anyone read this book?
heather mclean
Has anyone read this book "Einstein Never Used Flash
Cards" by Roberta Michnick Golinkoff and Kathy
Hirsh-Pasek? There is an interesting advertisement
for it in my mil's Prevention magazine.
Oh, here it is...
Playing = Learning.
Einstein Never Used FlashCards: How our children
REALLY learn - and why they need to play more and
memorize less. Internationally acclaimed
developmental child psychologists offer a compelling
indictment of accelerated learning and provide a
roadmap to intellectual growth through creative play.
There was another article in the same magazine that I
liked. "Playing Hooky: when breaking the rules is a
good idea." Maybe I mostly like the title of the
article. He (author & father) did get PERMISSION from
his kid's teacher before he let his son skip school so
they could spend the day together.
heather m
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Free Pop-Up Blocker - Get it now
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Cards" by Roberta Michnick Golinkoff and Kathy
Hirsh-Pasek? There is an interesting advertisement
for it in my mil's Prevention magazine.
Oh, here it is...
Playing = Learning.
Einstein Never Used FlashCards: How our children
REALLY learn - and why they need to play more and
memorize less. Internationally acclaimed
developmental child psychologists offer a compelling
indictment of accelerated learning and provide a
roadmap to intellectual growth through creative play.
There was another article in the same magazine that I
liked. "Playing Hooky: when breaking the rules is a
good idea." Maybe I mostly like the title of the
article. He (author & father) did get PERMISSION from
his kid's teacher before he let his son skip school so
they could spend the day together.
heather m
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Free Pop-Up Blocker - Get it now
http://companion.yahoo.com/
Carrie Wright
I'm working on reading it, so far only two pages into it or so. I'm keeping
it in my van and reading it when I have to wait for something or someone,
which right now is very little as I'm about three weeks from my due date and
have made life easier by delagating all errands to DH and not signing kids
up for stuff until after the first of the year. So I may have to pull it
out of the van and just read it. :) After I finish Return of the King, I've
never read The Lord of the Rings series before but the movies have inspired
me and I'm glad.
From what I've read it seems to be advocating less pressure and activities
and more free/down time for kids.
Carrie
HSing Mom to Than, Collin, Lee, Jayden, due Dec. 25th
it in my van and reading it when I have to wait for something or someone,
which right now is very little as I'm about three weeks from my due date and
have made life easier by delagating all errands to DH and not signing kids
up for stuff until after the first of the year. So I may have to pull it
out of the van and just read it. :) After I finish Return of the King, I've
never read The Lord of the Rings series before but the movies have inspired
me and I'm glad.
From what I've read it seems to be advocating less pressure and activities
and more free/down time for kids.
Carrie
HSing Mom to Than, Collin, Lee, Jayden, due Dec. 25th
----- Original Message -----
From: "heather mclean" <heather_200115@...>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, December 05, 2003 12:46 AM
Subject: [AlwaysLearning] anyone read this book?
> Has anyone read this book "Einstein Never Used Flash
> Cards" by Roberta Michnick Golinkoff and Kathy
> Hirsh-Pasek? There is an interesting advertisement
> for it in my mil's Prevention magazine.
>
> Oh, here it is...
>
> Playing = Learning.
>
> Einstein Never Used FlashCards: How our children
> REALLY learn - and why they need to play more and
> memorize less. Internationally acclaimed
> developmental child psychologists offer a compelling
> indictment of accelerated learning and provide a
> roadmap to intellectual growth through creative play.
>
> There was another article in the same magazine that I
> liked. "Playing Hooky: when breaking the rules is a
> good idea." Maybe I mostly like the title of the
> article. He (author & father) did get PERMISSION from
> his kid's teacher before he let his son skip school so
> they could spend the day together.
>
> heather m
>
>
>
>
> __________________________________
> Do you Yahoo!?
> Free Pop-Up Blocker - Get it now
> http://companion.yahoo.com/
>
>
> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> [email protected]
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>
>
Barbara Chase
Hi. I've been on this list for awhile, I think I even posted an Intro, but
this is my first quest... for background, my daughter will be 5 in a
month. We do classes, like gymnastics and we've found a great art class,
but otherwise we don't do school. We do make games out of learning stuff
all the time, but I usually get the ideas from my daughter and then I
follow her lead.
Anyway, our current situation is this... she complains about being bored.
I know this is nothing new to kids, but she explains it more as having
outgrown all of her toys; she does tend to do the same play day-in and
day-out. It seems as though she is really looking for more of a challenge,
but I need some ideas here... the "usual" challenge (or change anyway) that
is offered to kids is to go into school.
When she was younger I would have said that she is ready to make a huge
leap forward with some development. I'm sure this is going on now, I just
don't have as much of an idea about what the development would be and how
to support it as compared to when she was a toddler.
Any thoughts? Thanks
Namaste
--bc--
this is my first quest... for background, my daughter will be 5 in a
month. We do classes, like gymnastics and we've found a great art class,
but otherwise we don't do school. We do make games out of learning stuff
all the time, but I usually get the ideas from my daughter and then I
follow her lead.
Anyway, our current situation is this... she complains about being bored.
I know this is nothing new to kids, but she explains it more as having
outgrown all of her toys; she does tend to do the same play day-in and
day-out. It seems as though she is really looking for more of a challenge,
but I need some ideas here... the "usual" challenge (or change anyway) that
is offered to kids is to go into school.
When she was younger I would have said that she is ready to make a huge
leap forward with some development. I'm sure this is going on now, I just
don't have as much of an idea about what the development would be and how
to support it as compared to when she was a toddler.
Any thoughts? Thanks
Namaste
--bc--
J. Stauffer
<<Any thoughts?>>
From your post, I gather she is an only child. Do Y'all do park days with
other kids? Even my 13 year old loves these and wishes we could go more
than once a week.
My kids rarely play with toys and I thought long and hard about it. I
finally realized that most of the toys on the market today are fairly
one-dimensional. Not a lot to them, so specialized that you can tell the
makers are trying to lead you into only playing with the toy in a certain
way. Something someone else (I think Sandra) posted on in the past that I
thought was great was to just set some things out on the table that usually
aren't played with together, like Barbies and Playdoh, or dominoes and cars,
that kind of thing and see what happens.
Something that my kids love and that sparks lots of stuff around here is my
always trying to "make it ourselves", like marshmallows, shampoo, soap,
cheese, coasters that kind of stuff. The kids see things in a different
light when they see how they are made.
Julie S.
From your post, I gather she is an only child. Do Y'all do park days with
other kids? Even my 13 year old loves these and wishes we could go more
than once a week.
My kids rarely play with toys and I thought long and hard about it. I
finally realized that most of the toys on the market today are fairly
one-dimensional. Not a lot to them, so specialized that you can tell the
makers are trying to lead you into only playing with the toy in a certain
way. Something someone else (I think Sandra) posted on in the past that I
thought was great was to just set some things out on the table that usually
aren't played with together, like Barbies and Playdoh, or dominoes and cars,
that kind of thing and see what happens.
Something that my kids love and that sparks lots of stuff around here is my
always trying to "make it ourselves", like marshmallows, shampoo, soap,
cheese, coasters that kind of stuff. The kids see things in a different
light when they see how they are made.
Julie S.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Barbara Chase" <barb@...>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, December 11, 2003 2:55 PM
Subject: [AlwaysLearning] needing more of a challenge
> Hi. I've been on this list for awhile, I think I even posted an Intro,
but
> this is my first quest... for background, my daughter will be 5 in a
> month. We do classes, like gymnastics and we've found a great art class,
> but otherwise we don't do school. We do make games out of learning stuff
> all the time, but I usually get the ideas from my daughter and then I
> follow her lead.
>
> Anyway, our current situation is this... she complains about being bored.
> I know this is nothing new to kids, but she explains it more as having
> outgrown all of her toys; she does tend to do the same play day-in and
> day-out. It seems as though she is really looking for more of a
challenge,
> but I need some ideas here... the "usual" challenge (or change anyway)
that
> is offered to kids is to go into school.
>
> When she was younger I would have said that she is ready to make a huge
> leap forward with some development. I'm sure this is going on now, I just
> don't have as much of an idea about what the development would be and how
> to support it as compared to when she was a toddler.
>
> Any thoughts? Thanks
>
>
> Namaste
> --bc--
>
>
> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> [email protected]
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>
>
>
Alicia Bayer
Hi. I'm new to the list and haven't posted an intro yet either. :)
I'm Alicia, mama to Victoria (5), Annalee (3) and Jack (7 months).
Here's some stuff that my 5 year old loves to do:
Reading, with lots of trips to the library to pick out more books (she
likes to both read and be read to)
art-- I believe in making quality art materials available to children
because you can't produce satisfying art with cheap junk. :) I'm
frugal in most stuff but I think it's worth the extra in this case.
Some materials that we have are-- oil pastels, crayons, markers,
watercolor paints in tubes and in trays, bleeding tissue paper (stains
the paper when you wet it, really cool projects if you cut it and
paint water onto a white sheet and then lay the tissue paper on),
charcoal pencils, construction paper, art paper (copy paper doesn't
hold paint well), stamps and ink pads and watercolor crayons and
pencils. These last ones are especially fun. You draw with them and
then paint with water to blend the colors.
crafts-- We have lots of beads and strings for necklaces, ribbons and
buttons for embellishing socks, etc.
She is learning to sew/darn and really enjoys that.
She loves blocks, especially colored ones to make elaborate patterns
with. www.hearthsong.com has great block sets that are really
creative and fun. She also plays with Cuisenaire rods, which can be
used to explain all sorts of math subjects (fractions, addition,
algebra....). We have these old colored, wooden shape blocks that she
adores and I've been looking for 3 years for more.
She likes watching PBS shows like ZOOM and then recreating the
experiments, recipes and crafts.
We do kitchen experiments like putting bread in a bag and watching the
mold, getting out snow and salt and dirt and seeing the effects it
would have on icy roads, putting celery in colored water, etc.
We go places a LOT. We don't necessarily go to "educational" places
but it's all cool and interesting anyway. When I was at the Mayo
Clinic for a bunch of tests, I brought my kids into the nuerologist's
appointment and asked him to bring up the EEG scans of my brain so my
girls could see. How often do you get to see your mom's brain? LOL
When we picked the cat up from the vet I asked if we could tour the
back. When we get tires we go all over looking at how they use the
machines.... We also stop at rest stops and read all the signs and
stuff. :)
Both of my girls love spending time on the computer. They have a
variety of games and art programs on it and they really enjoy it.
My husband prints out coloring pages and worksheets from the net on
whatever subject they're interested in or he just surprises them. I
think last week they colored these elaborate Native American turtle
designs, did llama coloring pages, answered a 20 questions page
designed for something completely different, did pages in about 6
workbooks they have (we get them for a dollar at the dollar store and
they love them) and colored and cut out masks from another site.
Both of my girls love Brainquest cards. They're spendy ($8-10) but
they like quizzing themselves or being quizzed, especially when
waiting in waiting rooms and stuff like that.
Both girls like card games, concentration and similar games.
Victoria loves marble runs that you build, and a marble maze we got at
a thrift store for a dollar.
Both of my kids love cooking and cook often. Young kids can make
bread (kneading and forming it into fun shapes is especially
rewarding), cookies, supper.....
Craft projects like weaving, knitting or woodworking could be fun.
My girls like helping me with mundane stuff like sorting socks,
folding clothes, using the dustbuster and lint roller, sweeping up
with the mini whisk, dusting, spraying and wiping surfaces, etc. They
hate cleaning but love using most cleaning gadgets. <G>
We make sure the kids get lots of physical and sensory activities.
It's cold here so the basement is our rec area a lot of days. They
have hippity hops to ride on, a trampoline, a sit n spin and so on.
Before we got the trampoline we let them jump on the couch and bed
because their physical need for the exercise and sensory input was
greater than our need for good springs. <G> It really helps regulate
their moods to get lots of movement too.
Oh, and we play music, dance, sing, make up songs, exercise and do
games like Simon Says. Dulcimers or lap harps are easy enough for
preschoolers to learn to play, and sound beautiful. We also have
flutes, maracas, tambourines, keyboards, ukeleles, small guitars and
instruments from other countries.
We do stuff like treasure hunts, where I'll make up a list of 20
things to find in the house (something that starts with a B, something
orange, something that was once alive.....). For my pre-reader, we
cut out magazine pictures and then glued them onto pages and she had
to find those (bed, letter R, this brand of cereal....).
I agree with whoever said to look for open-ended toys. Legos, blocks,
plastic animals, lite brite.... the same toys get used again and again
here. My daughters will also create their own stuff to do with
string, tape, scissors and old boxes and paper towel tubes and stuff.
Nature journals are fun, too.
My kids have each other for company but I'd probably seek out another
homeschooled child for company otherwise. It's fun to have friends
over and lots of my kids' favorite activities need a second person so
I can see how it would be harder not to get bored by yourself.
Hope something in there helps. :)
--
Alicia
A Magical Childhood
http://www.magicalchildhood.com
"The best way to make children good is to make them happy."
- Oscar Wilde
I'm Alicia, mama to Victoria (5), Annalee (3) and Jack (7 months).
Here's some stuff that my 5 year old loves to do:
Reading, with lots of trips to the library to pick out more books (she
likes to both read and be read to)
art-- I believe in making quality art materials available to children
because you can't produce satisfying art with cheap junk. :) I'm
frugal in most stuff but I think it's worth the extra in this case.
Some materials that we have are-- oil pastels, crayons, markers,
watercolor paints in tubes and in trays, bleeding tissue paper (stains
the paper when you wet it, really cool projects if you cut it and
paint water onto a white sheet and then lay the tissue paper on),
charcoal pencils, construction paper, art paper (copy paper doesn't
hold paint well), stamps and ink pads and watercolor crayons and
pencils. These last ones are especially fun. You draw with them and
then paint with water to blend the colors.
crafts-- We have lots of beads and strings for necklaces, ribbons and
buttons for embellishing socks, etc.
She is learning to sew/darn and really enjoys that.
She loves blocks, especially colored ones to make elaborate patterns
with. www.hearthsong.com has great block sets that are really
creative and fun. She also plays with Cuisenaire rods, which can be
used to explain all sorts of math subjects (fractions, addition,
algebra....). We have these old colored, wooden shape blocks that she
adores and I've been looking for 3 years for more.
She likes watching PBS shows like ZOOM and then recreating the
experiments, recipes and crafts.
We do kitchen experiments like putting bread in a bag and watching the
mold, getting out snow and salt and dirt and seeing the effects it
would have on icy roads, putting celery in colored water, etc.
We go places a LOT. We don't necessarily go to "educational" places
but it's all cool and interesting anyway. When I was at the Mayo
Clinic for a bunch of tests, I brought my kids into the nuerologist's
appointment and asked him to bring up the EEG scans of my brain so my
girls could see. How often do you get to see your mom's brain? LOL
When we picked the cat up from the vet I asked if we could tour the
back. When we get tires we go all over looking at how they use the
machines.... We also stop at rest stops and read all the signs and
stuff. :)
Both of my girls love spending time on the computer. They have a
variety of games and art programs on it and they really enjoy it.
My husband prints out coloring pages and worksheets from the net on
whatever subject they're interested in or he just surprises them. I
think last week they colored these elaborate Native American turtle
designs, did llama coloring pages, answered a 20 questions page
designed for something completely different, did pages in about 6
workbooks they have (we get them for a dollar at the dollar store and
they love them) and colored and cut out masks from another site.
Both of my girls love Brainquest cards. They're spendy ($8-10) but
they like quizzing themselves or being quizzed, especially when
waiting in waiting rooms and stuff like that.
Both girls like card games, concentration and similar games.
Victoria loves marble runs that you build, and a marble maze we got at
a thrift store for a dollar.
Both of my kids love cooking and cook often. Young kids can make
bread (kneading and forming it into fun shapes is especially
rewarding), cookies, supper.....
Craft projects like weaving, knitting or woodworking could be fun.
My girls like helping me with mundane stuff like sorting socks,
folding clothes, using the dustbuster and lint roller, sweeping up
with the mini whisk, dusting, spraying and wiping surfaces, etc. They
hate cleaning but love using most cleaning gadgets. <G>
We make sure the kids get lots of physical and sensory activities.
It's cold here so the basement is our rec area a lot of days. They
have hippity hops to ride on, a trampoline, a sit n spin and so on.
Before we got the trampoline we let them jump on the couch and bed
because their physical need for the exercise and sensory input was
greater than our need for good springs. <G> It really helps regulate
their moods to get lots of movement too.
Oh, and we play music, dance, sing, make up songs, exercise and do
games like Simon Says. Dulcimers or lap harps are easy enough for
preschoolers to learn to play, and sound beautiful. We also have
flutes, maracas, tambourines, keyboards, ukeleles, small guitars and
instruments from other countries.
We do stuff like treasure hunts, where I'll make up a list of 20
things to find in the house (something that starts with a B, something
orange, something that was once alive.....). For my pre-reader, we
cut out magazine pictures and then glued them onto pages and she had
to find those (bed, letter R, this brand of cereal....).
I agree with whoever said to look for open-ended toys. Legos, blocks,
plastic animals, lite brite.... the same toys get used again and again
here. My daughters will also create their own stuff to do with
string, tape, scissors and old boxes and paper towel tubes and stuff.
Nature journals are fun, too.
My kids have each other for company but I'd probably seek out another
homeschooled child for company otherwise. It's fun to have friends
over and lots of my kids' favorite activities need a second person so
I can see how it would be harder not to get bored by yourself.
Hope something in there helps. :)
--
Alicia
A Magical Childhood
http://www.magicalchildhood.com
"The best way to make children good is to make them happy."
- Oscar Wilde
Alicia Bayer
Barb, our daughters are pretty close in age. Victoria turned 5 in
May, so she's just a little older than your daughter. Would your
daughter like a pen pal? I think Victoria would really get a kick out
of it and we could send an art care package of some fun craft stuff
that we have extras of. Write me offlist if you're interested.
--
Alicia
A Magical Childhood
http://www.magicalchildhood.com
"The best way to make children good is to make them happy."
- Oscar Wilde
May, so she's just a little older than your daughter. Would your
daughter like a pen pal? I think Victoria would really get a kick out
of it and we could send an art care package of some fun craft stuff
that we have extras of. Write me offlist if you're interested.
--
Alicia
A Magical Childhood
http://www.magicalchildhood.com
"The best way to make children good is to make them happy."
- Oscar Wilde
[email protected]
<<My kids have each other for company but I'd probably seek out another
homeschooled child for company otherwise. It's fun to have friends
over and lots of my kids' favorite activities need a second person>>
I found that the same old activities, with the addition of another child,
were often quite different. My kids have learned a lot from their friends, and
often the same old game takes a whole new aspect with a new kid involved, or a
toy they have has always been played with the same two or three ways, and
another kid has a new idea.
I liked the list of ideas. It mentioned learning to darn. I darned one of
Holly's favorite socks. Usually they have four matching pairs of something
and if one gets a hole I use it for a disposable cleaning rag and we move on.
But she had a pair of patterned socks and really liked them. So I darned a
hole. She was amazed. Just a couple of days ago she came in with the sock over
her hand and said "This is So COOL! This is so pretty."
Cheap thrills. <g> Darning is so rarely done anymore.
Sandra
homeschooled child for company otherwise. It's fun to have friends
over and lots of my kids' favorite activities need a second person>>
I found that the same old activities, with the addition of another child,
were often quite different. My kids have learned a lot from their friends, and
often the same old game takes a whole new aspect with a new kid involved, or a
toy they have has always been played with the same two or three ways, and
another kid has a new idea.
I liked the list of ideas. It mentioned learning to darn. I darned one of
Holly's favorite socks. Usually they have four matching pairs of something
and if one gets a hole I use it for a disposable cleaning rag and we move on.
But she had a pair of patterned socks and really liked them. So I darned a
hole. She was amazed. Just a couple of days ago she came in with the sock over
her hand and said "This is So COOL! This is so pretty."
Cheap thrills. <g> Darning is so rarely done anymore.
Sandra
Barbara Chase
Awhile ago I posted about my notion of joining our local school as
homeschoolers rather than doing the R4. I've been meaning to post about
this again, and with the Jane's recent post (thanks, it was really great)
about letting go and trust I know it's time that I share again...
Well, I got the paperwork and it sat on a shelf for a few weeks. Then I
actually filled it out (I can't believe how many pieces of paper they
want!!), and that sat on the shelf again for weeks. In fact, it's still
there. We sort of got busy with life again! I haven't had time to meet up
with my friend, and certainly haven't even thought about the paperwork.
In the meantime, I've been trusting more and more in life and it's journey.
It's not a thought anymore, something that I remind myself of; rather it
seems to be something that I'm noticing after the fact. This is really
nice, not only for me but for my whole family!
One of the magical things that has happened has been a homeschool play
group starting in a nearby town. It currently has 5 families, and 4 of
them are unschoolers - can you believe!! We live pretty rurally, so I was
just amazed. Needless to say I am in heaven having other real life people
to share experiences with, and my dd is warming up to the group too.
So anyway, one day I realized that I hadn't hooked up with my friend at the
school. I sent her an email letting her know my schedule was pretty hectic
for the next month or so, and she let me know that we only need to meet
once a month and that she's very flexible. Well, then it clicked... I was
very appreciative of her flexibility, liked her approach to find a way
around the system, etc... but I really didn't want to "have" to even do
that one meeting. It's no surprise that I haven't turned in the paperwork;
I don't want to "have" to.
Then as I was talking with my new friends, we were talking with one Mom in
the group whose dd wants to go to a local homeschooling "school" so she can
play with other kids, but that it was mostly the Mom's idea because she
wanted them to have the option to be able to take some of the neat classes
they had, and all of a sudden I heard my own notion... I had wanted my dd
to be part of the school, but as a homeschooler, so that she could take
advantage of some of the stuff they have going on -- just in case. My
notion didn't trust in life to present the options and the solutions when
we were ready. I didn't really want to follow my own notion (hence the
paperwork sitting on the shelf), but it took my mind awhile to catch up. I
don't know if I'm expressing this very well, but all of a sudden I got a
new depth of the trust thing. Whatever we might be needing in the future
will be taken care of... the options and solutions will be available. If
we trust the process, then we will see what is available. If we don't have
the trust, then we will not see -- we will be thinking to the future.
It's really each and every moment that we need to do this. When we have
something come up in one moment, it doesn't mean that it will be there in
the next moment. New stuff happens, and the issues change. Today isn't
anything like yesterday - not really. This sounds so trite... but I think
YKWIM.
I also see this playing out with the recent reading thread. It's not that
we just need to trust that our kids will learn to read, or trust that they
will do it when they are ready. We also need to bring it into the moment,
and then not hold on to it for the future. For example, I've noticed with
my dd that sometimes she asks me to help her learn to read, and she even
may express frustration that it hasn't happened yet. So, we make up games
(index cards, word games, she's even asked me to buy a workbook.) And she
has fun doing it in the moment that she's asked for it. But then I try not
to hold on to her request as being something that she now wants me to do
forever. When I let go of it (the request and any assumptions that I may
have had around it), then things work so well! She usually wants to do
reading games once a month or so. The rest of the time she is very happy
not being a reader. It took me awhile to see this, but it was so easy to
see when I let go of yesterday's request.
Oh, something else I thought recently. I had no idea this list wasn't for
newbies - so I thank you all for being here and willing to listen to me and
to share your perspectives.
ciao
--bc--
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
homeschoolers rather than doing the R4. I've been meaning to post about
this again, and with the Jane's recent post (thanks, it was really great)
about letting go and trust I know it's time that I share again...
Well, I got the paperwork and it sat on a shelf for a few weeks. Then I
actually filled it out (I can't believe how many pieces of paper they
want!!), and that sat on the shelf again for weeks. In fact, it's still
there. We sort of got busy with life again! I haven't had time to meet up
with my friend, and certainly haven't even thought about the paperwork.
In the meantime, I've been trusting more and more in life and it's journey.
It's not a thought anymore, something that I remind myself of; rather it
seems to be something that I'm noticing after the fact. This is really
nice, not only for me but for my whole family!
One of the magical things that has happened has been a homeschool play
group starting in a nearby town. It currently has 5 families, and 4 of
them are unschoolers - can you believe!! We live pretty rurally, so I was
just amazed. Needless to say I am in heaven having other real life people
to share experiences with, and my dd is warming up to the group too.
So anyway, one day I realized that I hadn't hooked up with my friend at the
school. I sent her an email letting her know my schedule was pretty hectic
for the next month or so, and she let me know that we only need to meet
once a month and that she's very flexible. Well, then it clicked... I was
very appreciative of her flexibility, liked her approach to find a way
around the system, etc... but I really didn't want to "have" to even do
that one meeting. It's no surprise that I haven't turned in the paperwork;
I don't want to "have" to.
Then as I was talking with my new friends, we were talking with one Mom in
the group whose dd wants to go to a local homeschooling "school" so she can
play with other kids, but that it was mostly the Mom's idea because she
wanted them to have the option to be able to take some of the neat classes
they had, and all of a sudden I heard my own notion... I had wanted my dd
to be part of the school, but as a homeschooler, so that she could take
advantage of some of the stuff they have going on -- just in case. My
notion didn't trust in life to present the options and the solutions when
we were ready. I didn't really want to follow my own notion (hence the
paperwork sitting on the shelf), but it took my mind awhile to catch up. I
don't know if I'm expressing this very well, but all of a sudden I got a
new depth of the trust thing. Whatever we might be needing in the future
will be taken care of... the options and solutions will be available. If
we trust the process, then we will see what is available. If we don't have
the trust, then we will not see -- we will be thinking to the future.
It's really each and every moment that we need to do this. When we have
something come up in one moment, it doesn't mean that it will be there in
the next moment. New stuff happens, and the issues change. Today isn't
anything like yesterday - not really. This sounds so trite... but I think
YKWIM.
I also see this playing out with the recent reading thread. It's not that
we just need to trust that our kids will learn to read, or trust that they
will do it when they are ready. We also need to bring it into the moment,
and then not hold on to it for the future. For example, I've noticed with
my dd that sometimes she asks me to help her learn to read, and she even
may express frustration that it hasn't happened yet. So, we make up games
(index cards, word games, she's even asked me to buy a workbook.) And she
has fun doing it in the moment that she's asked for it. But then I try not
to hold on to her request as being something that she now wants me to do
forever. When I let go of it (the request and any assumptions that I may
have had around it), then things work so well! She usually wants to do
reading games once a month or so. The rest of the time she is very happy
not being a reader. It took me awhile to see this, but it was so easy to
see when I let go of yesterday's request.
Oh, something else I thought recently. I had no idea this list wasn't for
newbies - so I thank you all for being here and willing to listen to me and
to share your perspectives.
ciao
--bc--
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[email protected]
In a message dated 3/15/04 9:15:44 PM, barb@... writes:
<< One of the magical things that has happened has been a homeschool play
group starting in a nearby town. It currently has 5 families, and 4 of
them are unschoolers - can you believe!! >>
You lucked out!!
<< My notion didn't trust in life to present the options and the solutions
when
we were ready. I didn't really want to follow my own notion (hence the
paperwork sitting on the shelf), but it took my mind awhile to catch up.>>
A friend of mine put her kids in school and told them not to tell me. They
accidently mentioned it to Holly and the mom kind of panicked.
She was intellectually prepared to understand unschooling, but she just
didn't let her breath out, y'know? She would do it if it worked before she ran out
of oxygen (or something), and she chickened out and put them in the Family
School here, which is a half-day program, but Holly said last night they're in
from 8:00 to 4:30 so I think they might be in a whole different deal. 4:30!?
(She had a baby a week and a half ago, so if that was her real reason I
understand better. Their house is always immaculately clean and very sparse.)
<<I don't know if I'm expressing this very well, but all of a sudden I got a
new depth of the trust thing. Whatever we might be needing in the future
will be taken care of... the options and solutions will be available. If
we trust the process, then we will see what is available. >>
This is so sweet!
Another level of that understanding comes when you're willing for not much to
be available, and then things crop up. Or you see a crop of opportunities,
and your child's not too interested, and you really don't mind.
-=-Oh, something else I thought recently. I had no idea this list wasn't for
newbies - so I thank you all for being here and willing to listen to me and
to share your perspectives.-=-
I wasn't the one who said it wasn't for newbie, and it's my list, but I
understood the intent of the statement. This is more for people who really
understand unschooling or who are willing to try. Though newcomers are welcome, it
wasn't set up to cater to people who had never heard of John Holt or were
going to say "What do you mean, 'unschooling'?"
I really liked reading what you wrote and have stashed it for future use.
Things in the archives of groups like this are there for a long time but
sometimes they're hard to search out.
Sandra
<< One of the magical things that has happened has been a homeschool play
group starting in a nearby town. It currently has 5 families, and 4 of
them are unschoolers - can you believe!! >>
You lucked out!!
<< My notion didn't trust in life to present the options and the solutions
when
we were ready. I didn't really want to follow my own notion (hence the
paperwork sitting on the shelf), but it took my mind awhile to catch up.>>
A friend of mine put her kids in school and told them not to tell me. They
accidently mentioned it to Holly and the mom kind of panicked.
She was intellectually prepared to understand unschooling, but she just
didn't let her breath out, y'know? She would do it if it worked before she ran out
of oxygen (or something), and she chickened out and put them in the Family
School here, which is a half-day program, but Holly said last night they're in
from 8:00 to 4:30 so I think they might be in a whole different deal. 4:30!?
(She had a baby a week and a half ago, so if that was her real reason I
understand better. Their house is always immaculately clean and very sparse.)
<<I don't know if I'm expressing this very well, but all of a sudden I got a
new depth of the trust thing. Whatever we might be needing in the future
will be taken care of... the options and solutions will be available. If
we trust the process, then we will see what is available. >>
This is so sweet!
Another level of that understanding comes when you're willing for not much to
be available, and then things crop up. Or you see a crop of opportunities,
and your child's not too interested, and you really don't mind.
-=-Oh, something else I thought recently. I had no idea this list wasn't for
newbies - so I thank you all for being here and willing to listen to me and
to share your perspectives.-=-
I wasn't the one who said it wasn't for newbie, and it's my list, but I
understood the intent of the statement. This is more for people who really
understand unschooling or who are willing to try. Though newcomers are welcome, it
wasn't set up to cater to people who had never heard of John Holt or were
going to say "What do you mean, 'unschooling'?"
I really liked reading what you wrote and have stashed it for future use.
Things in the archives of groups like this are there for a long time but
sometimes they're hard to search out.
Sandra
pam sorooshian
On Mar 16, 2004, at 8:14 AM, SandraDodd@... wrote:
and the kids aren't interested and I can say to myself, "Oh well -
another time, another place."
It is calming. Meditative. Peaceful. Makes me feel like my head is
screwed on right! <G>
-pam
National Home Education Network
<www.NHEN.org>
Serving the entire homeschooling community since 1999
through information, networking and public relations.
> Another level of that understanding comes when you're willing for notI actually revel in that feeling now. I love it when something crops up
> much to
> be available, and then things crop up. Or you see a crop of
> opportunities,
> and your child's not too interested, and you really don't mind.
and the kids aren't interested and I can say to myself, "Oh well -
another time, another place."
It is calming. Meditative. Peaceful. Makes me feel like my head is
screwed on right! <G>
-pam
National Home Education Network
<www.NHEN.org>
Serving the entire homeschooling community since 1999
through information, networking and public relations.