Unschooling with the Virgo Child (and the Aquarius Mom)
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We have been having adventures with Julian, ever seeking structure. A while
ago he developed "study halls" for himself, where 3 days a week he
concentrates for a couple hours on an academic subject: Monday: history,
Tuesday: Literature, Friday: Math. I don't even know where he heard the term
"study hall."
My role in this is I keep the days on my calendar as recurring appointments
and tell him. He has also asked me to make recommendations about things to
read, etc. So I made a pile of stuff we had around the house I thought he'd
like, and he plunged in. He spent one day going through centuries of poetry
from my old Norton Anthology of English literature. (He really liked
Coleridge.) Another day he read parts of The Joy of Mathematics, by Theoni
Pappas. He didn't do problems or anything, just read, and had a good time.
Then on History day last week, he spent hours reading The Optimist's Guide to
History and The Pessimist's Guide to History. (He's as likely to pick these
things up at other times too, but likes to know there are times scheduled for
them.)
He's been struggling as he's been learning guitar. He forgets to practice,
then he gets sad because he isn't making progress as fast as he'd like. He
asked us to keep reminding him, but that felt awful to all of us, because no
matter what, it felt like nagging. Finally, I looked at him, so sad, and
said, "Do you want to just schedule time every day for practice?" He looked
at me and his face GLOWED!!!!!!!
So he now practices right after Study Hall on days he has that scheduled, or
right when he gets up on the other days. And when he went to his lesson the
other day, he teacher was impressed with how well he did.
Now, this is not my style at all. (Is this his version of adolescent
rebellion?) But I am so impressed at Julian's ability to find what works for
him. He has no desire for a curriculum, and is so good at finding things that
interest him.
Kathryn
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
ago he developed "study halls" for himself, where 3 days a week he
concentrates for a couple hours on an academic subject: Monday: history,
Tuesday: Literature, Friday: Math. I don't even know where he heard the term
"study hall."
My role in this is I keep the days on my calendar as recurring appointments
and tell him. He has also asked me to make recommendations about things to
read, etc. So I made a pile of stuff we had around the house I thought he'd
like, and he plunged in. He spent one day going through centuries of poetry
from my old Norton Anthology of English literature. (He really liked
Coleridge.) Another day he read parts of The Joy of Mathematics, by Theoni
Pappas. He didn't do problems or anything, just read, and had a good time.
Then on History day last week, he spent hours reading The Optimist's Guide to
History and The Pessimist's Guide to History. (He's as likely to pick these
things up at other times too, but likes to know there are times scheduled for
them.)
He's been struggling as he's been learning guitar. He forgets to practice,
then he gets sad because he isn't making progress as fast as he'd like. He
asked us to keep reminding him, but that felt awful to all of us, because no
matter what, it felt like nagging. Finally, I looked at him, so sad, and
said, "Do you want to just schedule time every day for practice?" He looked
at me and his face GLOWED!!!!!!!
So he now practices right after Study Hall on days he has that scheduled, or
right when he gets up on the other days. And when he went to his lesson the
other day, he teacher was impressed with how well he did.
Now, this is not my style at all. (Is this his version of adolescent
rebellion?) But I am so impressed at Julian's ability to find what works for
him. He has no desire for a curriculum, and is so good at finding things that
interest him.
Kathryn
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Dawn Falbe
Kathryn.... Is his Sun Sign in Virgo? As you are probably aware there are
Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and
North and South Node to take into consideration when you are looking at a
human beings charts.
Zak has his first 4 planets I Virgo. So he's very Virgo like. You need to
have at least 4 planets in a sign in order to be considered "that sign".
The majority of people are a combination. Although you do get people who
are very dominant in one sign. With Zak having so much Virgo (I'm also a
Virgo Sun, Mercury, Venus & Pluto with an Aquarius Moon) it's easier for me
to deal with him than Steve (who only has 1 Virgo planet). Talk, talk,
talk, answer, answer, answer, structure, structure, structure (they
structure not mine) is the key with Virgo children. The more Virgo they
have in them the more talking they do. Zak is very precise and logical and
will come up with solutions to problems very quickly. For example. Steve
and I were playing video poker the other day on the computer and Zak wanted
to learn how to play. We told him this was a grown up game (not sure why we
did that actually) so he went into the kitchen and cut up tons of pieces of
paper and made his own card deck (even though he has tons of real card
decks). He then came to me with a piece of paper and asked me to tell him
how many points things were worth.... I sat in the kitchen saying to myself
"I cannot believe I'm teaching my 7 year old how to play poker". They learn
what they see!!!!
Dawn F.
Tucson, AZ
ago he developed "study halls" for himself, where 3 days a week he
concentrates for a couple hours on an academic subject: Monday: history,
Tuesday: Literature, Friday: Math. I don't even know where he heard the term
"study hall." >>
Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and
North and South Node to take into consideration when you are looking at a
human beings charts.
Zak has his first 4 planets I Virgo. So he's very Virgo like. You need to
have at least 4 planets in a sign in order to be considered "that sign".
The majority of people are a combination. Although you do get people who
are very dominant in one sign. With Zak having so much Virgo (I'm also a
Virgo Sun, Mercury, Venus & Pluto with an Aquarius Moon) it's easier for me
to deal with him than Steve (who only has 1 Virgo planet). Talk, talk,
talk, answer, answer, answer, structure, structure, structure (they
structure not mine) is the key with Virgo children. The more Virgo they
have in them the more talking they do. Zak is very precise and logical and
will come up with solutions to problems very quickly. For example. Steve
and I were playing video poker the other day on the computer and Zak wanted
to learn how to play. We told him this was a grown up game (not sure why we
did that actually) so he went into the kitchen and cut up tons of pieces of
paper and made his own card deck (even though he has tons of real card
decks). He then came to me with a piece of paper and asked me to tell him
how many points things were worth.... I sat in the kitchen saying to myself
"I cannot believe I'm teaching my 7 year old how to play poker". They learn
what they see!!!!
Dawn F.
Tucson, AZ
>>We have been having adventures with Julian, ever seeking structure. Awhile
ago he developed "study halls" for himself, where 3 days a week he
concentrates for a couple hours on an academic subject: Monday: history,
Tuesday: Literature, Friday: Math. I don't even know where he heard the term
"study hall." >>
Dawn Falbe
In order to find out what someone's natal astrological chart looks like you
need date of birth, place of birth and time of birth. Then an Astrologer
can create that chart and interpret it.
Dawn F.
Tucson, AZ
need date of birth, place of birth and time of birth. Then an Astrologer
can create that chart and interpret it.
Dawn F.
Tucson, AZ