My opinions,,
mozafamily
So much stuff to talk about and so little time...
First - Congratulations Sandra! on your article in the first "Live
Free learn Free" Magazine, I got my copy yesturday and it's looking
nice although yours was the only article I have actually had the
time to complete yet, seems like a nice resource overall though.
Second - I live in MO where compulsory age is 7-16 - My ds is only 6
so again this year I am lucky enough to not to HAVE to keep a log of
his "hours, classes, courses, etc." not that any of those mean he
learned anything anyways! I am against compulsory schooling
altogether now that I understand it more, or schooling in any
matter that forces the coersion of the child I am against!
Third - We refer to ourselves as "homeschoolers" because if I
say "unschoolers" people first ask if that is legal and then still
be totally confused about it. I dislike anything with the
word "school" in it because of what school represents to me. IF they
as for details I state we are Child-Led learners - which we are!
Luckily that term is a little more self explanatory.
Fourth - With it being "back to school" time I am frankly
overwhelmed with the amount of people, even people who claim to
be "unschoolers" talking about their lessons, textbooks and
assignments. In my opinion if you give your child an assignment in
the morning then they're NOT unschooling! SO far I think this is the
ONLY list I belong to that this is not a problem. If your child HAS
to do their math and reading before they can go to the park then
they're NOT unschooling! So mabye I don't know what unschooling is
as much as what it is NOT. As you can tell I am feeling overwhelmed
by this, I was just feeling a little more comfortable in my beliefs
when all of these people who claimed to be unschooling apparently
are clueless to what that really is - in my opinion.
Fifth - Also having a BIG problem with people who push thier child
into "school" early. Like I stated in my state compulsory age isn't
until 7, so why are people starting their "Lessons" at 4 or earlier -
I talked to another mom who has a daughter my son's age last week,
she said she kept logs last year and this year so she could
get "used" to doing them, but then she went off into the curriculum
choices that they gave her as well! Urgh - having a choice also
means you can choose NOT to use any curriculum! I am NOT looking
forward to having to prepare a log of my sons "hours" because I feel
it is an invasion of our privacy, to have these just in case - to
have them to "prove" that my son is learning - Urgh why don't you
sit down and have a conversation with him!!! Another homeschooler
nearby has a child one year younger than ours - they are obsessed
with "lessons", that their child can do all these thing that are
high for her age, that if she ever were to have to be "placed" in
school that she would certainly enter at a grade or two ahead of the
others her age. It is so sad that things are corrupted so much!
Anyhow as I stated we call what we do "child-led learning" because
if my child doesn't want it then we don't do it. I am trying to
start a small support network of likeminded people but it is really
hard to find people who "get it" about their children (Get it in the
meaning of Jan Hunt - that they believe that what a child thinks is
important). I wish I would have known about AP when my child was
young, as it was I held him almost constantly and was often told
to "put him down before you spoil him" and if I fell asleep nursing
then I would wake in a scare "I could have killed my child by
nursing him in bed with me!" and unfortuantely I suffured from PPP
and it took me awhile to stand up to most of the family that I
wanted to not work and stay at home with my child and we could make
our "payments" still fine - And have proved as much time after time
over the last 6 years! Unfortunately I didn't stop working until my
milk had started to dry from the 8 hours away from my baby, and
being I was a poor milker without any support (another story -
urgh) I wish I had another chance to nurse but that is another
story as well. If it were not for the internet then I wouldn't know
what AP is - They should start a media campain or something -
perhaps if parents started out with their children close then they
would have a harder time sending them to the hands of strangers in
daycare and schools.
Sorry that I am rambling so much - apparently I just had a lot of
get out - I feel better now. So to recap I don't think that it's
what we call ourselves that is as important as how we treat our
children. Moza
First - Congratulations Sandra! on your article in the first "Live
Free learn Free" Magazine, I got my copy yesturday and it's looking
nice although yours was the only article I have actually had the
time to complete yet, seems like a nice resource overall though.
Second - I live in MO where compulsory age is 7-16 - My ds is only 6
so again this year I am lucky enough to not to HAVE to keep a log of
his "hours, classes, courses, etc." not that any of those mean he
learned anything anyways! I am against compulsory schooling
altogether now that I understand it more, or schooling in any
matter that forces the coersion of the child I am against!
Third - We refer to ourselves as "homeschoolers" because if I
say "unschoolers" people first ask if that is legal and then still
be totally confused about it. I dislike anything with the
word "school" in it because of what school represents to me. IF they
as for details I state we are Child-Led learners - which we are!
Luckily that term is a little more self explanatory.
Fourth - With it being "back to school" time I am frankly
overwhelmed with the amount of people, even people who claim to
be "unschoolers" talking about their lessons, textbooks and
assignments. In my opinion if you give your child an assignment in
the morning then they're NOT unschooling! SO far I think this is the
ONLY list I belong to that this is not a problem. If your child HAS
to do their math and reading before they can go to the park then
they're NOT unschooling! So mabye I don't know what unschooling is
as much as what it is NOT. As you can tell I am feeling overwhelmed
by this, I was just feeling a little more comfortable in my beliefs
when all of these people who claimed to be unschooling apparently
are clueless to what that really is - in my opinion.
Fifth - Also having a BIG problem with people who push thier child
into "school" early. Like I stated in my state compulsory age isn't
until 7, so why are people starting their "Lessons" at 4 or earlier -
I talked to another mom who has a daughter my son's age last week,
she said she kept logs last year and this year so she could
get "used" to doing them, but then she went off into the curriculum
choices that they gave her as well! Urgh - having a choice also
means you can choose NOT to use any curriculum! I am NOT looking
forward to having to prepare a log of my sons "hours" because I feel
it is an invasion of our privacy, to have these just in case - to
have them to "prove" that my son is learning - Urgh why don't you
sit down and have a conversation with him!!! Another homeschooler
nearby has a child one year younger than ours - they are obsessed
with "lessons", that their child can do all these thing that are
high for her age, that if she ever were to have to be "placed" in
school that she would certainly enter at a grade or two ahead of the
others her age. It is so sad that things are corrupted so much!
Anyhow as I stated we call what we do "child-led learning" because
if my child doesn't want it then we don't do it. I am trying to
start a small support network of likeminded people but it is really
hard to find people who "get it" about their children (Get it in the
meaning of Jan Hunt - that they believe that what a child thinks is
important). I wish I would have known about AP when my child was
young, as it was I held him almost constantly and was often told
to "put him down before you spoil him" and if I fell asleep nursing
then I would wake in a scare "I could have killed my child by
nursing him in bed with me!" and unfortuantely I suffured from PPP
and it took me awhile to stand up to most of the family that I
wanted to not work and stay at home with my child and we could make
our "payments" still fine - And have proved as much time after time
over the last 6 years! Unfortunately I didn't stop working until my
milk had started to dry from the 8 hours away from my baby, and
being I was a poor milker without any support (another story -
urgh) I wish I had another chance to nurse but that is another
story as well. If it were not for the internet then I wouldn't know
what AP is - They should start a media campain or something -
perhaps if parents started out with their children close then they
would have a harder time sending them to the hands of strangers in
daycare and schools.
Sorry that I am rambling so much - apparently I just had a lot of
get out - I feel better now. So to recap I don't think that it's
what we call ourselves that is as important as how we treat our
children. Moza
[email protected]
In a message dated 8/24/04 11:50:42 AM, mozafamily@... writes:
<< In my opinion if you give your child an assignment in
the morning then they're NOT unschooling! SO far I think this is the
ONLY list I belong to that this is not a problem. If your child HAS
to do their math and reading before they can go to the park then
they're NOT unschooling! >>
Yes, it gave me a chill just reading it.
The Barq's ice cream float pop thing probably helped.
But honestly, I shuddered. Poor kids. Poor kids.
And poor overall reputation of unschooling.
-=- If it were not for the internet then I wouldn't know
what AP is - They should start a media campain or something - -=-
Who would pay for it? There's no money to be made, no products to sell them,
when you're telling people "just hold them."
In fact, the stronger such things get, the more the OTHERS advertise.
Formula, bottle, crib manufacturors don't want parent discouraging each other from
NEEDING that stuff.
We were supposed to babysit today for the little girl we kept last Spring a
lot. She's nearly 13 months old now. 8:10 a.m. I got a call saying she
wouldn't be here. Bummer. It was going to be out last time for a long time or
forever, and I wanted to take a photo of her and Holly for Holly to keep.
But her parents bring her with toys we don't use, a pacifier we don't use, and
teething tablets we don't use. At home, apparently, they consider all these
things necessary. Holly has asked me WHY they use them or think we need
them.
But...
It is very labor-intensive to do things our way here, which is to hold her,
play with her on the floor, take her wherever we're going so she can see, let
her touch things. It's tiring. But she doesn't need a pacifier.
Oh well.
We can't change the whole world at once. <g>
Sandra
<< In my opinion if you give your child an assignment in
the morning then they're NOT unschooling! SO far I think this is the
ONLY list I belong to that this is not a problem. If your child HAS
to do their math and reading before they can go to the park then
they're NOT unschooling! >>
Yes, it gave me a chill just reading it.
The Barq's ice cream float pop thing probably helped.
But honestly, I shuddered. Poor kids. Poor kids.
And poor overall reputation of unschooling.
-=- If it were not for the internet then I wouldn't know
what AP is - They should start a media campain or something - -=-
Who would pay for it? There's no money to be made, no products to sell them,
when you're telling people "just hold them."
In fact, the stronger such things get, the more the OTHERS advertise.
Formula, bottle, crib manufacturors don't want parent discouraging each other from
NEEDING that stuff.
We were supposed to babysit today for the little girl we kept last Spring a
lot. She's nearly 13 months old now. 8:10 a.m. I got a call saying she
wouldn't be here. Bummer. It was going to be out last time for a long time or
forever, and I wanted to take a photo of her and Holly for Holly to keep.
But her parents bring her with toys we don't use, a pacifier we don't use, and
teething tablets we don't use. At home, apparently, they consider all these
things necessary. Holly has asked me WHY they use them or think we need
them.
But...
It is very labor-intensive to do things our way here, which is to hold her,
play with her on the floor, take her wherever we're going so she can see, let
her touch things. It's tiring. But she doesn't need a pacifier.
Oh well.
We can't change the whole world at once. <g>
Sandra
[email protected]
In a message dated 8/24/04 11:50:42 AM, mozafamily@... writes:
<< I don't think that it's
what we call ourselves that is as important as how we treat our
children. >>
<< I don't think that it's
what we call ourselves that is as important as how we treat our
children. >>
[email protected]
OOOPS. VERY sorry to have sent a blank.
In a message dated 8/24/04 11:50:42 AM, mozafamily@... writes:
<< I don't think that it's
what we call ourselves that is as important as how we treat our
children. >>
I agree. One thing I know I did do, a year or so ago maybe, was to decline
to agree that anyone who is registered with any public school program is no
longer homeschooling. I think if kids are home and not having to do lessons and
are with their moms, it doesn't bother me if they're signed up with an
umbrella school, or a school program in California or British Columbia (wasn't that
where it was?) so they can get funding for big stuff like lessons and pianos.
I only care about their freedom and how the learning takes place.
Those programs are very rare anyway. But for where my interest and passion
lie, I would be more supportive of a natural-learning situation with state
funding than of a family who is NOT at all enrolled in a state program but they
might a well be because the kids are forced to "do school," often WORSE than
school would have done. I regret it when I think that anything I have ever done
made it easier for a family to command a child to STAY at that table and read
this revisionist history or that "creationist science."
I care about how children learn, not about what their relationship to the
state is.
And for making a statement like that last one, I probably lost value in some
quarters. That's okay. I went to school. I know exactly how to do what the
teacher (supervisor, editor) wants. I know how to compromise myself to get an
A. Integrity is more important to me, though. Through the years when
people have asked me to do this, or that, organization, board, politics, I've
always said "I only care about unschooling." And it's still true.
Sandra
In a message dated 8/24/04 11:50:42 AM, mozafamily@... writes:
<< I don't think that it's
what we call ourselves that is as important as how we treat our
children. >>
I agree. One thing I know I did do, a year or so ago maybe, was to decline
to agree that anyone who is registered with any public school program is no
longer homeschooling. I think if kids are home and not having to do lessons and
are with their moms, it doesn't bother me if they're signed up with an
umbrella school, or a school program in California or British Columbia (wasn't that
where it was?) so they can get funding for big stuff like lessons and pianos.
I only care about their freedom and how the learning takes place.
Those programs are very rare anyway. But for where my interest and passion
lie, I would be more supportive of a natural-learning situation with state
funding than of a family who is NOT at all enrolled in a state program but they
might a well be because the kids are forced to "do school," often WORSE than
school would have done. I regret it when I think that anything I have ever done
made it easier for a family to command a child to STAY at that table and read
this revisionist history or that "creationist science."
I care about how children learn, not about what their relationship to the
state is.
And for making a statement like that last one, I probably lost value in some
quarters. That's okay. I went to school. I know exactly how to do what the
teacher (supervisor, editor) wants. I know how to compromise myself to get an
A. Integrity is more important to me, though. Through the years when
people have asked me to do this, or that, organization, board, politics, I've
always said "I only care about unschooling." And it's still true.
Sandra