1900 House, 1940's
House, Manor House)... but we're especially excited about this series,
since we're such big Williamsburg fans!

We *almost* considered applying, but they didn't really want young
children, and we weren't in a position to take such a leave of absence from
real life at the time. And I'm not sure I would've actually been able to do
it for such a length of time... what a challenge and adventure!

Marti
Smithsburg MD

Melissa

--- In [email protected], Marti <marti@n...>
wrote:

<<There is a Colonial House scheduled for this spring:
Airing May 17, 18, 24, 25, 2004 8-10pm on PBS>>

Thank you, I'll make sure that I mark my calander so that I don't
miss it. I've watched all of the different series' but none as
closely as Frontier House. This one sounds like another one that I
could really get into.

Melissa

Robyn Coburn

One thing that I remember from watching that show was one of the mothers �
the one with the boy and the girl who discovered a talent for animal
husbandry � discussing her reasons for sending her children to school. She
was talking about how the pioneers would have sent the kids to school so
that they would be more educated and be able to build a better life than
being on the farm. I felt that she was totally missing the point of being
pioneers, and taking modern biases into the situation (understandable I
guess), and assumptions about the pioneers attitudes. The pioneers *were*
living a better life. They had come from God knows where � quite possibly
factories and mines in Europe, or farming as tenants for someone else � and
were making the very best life available to ordinary people who were not
already wealthy. I imagine they felt being a landowner was quite a high
status life � speaking as an urban apartment renter I would say it still is
something to aspire to. I would imagine that some of them would be
disappointed if their children did not embrace being landowners themselves.
I think we look at farmers in a different way today.

The other thing that I felt sad about was the way she insisted on killing
the favorite calf (or sheep?) entirely for the purpose of teaching her son a
hard and bitter lesson � it actually infuriated me that she would put him
through that much pain when they were NOT staying for the winter, and it was
totally unnecessary for survival. Who cares about the farewell feast if it
means hurting your kids so much? She and her husband separated not long
afterward � he was the man who seemed most to internalize the lifestyle and
be least looking forward to going home. Remember how much the other family
cheated? Innersprings and trading baked goods for modern stuff.

Robyn L. Coburn



<<I too liked watching the dynamics change as the show progressed and
wondering if I would be able to give up everything that I have
become used to having to do something like that......not sure that I
could/would. Well, I suppose I could, if I had no other choice but
WOULD I, if I had the opprotunity? Not sure. It was really good to
see the two teenage girls learn some new values but also sad to see
them 2 months later and the father was still complaining and the
kids were talking about how they could be in the house and not even
know if someone else was there with them.>>




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

Elizabeth Roberts

I enjoyed the series as well, and I agree. We're all talking about finding a bigger house because the one we have now is so small you have to trade places with someone in order to move...but I know there will be things about it that I will miss!

I'd love to spend time doing something like that, but unfortunately Paul does not have the same adventurous attitude that I have.


Danielle Conger <danielle.conger@...> wrote:
We borrowed PBS's series Pioneer House from the library and watched it the other day. Emily (6) and I really enjoyed it--we watched it straight through pretty much, just taking a break for dinner. We had lots of great discussions, but mostly I just enjoyed having someone to watch it with.

I was amazed and saddened by the people on the show--most of them anyway. It was really interesting watching the 2 teenage girls from Malibu change and develop character as time went on. They went from smuggling makeup because they couldn't imagine going without it to being comfortable singing songs at a school show. They seemed to grow more mature as they stopped trying to pretend to be mature. It made me think of all the conversations unschoolers have about their children seeming both more mature and younger than schooled kids primarily because there is no posturing.

One woman talked about how sad she was that her children were going to go off to the one-room school house because she'd grown so close to them. She was saying that she knew she was being selfish, but I kept thinking how sad that she wants to be around her children and society has made her view that as selfish. The children were enjoying being with her and the animals, too, it seemed.

At the end, the directors caught up with each family 2 months after they had left their pioneer settlement and asked them how life was different. Everyone talked about how the 21st century just offers too many choices and how difficult it was to keep occupied. The people from Malibu moved into their new mansion, the foyer of which was probably the size of the cabin they'd left. The mother lamented how far apart everyone was in that house and how they missed the closeness of the cabin. The girls were in the hottub, makeup back on, talking about how bored they were. Boredom seemed to echo through everyone's 21st century lives.

I found myself thinking that these families traveled back in time and the things they valued most from that experience are the same kinds of things that unschooling offers today. But they couldn't see anyway to reconcile the two different time periods. I don't think any of them were overly-romanticizing their experience--there were a lot of difficult things to overcome and lots of hard work. What was sad was that they couldn't see a way to import the positive aspects of their experiences into the 21st century--more family togetherness, closeness, dependence on one another, spending *real* time with each other, living in the moment. Instead, it was just like, "well, we're back here now, so we have to follow along, be bored and boring, and lose that spirit of independence and self-worth that we nourished back in 1883."

It makes me feel so lucky to be living the life that we do. I enjoy being with my children--a joy that's reciprocated. Unschooling allows us to live life fully, in the moment, allows us to be together as a family and to carve our own path. Honestly, I can't even imagine herding my children and myself like so many sheep out the door to trod in the well-worn path of society. I think about how mechanized our society (US) has become--everyone doing the same thing, at the same time all across the country. How mind-numbing! No wonder everything seems so boring. It's not that there are too many choices, but that there are too few.

At any rate, I'm rambling now. Just gave me lots of food for thought.

--danielle



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