joylyn

I was listening to Janene tonight tell me things. She told me Hermione
is smarter than Harry but Harry is more famous. She told me that water
on bug bites is not good and that bug bites should not be cleaned with
soap, but instead covered with bandaides. (currently she has four on
them). She told me that cuddling is good for her, and that it's good
for me too. She counted kisses as she covered me with kisses. As she
was telling me all these things and more, I was listening and talking
with her, without judgement. And I was thinking about the difference
between unschooling and schooling.

With schooling, the teacher has the answers and it is the child's job to
find the RIGHT answer. The teacher asks the questions and then
determines what the right answers are.

With unschooling, the child finds the answers, provides the questions,
changes the questions, changes the answers, and generally figures it all
out. The parent listens.

The other day Janene said, as we were passing a mall, I know how to
spell JC Pennys. J C P E M Y S. Mark immediately said something like
"that's good janene, but the M is really two n's." He still feel the
need to "correct" her. I asked him, quietly, does it matter? She'll
figure out soon enough those are two n's, do we need to tell her that
now?" You could tell, he was thinking about that. He's come a long way.

When Janene first learned to count she would count "wrong" 1, 2, 3, 5,
6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 15, etc.

We didn't correct her, we knew that she'd figure it out. We count
things all the time, even when I'm alone I count stairs as I go up or
down. Without any correction, without any worksheets on counting,
without anyone telling her anything or teaching her anything, she now
counts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18,
19, 20 kisses. As she plasters these kisses all over my face. Oh what
a lucky mommy I am.

Joylyn

[email protected]

In a message dated 1/13/04 10:52:37 PM, joylyn@... writes:

<< With unschooling, the child finds the answers, provides the questions,

changes the questions, changes the answers, and generally figures it all

out. The parent listens. >>

Joylyn, that whole account of the kissing and cuddling was sweet and poetic
and beautiful.

Sandra

aicitticia

>
> With unschooling, the child finds the answers, provides the
questions,
> changes the questions, changes the answers, and generally figures
it all
> out. The parent listens.

I like the way you worded this Joylyn. I put it in my word document
of "valued info"... it is like my journal of thoughts from other
people that I *value* :).


> The other day Janene said, as we were passing a mall, I know how
to
> spell JC Pennys. J C P E M Y S. Mark immediately said something
like
> "that's good janene, but the M is really two n's." He still feel
the
> need to "correct" her.

Edward also does this, but my mom, dad and brother REALLY do this to
the point that they end up talking much more then Chloe does and I
see her getting frustrated. I often ask them the same question "Does
it really matter?". They think it does, I don't. We are around my
family a lot and I need to really start helping them to understand
unschooling more. They are very receptive to my choice, they just
have a hard time implementing those ideas into their grown minds ;)



As she plasters these kisses all over my face. Oh what
> a lucky mommy I am.
>
> Joylyn


That is sweet. What a wonderful way to count :) for both of you.

Ticia

Sylvia Toyama

Joylyn,

I was reminded how Andy counted by 2's -- 1, 3, 5,7, all the way up. He insisted that counting must start with 1, and then you could count by 2's. I remember thinking then, that would be exactly the kind of thinking that would get him into trouble in school, but at home as an unschooler, we just thought it was great he could count odds by 2!

Syl


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