pam sorooshian

Went through a bunch of my saved unschooling posts - ones I kept for
one reason or another - and these were the over 100 terms I pulled out
- again, because I had something to say about each of them regarding
unschooling.

So - the previous list was from teacher's websites and this list is
from unschooling parents emails.

I want only 100 for my talk - so I'll have to eliminate about 30 of
these - but I give them all to you for now.
Any comments will be appreciated.

-pam

acceptance

active

appreciation

artistic

attention

authentic

available

awareness

beauty

brilliant

caring

challenge

choice

closeness

community

companionship

compassion

confidence

connections

contemplation

conversation

courage

creative

curiousity

dabbling

easy

empowerment

endeavors

energy

engaged

environment

everything

excitement

experience

experimentation 

explore

facilitator

family

feelings

figure out

flow

focus

freedom

games

generosity

gentleness

genuine

growing-up

growth

hands-on

happiness

help

home

honor

ideas

imagination

immersion

independence

individual

information

integrated

interest

joy

kindness

knowledge

learning

life

lifestyle

listening

living

love

mastery

model

natural

needs

notice

nurture

observation

offer

opportunities

passion

pathway

patience

perception

personality

philosophy

places

play

pleasure

preferences

presence

pretend

process

protect

questions

quiet

real life

relationships

resources

responsible

rest

right

safe

serious

sharing

siblings

situations

songs

strengths

strew

success

suggestions

support

talk about it

thinking

thought

time

together

toys

trust

truth

understanding

unique

validate

value

voluntary

whole

wisdom

wonder

work it out

world

yes

 

Jon and Rue Kream

I was struck when reading the first list by how negative most of the words
seemed to me, and how external to the child they were. This list is just
the opposite. ~Rue


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

[email protected]

You have no "Z"!

How 'bout zippity-doo-dah! <G>

~Kelly


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

Lisa M. Cottrell Bentley

> You have no "Z"!
>
> How 'bout zippity-doo-dah! <G>

Zeal
Zest
Zainy

[email protected]

In a message dated 8/11/2004 2:40:57 PM Mountain Daylight Time,
kbcdlovejo@... writes:
You have no "Z"!

How 'bout zippity-doo-dah! <G>

~Kelly
--------------

zingy

I know I've used that word at least once a year.

Zingy connections, zingy thoughts.


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

Vijay Berry Owens

OMG, these are great terms! "Wisdom, Wonder, World, Yes!" This list is a
keeper for sure. It gets the taste of the 100 school words out of my
mouth.

But you need to cull some out. This is just my first gut reaction of
words to remove. Strictly my opinion of course. I think they're all
wonderful and it's hard to remove any, but I want to help since you only
want an even 100.

I would remove "attention" because it is so often followed by "deficit
disorder" these days that my brain actually filled in the other two
words even though they weren't implied. Sad.

"brilliant" because you wouldn't want to imply that unschooling is only
for so-called brilliant kids, or that all unschoolers are brilliant
(though I'm sure 99% of them are!)

"community" - because it brings to my mind an insular feeling, of being
separate or closed off from others.

"dabbling" -- because that is something that inexperienced unschoolers
or schoolers worry about: that given freedom, children will just dabble
in this or that for the rest of their lives and never really DO anything

"empowerment" -- don't know why this one bothers me. Overused these days
maybe? Ruined for me by "buzzword" status perhaps?

"hands-on" -- because it's used so often in the classroom setting feels
"schoolish" to me

"figure out," "work it out," "growing up," "real life," because they
are not words, but multi-word terms

"integrated" -- not sure why this one bothers me.

"protect" -- same reason as "community." Feels closed off, insulated.
Like unschoolers are hiding from the world.

I can't think of any others to remove. Best of luck!

Vijay Berry Owens
SAHM to Charlotte, 14 months


On Wednesday, August 11, 2004, at 01:32 PM, pam sorooshian wrote:

> Went through a bunch of my saved unschooling posts - ones I kept for
> one reason or another - and these were the over 100 terms I pulled out
> - again, because I had something to say about each of them regarding
> unschooling.
>
> So - the previous list was from teacher's websites and this list is
> from unschooling parents emails.
>
> I want only 100 for my talk - so I'll have to eliminate about 30 of
> these - but I give them all to you for now.
> Any comments will be appreciated.
>
> -pam
>
> acceptance
>
> active
>
> appreciation
>
> artistic
>
> attention
>
> authentic
>
> available
>
> awareness
>
> beauty
>
> brilliant
>
> caring
>
> challenge
>
> choice
>
> closeness
>
> community
>
> companionship
>
> compassion
>
> confidence
>
> connections
>
> contemplation
>
> conversation
>
> courage
>
> creative
>
> curiousity
>
> dabbling
>
> easy
>
> empowerment
>
> endeavors
>
> energy
>
> engaged
>
> environment
>
> everything
>
> excitement
>
> experience
>
> experimentation�
>
> explore
>
> facilitator
>
> family
>
> feelings
>
> figure out
>
> flow
>
> focus
>
> freedom
>
> games
>
> generosity
>
> gentleness
>
> genuine
>
> growing-up
>
> growth
>
> hands-on
>
> happiness
>
> help
>
> home
>
> honor
>
> ideas
>
> imagination
>
> immersion
>
> independence
>
> individual
>
> information
>
> integrated
>
> interest
>
> joy
>
> kindness
>
> knowledge
>
> learning
>
> life
>
> lifestyle
>
> listening
>
> living
>
> love
>
> mastery
>
> model
>
> natural
>
> needs
>
> notice
>
> nurture
>
> observation
>
> offer
>
> opportunities
>
> passion
>
> pathway
>
> patience
>
> perception
>
> personality
>
> philosophy
>
> places
>
> play
>
> pleasure
>
> preferences
>
> presence
>
> pretend
>
> process
>
> protect
>
> questions
>
> quiet
>
> real life
>
> relationships
>
> resources
>
> responsible
>
> rest
>
> right
>
> safe
>
> serious
>
> sharing
>
> siblings
>
> situations
>
> songs
>
> strengths
>
> strew
>
> success
>
> suggestions
>
> support
>
> talk about it
>
> thinking
>
> thought
>
> time
>
> together
>
> toys
>
> trust
>
> truth
>
> understanding
>
> unique
>
> validate
>
> value
>
> voluntary
>
> whole
>
> wisdom
>
> wonder
>
> work it out
>
> world
>
> yes
>
> �
>
>
>
> "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]
> �
> � Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of
> Service.
>


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

pam sorooshian

On Aug 11, 2004, at 6:53 PM, Vijay Berry Owens wrote:

> Vijay Berry Owens
> SAHM to Charlotte, 14 months

Thank you for the culling - I really appreciate it.

And - do you mind if I ask you to tell us how to pronounce your name?
I'm enjoying your posts and it is bothering me that I don't know how to
how to say your name, even if it is only in my head!

Thanks again,

-pam

National Home Education Network
<www.NHEN.org>
Serving the entire homeschooling community since 1999
through information, networking and public relations.

TreeGoddess

On Aug 11, 2004, at 9:53 PM, Vijay Berry Owens wrote:

> ["dabbling" -- because that is something that inexperienced unschoolers
> or schoolers worry about: that given freedom, children will just dabble
> in this or that for the rest of their lives and never really DO
> anything]

I like dabbling. I dabble with knitting, scrapbooks, herbal gardens,
stamping (on paper w/ink), cross-stitch, new foods, etc. If I had to
stay with a project once I started -- just so I could show that I "did"
something -- I might not even start it. I've been knitting an afghan
for over 2 years because I get bored with it and put it away for a few
months then take it back out and knit some more before putting it away
once my interest has waned. That would really suck if it wasn't OK for
me to do. I might just toss the whole thing out instead if I couldn't
dabble. :)

-Tracy-

Vijay Berry Owens

Don't mind at all. It's pronounced VEE-jay like an MTV VJ.

It's an Indian name, but I am not Indian (that's one of the few things
I'm not, lol).
It's usually a man's name, but I am not a man.

My parents were kinda hippie-ish, what can I say? It means victory in
Sanskrit which
had the "positive vibe" they were looking for back in 1972.

Some Indian people I've met put the emphasis on the second syllable. And
then they
ask me what I'm doing with an Indian man's name, lol.

-Vijay Berry Owens
SAHM to Charlotte, 14 months


On Thursday, August 12, 2004, at 12:39 AM, pam sorooshian wrote:

>
> On Aug 11, 2004, at 6:53 PM, Vijay Berry Owens wrote:
>
> > Vijay Berry Owens
> > SAHM to Charlotte, 14 months
>
> Thank you for the culling - I really appreciate it.
>
> And - do you mind if I ask you to tell us how to pronounce your name?
> I'm enjoying your posts and it is bothering me that I don't know how to
> how to say your name, even if it is only in my head!
>
> Thanks again,
>
> -pam
>
> National Home Education Network
> <www.NHEN.org>
> Serving the entire homeschooling community since 1999
> through information, networking and public relations.
>
>
>
> "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]
> �
> � Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of
> Service.
>


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

pam sorooshian

On Aug 11, 2004, at 11:07 PM, Vijay Berry Owens wrote:

> My parents were kinda hippie-ish, what can I say? It means victory in
> Sanskrit which
> had the "positive vibe" they were looking for back in 1972.

Hey - cool! Thanks for explaining.

-pam (kinda hippie-ish, too, and all in favor of positive vibes)


National Home Education Network
<www.NHEN.org>
Serving the entire homeschooling community since 1999
through information, networking and public relations.

Vijay Berry Owens

Dabbling per se is fine! I wasn't criticizing people who dabble, I hope
that wasn't the impression that people got from my post. I dabble
occasionally myself. :-)

In fact, I come from a long line of dabblers. My mom dabbled in
modeling, acting, and stunts for a while before turning to advertising.
She usually has 2 or 3 crochet projects going that she may or may not
finish by the time the baby she's making them for goes to college, lol.
She just gave me a dress for my daughter that she had sewed halfway for
me when I was a baby and never finished it until a few weeks ago. I'm
32. It took her 31+ years to finish one dress. Now THAT is advanced
dabbling.

My dad dabbled in math, dance, and drumming before turning to
bartending, martial arts, and dog training. Currently he's starting to
dabble in online backgammon, computer repair, and real estate investing.
Clearly dabbling can be a lifelong thing as he is 64 and shows no signs
of stopping.

I just singled it out as a word that might trigger negative thoughts
about unschooling because while it's okay for any of us as adults to
dabble in this or that, and have an unfinished project here and there,
it isn't okay (in the minds of the uninitiated) for people to start
dabbling as a child and then simply continue to dabble their whole lives.

At some point (usually around age 16-18) you are expected to choose your
"track" and stick with it for life (law, medicine, clergy, education,
entertainment, etc.). Dabbling is frowned upon.

So I didn't want someone to see dabbling on a list of unschooling words
and think "Clearly unschooling won't work, it'll just turn out a
generation of hopeless dabblers who won't contribute anything to
society."

Notice how a word starts to get weird when you say it or write it too
many times?

Dabble dabble dabble.

:-)

-Vijay Berry Owens
SAHM to Charlotte 14 months
(What am I doing up??? Goodnight!)


On Thursday, August 12, 2004, at 01:08 AM, TreeGoddess wrote:

> On Aug 11, 2004, at 9:53 PM, Vijay Berry Owens wrote:
>
> > ["dabbling" -- because that is something that inexperienced
> unschoolers
> > or schoolers worry about: that given freedom, children will just
> dabble
> > in this or that for the rest of their lives and never really DO
> > anything]
>
> I like dabbling.  I dabble with knitting, scrapbooks, herbal gardens,
> stamping (on paper w/ink), cross-stitch, new foods, etc.  If I had to
> stay with a project once I started -- just so I could show that I "did"
> something -- I might not even start it.  I've been knitting an afghan
> for over 2 years because I get bored with it and put it away for a few
> months then take it back out and knit some more before putting it away
> once my interest has waned.  That would really suck if it wasn't OK for
> me to do.  I might just toss the whole thing out instead if I couldn't
> dabble.  :)
>
> -Tracy-
>
>
>


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

Rhonda McDowell

Off the top of my head:

delight, discoverers, dreamers, gifted, ideals, inquisitive, magical,
precious, sensory, stimulate, yearning

Rhonda


----- Original Message -----
From: "pam sorooshian" <pamsoroosh@...>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, August 11, 2004 10:32 AM
Subject: [UnschoolingDiscussion] Unschooling terms


Went through a bunch of my saved unschooling posts - ones I kept for
one reason or another - and these were the over 100 terms I pulled out
- again, because I had something to say about each of them regarding
unschooling.

So - the previous list was from teacher's websites and this list is
from unschooling parents emails.

I want only 100 for my talk - so I'll have to eliminate about 30 of
these - but I give them all to you for now.
Any comments will be appreciated.

-pam

acceptance

active

appreciation

artistic

attention

authentic

available

awareness

beauty

brilliant

caring

challenge

choice

closeness

community

companionship

compassion

confidence

connections

contemplation

conversation

courage

creative

curiousity

dabbling

easy

empowerment

endeavors

energy

engaged

environment

everything

excitement

experience

experimentation

explore

facilitator

family

feelings

figure out

flow

focus

freedom

games

generosity

gentleness

genuine

growing-up

growth

hands-on

happiness

help

home

honor

ideas

imagination

immersion

independence

individual

information

integrated

interest

joy

kindness

knowledge

learning

life

lifestyle

listening

living

love

mastery

model

natural

needs

notice

nurture

observation

offer

opportunities

passion

pathway

patience

perception

personality

philosophy

places

play

pleasure

preferences

presence

pretend

process

protect

questions

quiet

real life

relationships

resources

responsible

rest

right

safe

serious

sharing

siblings

situations

songs

strengths

strew

success

suggestions

support

talk about it

thinking

thought

time

together

toys

trust

truth

understanding

unique

validate

value

voluntary

whole

wisdom

wonder

work it out

world

yes






"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

TreeGoddess

On Aug 12, 2004, at 2:25 AM, Vijay Berry Owens wrote:

> [I just singled it out as a word that might trigger negative thoughts
> about unschooling because while it's okay for any of us as adults to
> dabble in this or that, and have an unfinished project here and there,
> it isn't okay (in the minds of the uninitiated) for people to start
> dabbling as a child and then simply continue to dabble their whole
> lives.]

Then lets use the word MORE in a positive way and maybe the uninitiated
will pick up on it! ;)
-Tracy-

Krisula Moyer

Kelly wrote:

You have no "Z"!

How 'bout zippity-doo-dah! <G>



And yet, it is really nice to have this beautiful list end with "Yes"!!

Krisula

Penn Acres

Comfort


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