the real question cont.
Jennifer and Scott Lynch
My neighbor has a bumper sticker that reads "Don't believe everything you
think." Figuring out what you believe (not what you think, to be true or
untrue) seems to be at the crux of why, how and when one chooses unschooling
as a way of life.
I am brand new to unschooling. My daughter is just under 4 so I am new to
everything as a parent. I joined this list because I WANT to be challenged
to explore why this thing called "unschooling" calls to me so deeply. I
think those of us who grew up in happy stable homes and who had unique and,
what would now be called "alternative," school experiences are at an extreme
advantage when it comes time to explain why we unschool. Just as people who
come from intact families are at an advantage when it comes to beating the
statistics of divorce, simply because "non-divorce" is what we know.
I think it is actually kind of funny that this discussion could be reduced
(inappropriately, I realize) to the question "Who can unschool?" Speaking
for my family alone, "unschooling" is just a name that we can use to align
ourselves with others who have made the decision that living our lives as
free and equal individuals is our priority, our goal, our challenge and our
contribution to, what we hope, is a change in society. Looking at our idea
of "unschooling" we might as well ask the question "Who can live their
lives?" I think the confidence and self-esteem needed to comfortably go
against the status quo with these unschooling choices, comes from either a)
past experiences , b) an INCREDIBLE ability to have dialogues (internal and
external) about one's beliefs and goals, and/or c) the equally incredible
ability to open oneself up to possibilities that have NEVER been experienced
simply because one can "see" (rationally or with one's heart) that this is
the "right" thing to do.
I have no idea what our unschooling life will look like. I do know that
when people ask me why we are homeschooling my short answer is "The goals
and practices of institutional education do not match the goals and
priorities we have for our family"--you should hear my "long" answer!!! ;)
I am really loving everything that is being written about this topic,
especially what Sandra and Pam have written today. I can't wait to hear
what others say (there are almost 500 people on this list for heaven's
sake). Anyway, these are the thoughts and ramblings of a major newbie!
Jen
think." Figuring out what you believe (not what you think, to be true or
untrue) seems to be at the crux of why, how and when one chooses unschooling
as a way of life.
I am brand new to unschooling. My daughter is just under 4 so I am new to
everything as a parent. I joined this list because I WANT to be challenged
to explore why this thing called "unschooling" calls to me so deeply. I
think those of us who grew up in happy stable homes and who had unique and,
what would now be called "alternative," school experiences are at an extreme
advantage when it comes time to explain why we unschool. Just as people who
come from intact families are at an advantage when it comes to beating the
statistics of divorce, simply because "non-divorce" is what we know.
I think it is actually kind of funny that this discussion could be reduced
(inappropriately, I realize) to the question "Who can unschool?" Speaking
for my family alone, "unschooling" is just a name that we can use to align
ourselves with others who have made the decision that living our lives as
free and equal individuals is our priority, our goal, our challenge and our
contribution to, what we hope, is a change in society. Looking at our idea
of "unschooling" we might as well ask the question "Who can live their
lives?" I think the confidence and self-esteem needed to comfortably go
against the status quo with these unschooling choices, comes from either a)
past experiences , b) an INCREDIBLE ability to have dialogues (internal and
external) about one's beliefs and goals, and/or c) the equally incredible
ability to open oneself up to possibilities that have NEVER been experienced
simply because one can "see" (rationally or with one's heart) that this is
the "right" thing to do.
I have no idea what our unschooling life will look like. I do know that
when people ask me why we are homeschooling my short answer is "The goals
and practices of institutional education do not match the goals and
priorities we have for our family"--you should hear my "long" answer!!! ;)
I am really loving everything that is being written about this topic,
especially what Sandra and Pam have written today. I can't wait to hear
what others say (there are almost 500 people on this list for heaven's
sake). Anyway, these are the thoughts and ramblings of a major newbie!
Jen
[email protected]
In a message dated 1/26/04 6:20:58 PM, j.slynch@... writes:
<< Speaking
for my family alone, "unschooling" is just a name that we can use to align
ourselves with others who have made the decision that living our lives as
free and equal individuals is our priority, our goal, our challenge and our
contribution to, what we hope, is a change in society. >>
Some people couldn't do ANY of that! <g>
<<I think the confidence and self-esteem needed to comfortably go
against the status quo with these unschooling choices, comes from either a)
past experiences , b) an INCREDIBLE ability to have dialogues (internal and
external) about one's beliefs and goals, and/or c) the equally incredible
ability to open oneself up to possibilities that have NEVER been experienced
simply because one can "see" (rationally or with one's heart) that this is
the "right" thing to do.>>
A is a possibility for anyone who went to school--trying to shield kids from
that.
B would require what Gardner calls "intrapersonal intelligence."
C is I don't know what or I don't want to say what I think it might be.
-=- I can't wait to hear
what others say (there are almost 500 people on this list for heaven's
sake). -=-
Twenty might write. <g>
That's okay. Lots just read once in a while online. Lots read but don't
want to "take the mike," as it were. That's okay too.
Sandra
<< Speaking
for my family alone, "unschooling" is just a name that we can use to align
ourselves with others who have made the decision that living our lives as
free and equal individuals is our priority, our goal, our challenge and our
contribution to, what we hope, is a change in society. >>
Some people couldn't do ANY of that! <g>
<<I think the confidence and self-esteem needed to comfortably go
against the status quo with these unschooling choices, comes from either a)
past experiences , b) an INCREDIBLE ability to have dialogues (internal and
external) about one's beliefs and goals, and/or c) the equally incredible
ability to open oneself up to possibilities that have NEVER been experienced
simply because one can "see" (rationally or with one's heart) that this is
the "right" thing to do.>>
A is a possibility for anyone who went to school--trying to shield kids from
that.
B would require what Gardner calls "intrapersonal intelligence."
C is I don't know what or I don't want to say what I think it might be.
-=- I can't wait to hear
what others say (there are almost 500 people on this list for heaven's
sake). -=-
Twenty might write. <g>
That's okay. Lots just read once in a while online. Lots read but don't
want to "take the mike," as it were. That's okay too.
Sandra
Betsy
**c) the equally incredible
ability to open oneself up to possibilities that have NEVER been
experienced simply because one can "see" (rationally or with one's
heart) that this is the "right" thing to do.>>
A is a possibility for anyone who went to school--trying to shield kids
from that.
B would require what Gardner calls "intrapersonal intelligence."
C is I don't know what or I don't want to say what I think it might be.
**
One could call the necessary quality 'faith', 'intuition', 'optimism' or
'transcendance'. Maybe with a big dollop of 'courage'.
Can we twist Thomas Edison's famous quote? Is unschooling 90%
inspiration and 10% perspiration? I think the inspiration is a
necesssity. Without it the whole endeavor is going to be flat.
I don't consider unschooling any more surprising or miraculous than the
fact that tiny seeds grow into incredible flowering plants. Of course,
I actually consider the latter to be pretty fricking miraculous.
Betsy
ability to open oneself up to possibilities that have NEVER been
experienced simply because one can "see" (rationally or with one's
heart) that this is the "right" thing to do.>>
A is a possibility for anyone who went to school--trying to shield kids
from that.
B would require what Gardner calls "intrapersonal intelligence."
C is I don't know what or I don't want to say what I think it might be.
**
One could call the necessary quality 'faith', 'intuition', 'optimism' or
'transcendance'. Maybe with a big dollop of 'courage'.
Can we twist Thomas Edison's famous quote? Is unschooling 90%
inspiration and 10% perspiration? I think the inspiration is a
necesssity. Without it the whole endeavor is going to be flat.
I don't consider unschooling any more surprising or miraculous than the
fact that tiny seeds grow into incredible flowering plants. Of course,
I actually consider the latter to be pretty fricking miraculous.
Betsy
[email protected]
In a message dated 1/26/2004 7:20:39 PM Central Standard Time,
j.slynch@... writes:
I am brand new to unschooling. My daughter is just under 4 so I am new to
everything as a parent.
~~~
Just being able to admit that upfront is a huge leap forward. There's
nothing more annoying than the mother of a 3 yo who thinks she's got it all down
pat. ;)
Tuck
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
j.slynch@... writes:
I am brand new to unschooling. My daughter is just under 4 so I am new to
everything as a parent.
~~~
Just being able to admit that upfront is a huge leap forward. There's
nothing more annoying than the mother of a 3 yo who thinks she's got it all down
pat. ;)
Tuck
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Sylvia Toyama
Surely someone here --probably several someones -- can answer this for me.
What kind of set-up do we need to sustain caterpillars thru the chrysalis stage to butterflies/moths? I've just listened to a 20 minute monologue from Andy about his grand plans to capture caterpillars (long his favorite springtime activity) and raise them to cocoon so he can watch them emerge as butterflies and set them free?
So, before the yard is crawling with caterpillars, what do I need to gather for him to be able to do this? He's talked about this before, but last summer we were going away for the month of July, so I deferred it. This year, he's disappointed there won't be a trip to Hawaii in summer (he's spent the last 3 summers there!) so I'd like to have this happen for him.
Thanks!
Sylvia
---------------------------------
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Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free web site building tool. Try it!
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
What kind of set-up do we need to sustain caterpillars thru the chrysalis stage to butterflies/moths? I've just listened to a 20 minute monologue from Andy about his grand plans to capture caterpillars (long his favorite springtime activity) and raise them to cocoon so he can watch them emerge as butterflies and set them free?
So, before the yard is crawling with caterpillars, what do I need to gather for him to be able to do this? He's talked about this before, but last summer we were going away for the month of July, so I deferred it. This year, he's disappointed there won't be a trip to Hawaii in summer (he's spent the last 3 summers there!) so I'd like to have this happen for him.
Thanks!
Sylvia
---------------------------------
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Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free web site building tool. Try it!
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Tia Leschke
>The one time we tried it we had success. We found a caterpillar on some
>What kind of set-up do we need to sustain caterpillars thru the chrysalis
>stage to butterflies/moths? I've just listened to a 20 minute monologue
>from Andy about his grand plans to capture caterpillars (long his favorite
>springtime activity) and raise them to cocoon so he can watch them emerge
>as butterflies and set them free?
dill plants, so we put it and some dill into a jar with a screen over the
top. Because we found it in late summer, it didn't emerge until the next
spring. We actually thought it was dead because it took so long.
From what I'd read, the important thing is to feed it whatever it was
found on, with the assumption that that's what it eats. (Ours turned out to
be a Swallowtail.)
Tia
AM Brown
We do this all the time. We have a lot of black swallowtail caterpillars
in our yard. The first key is to know their food. We let them get pretty
big on their own and then bring them in to a big jar and keep feeding them
the same stuff. For ours it is fennel. They eat A LOT. In the jar also
put a stick, that is where they will make their chrysalis. After they make
it, we move them to the butterfly habitat. Ours is from Insect Lore
http://www.insectlore.com/ but you could probably make one. There is a
great book that I have leant out that talks about how to build one and
raise caterpillars and moths and identifies common ones in all three
stages. It has been awesome. I will try to get the name if you think you
would like it. You can email me off list if you think that would help or
you have any other questions. (ambdkf@...)
It is tons of fun. Anna
in our yard. The first key is to know their food. We let them get pretty
big on their own and then bring them in to a big jar and keep feeding them
the same stuff. For ours it is fennel. They eat A LOT. In the jar also
put a stick, that is where they will make their chrysalis. After they make
it, we move them to the butterfly habitat. Ours is from Insect Lore
http://www.insectlore.com/ but you could probably make one. There is a
great book that I have leant out that talks about how to build one and
raise caterpillars and moths and identifies common ones in all three
stages. It has been awesome. I will try to get the name if you think you
would like it. You can email me off list if you think that would help or
you have any other questions. (ambdkf@...)
It is tons of fun. Anna
Tia Leschke
>We do this all the time. We have a lot of black swallowtail caterpillarsAnother fun critter to watch is stick bugs if you can find any. We were
>in our yard. The first key is to know their food. We let them get pretty
>big on their own and then bring them in to a big jar and keep feeding them
>the same stuff. For ours it is fennel. They eat A LOT. In the jar also
>put a stick, that is where they will make their chrysalis. After they make
>it, we move them to the butterfly habitat. Ours is from Insect Lore
>http://www.insectlore.com/ but you could probably make one. There is a
>great book that I have leant out that talks about how to build one and
>raise caterpillars and moths and identifies common ones in all three
>stages. It has been awesome. I will try to get the name if you think you
>would like it. You can email me off list if you think that would help or
>you have any other questions. (ambdkf@...)
>
>It is tons of fun. Anna
given some and kept them for most of a year on the kitchen table, through a
couple of cycles of babies (if I'm remembering correctly). They are so cool
to watch.
Tia
J. Stauffer
<<<<What kind of set-up do we need to sustain caterpillars thru the
chrysalis stage to butterflies/moths?>>>>
We did one of those butterfly houses where you send off for caterpillars
and they turn to butterflies. It was just a cardboard box with a flower
painted on the inside. There was some food material for the caterpillars
and I think that was about it. Pretty low maintenance.
Julie S.
chrysalis stage to butterflies/moths?>>>>
We did one of those butterfly houses where you send off for caterpillars
and they turn to butterflies. It was just a cardboard box with a flower
painted on the inside. There was some food material for the caterpillars
and I think that was about it. Pretty low maintenance.
Julie S.