Tina

I'm interested in this from the perspectives of new unschoolers and
veterans. How do you respond or not respond to boredom in your home?

Tina

Susan Gallien

On the extremely rare occassion that I hear those words I will offer to
let them help me with a chore, sometimes I'm even taken up on the offer
and while we work and talk the feeling of boredom passes and then they
run off and play.

Tina wrote:

>I'm interested in this from the perspectives of new unschoolers and
>veterans. How do you respond or not respond to boredom in your home?
>
>Tina
>
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>
>
>"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
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[email protected]

http://sandradodd.com/BoredNoMore

I wrote a response, but when I tried to paste in the text from this webpage,
it gummed up the e-mail totally. Sorry.

It's self explanatory in the file, and it's something I wrote because someone
on a homeschooling list talked about boredom as an emotion, and it really
change my point of view a LOT.

The good thing about going to the page, too, is there's a link at the bottom
with other people's responses.

Sandra

James & Lari Johnston

We made lists. I asked the kids one day (when they weren't bored) to make lists of all the things they like to do and we posted the lists on the wall. Now when they say they're bored we go to the list and pick something to do.
Lari
----- Original Message -----
From: Tina
To: [email protected]
Sent: Tuesday, May 11, 2004 6:23 AM
Subject: [UnschoolingDiscussion] Boredom???


I'm interested in this from the perspectives of new unschoolers and
veterans. How do you respond or not respond to boredom in your home?

Tina



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

J. Stauffer

<<<How do you respond or not respond to boredom in your home?>>>

It was a common occurance when the kids were de-schooling. It is quite rare
now.

I think boredom is a catch phrase for "I feel emotionally itchy and I can't
figure out how to scratch it." It could mean anything from "I've stopped a
project and not sure what I want to do next" to "My period is due any day
now" to "Marsie got the big cookie instead of me".

We don't make a big deal out of boredom. We don't see it as "something you
shouldn't be." We acknowledge it as an emotional state and how we handle it
depends on the kids, the time of day, etc..

I might suggest reading a book together, or some other activity. I might
just give a hug and scratch their back. I might make a joke. Depends.

Julie S.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tina" <zoocrew@...>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, May 11, 2004 6:23 AM
Subject: [UnschoolingDiscussion] Boredom???


> I'm interested in this from the perspectives of new unschoolers and
> veterans. How do you respond or not respond to boredom in your home?
>
> Tina
>
>
>
>
> "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
>
>
>
>
>
>

David Lewis

***How do you respond or not respond to boredom in your home?***

I always respond to boredom, because I feel like my time with Dylan is
short enough we should make the most of it. <g>

Really, we're rarely bored, but sometimes someone feels restless and the
best thing for that is a change of scenery.

We go. We jump in the car and go for a drive. We make some sandwiches
and go for a picnic. We grab our day packs and go for a hike. We pick
up some corn and go to the park to feed the geese.

We live in a small town that until just recently didn't even have a
bookstore. Lots of the interesting things we do are in other towns.
Sometimes we just drive to an art gallery or museum we've never been to,
or haven't been to in a long time. Sometimes we find a used book store
we've never been to. Sometimes we go to a restaurant we've never been to
before and order the weirdest sounding thing from the menu.

Once we stopped in place where they make neon signs and asked for a tour.
<g>
Sometimes we go to the greenhouse and play in the earthworm beds.
Sometimes we go to the cemetery and do gravestone rubbings.

In the winter we can go to the sledding hill, just two blocks away.
It's snowing here today, that's what made me think of sledding. <g>

A few weeks ago we went to look for sapphires.

I think parents need to be open to all the possibilities. There was
recently a post, asking if the child really understood he could do
anything. That's important but what's more important (because often kids
can't drive themselves to interesting places) is that the parents are
aware that the world is bigger than their own house or yard or library.
Parents need to be imaginative, spontaneous and excitable. <g>

Asking a kid who's bored what he wants to do really doesn't help. If he
knew what he wanted he could do it. Getting active and doing something
new revives creativity. I always think of those times as an opportunity
for us to step out of the box and make discoveries.


Deb L

Alyce

--- In [email protected], "Tina" <zoocrew@w...>
wrote:
> I'm interested in this from the perspectives of new unschoolers
and
> veterans. How do you respond or not respond to boredom in your
home?
>
> Tina

Get in the car and go somewhere. Drive with the windows down and
good music playing loud. Look at things. If you see something or
someplace interesting while out, stop and check it out. Go for a
walk. Library, bookstore (the bookstore works for us sometimes
because my son - 7 - just enjoys playing with the train and toys
they have set up in the children's section while my daughters can
spend hours browsing, and I get latte. <wink>)

Shingle the dog house. Paint the shed. Plant a tree.

Is there a community college or community center where you are that
offers classes that he'd be interested in? We've done T-ball, art,
dancing... whatever they're into when the schedule comes out, if
anything.

You're doing the park days, right? We have one main park day that
we absolutely don't miss! We've added a second one because my son
wanted to do more with kids at the park - once a week wasn't enough
for him.

Field trips - animal shelter, museums, auto body shop. What's he
into? There are lots of places that aren't really seen as field
trip opportunities - auto body shop for example. :) What kind of
place would he be interested in? Just call the places. Somebody
will usually be willing to show you around. If not, call another.

Plan a day trip together. I don't know where you are, so can't come
up with specific ideas. One thing that we liked to do, and havent'
in a while (I'll need to consult with the kids and see if they're
game) was to get up before sunrise and hit the beach ...then sit
there and watch the sun come up. Cold but really great. We'd bring
bagels, etc. to eat... and the little birds that run back and forth
with the tide... hysterical.

Would he be interested in volunteer work? Many of the people here
volunteer at the homeless shelter... Others volunteer at the
community theater. There are bound to be opportunities of some
nature wherever you are.

How about watching a TV show being taped? Even if you're not near
LA or NY or whatnot, surely there are smaller local shows
everywhere... (this was one of ours! The kids are chomping at the
bit to do it again.)

If there's nothing at home to alleviate the boredom, leave. The
laundry can wait.

Alyce

Mark and Julie

<<<How do you respond or not respond to boredom in your home?>>>

>> It was a common occurance when the kids were de-schooling. It is quite
rare
now.>>

As I read this it occurred to me that I don't often hear the kids saying
they are bored anymore. So maybe it is a part of the deschooling process
and learning how to be self-directed.
When they do come to me saying they are bored, often they want me-either a
hug or just to do something with me.

Julie

[email protected]

In a message dated 5/11/2004 8:24:15 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
mjsolich@... writes:
>> It was a common occurance when the kids were de-schooling. It is quite
rare now.>>

As I read this it occurred to me that I don't often hear the kids saying
they are bored anymore. So maybe it is a part of the deschooling process
and learning how to be self-directed.<<<<

Cameron went through a bored stage---just after leaving school. Duncan,
always unschooled, has never used the word. Cameron hasn't been bored in a couple
of years. I think you're spot-on, there!

~Kelly


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

Shannon Rizzo

My 7 yr old gets bored sometimes, and she has never been to school. I think
anyone can suffer from boredom once in a while, it's not just reserved for
schoolers. Boredom isn't necessarily bad, either.

Shannon R
(mom to Heather, Isabella, Luke, and Jake)