heasue2003

I have to ask, what is unschooling? Isn't it child lead learning?
Does that mean you never introduce anything new to your kids to see
wether or not they are interested? And if so, I really screwed up
when I bought my kids some books. After all, when my son was a
little baby he never asked for a book or to be read to but I bought
books and read them.

My daughter never asked me to make peanutbutter cookies with her, but
when I asked her to make them with me she loved it and now asks to
make them all the time.

My daughter did not ask to play with playdough, she didn't know what
it was or that it even existed, but when I bought her some and opened
it up for her, she loved it and asks to play with it often.

I could go on but I won't. Everyone's *unschool* is different. My
family and I went to Kansas City's Learnapalooza and one of the
speakers at the conference told me she had a workbook junky. She is
an unschooler and wasn't used to doing workbooks. She didn't even
like to do them. But somewhere along the line her daughter got a
hold of one and loves them. The same has happened in our family. My
daughter enjoys what we do together. If she didn't like doing it or
if it didn't interest her then we wouldn't be doing it. She hates
sounding out words, but she has all the skills to do so ~ she learned
them through doing her workbooks. I don't push her to read. She
sits with down with a book and makes up her own stories and I love it.

When my son was a year old I taught him how to sign a few words to
make communicating his needs easier for him. If that means I am
unschooling wrong, then I am unschooling wrong. All I know is that I
am doing what is right for my family.


Heather

Eric Donato

I hear you are feeling attacked, you sound frustrated... maybe this
would help you find definitions, there's a list of various ways to
homeschool, the first item in the Unschooling Menu is titled
"Unschooling Defined"... there you have a dozen articles, some authors
I recognize from this list...

http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/methods/Unschooling.htm

I am finally settled in our unschooling philosophy after 3 years of
frustration and emotionally charged search for a good fit... it took
longer than I thought it would to feel comfortable...

Jules.


On Jan 17, 2005, at 6:05 PM, heasue2003 wrote:

> I have to ask, what is unschooling?  Isn't it child lead learning? 
> Does that mean you never introduce anything new to your kids to see
> wether or not they are interested?  And if so, I really screwed up
> when I bought my kids some books.  After all, when my son was a
> little baby he never asked for a book or to be read to but I bought
> books and read them.
>
> My daughter never asked me to make peanutbutter cookies with her, but
> when I asked her to make them with me she loved it and now asks to
> make them all the time.
>
> My daughter did not ask to play with playdough, she didn't know what
> it was or that it even existed, but when I bought her some and opened
> it up for her, she loved it and asks to play with it often. 
>
> I could go on but I won't.  Everyone's *unschool* is different.

heasue2003

I am frustrated. I am frustrated because of the responses I got to
my post about our unschool. I appreciate the link and I will take
the time to read through *definitions* of unschooling because I am
interested in what others are doing. I, however will not stop
introducing my children to things that might interest them (such as
taking them to a museum even when they don't ask me to) just because
it isn't what some would call unschooling. I joined this group
because I don't believe in forcing my children to learn. I want them
to learn about what they are interested in when they are interested
in it and in a way they enjoy. I could care less wether or not I am
labeled a teacher, unschooler, homeschooler or etc.

Heather


.com, Eric Donato <edonato953@e...> wrote:
> I hear you are feeling attacked, you sound frustrated... maybe this
> would help you find definitions, there's a list of various ways to
> homeschool, the first item in the Unschooling Menu is titled
> "Unschooling Defined"... there you have a dozen articles, some
authors
> I recognize from this list...
>
> http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/methods/Unschooling.htm
>
> I am finally settled in our unschooling philosophy after 3 years of
> frustration and emotionally charged search for a good fit... it
took
> longer than I thought it would to feel comfortable...
>
> Jules.
>
>
> On Jan 17, 2005, at 6:05 PM, heasue2003 wrote:
>
> > I have to ask, what is unschooling?  Isn't it child lead
learning? 
> > Does that mean you never introduce anything new to your kids to
see
> > wether or not they are interested?  And if so, I really screwed
up
> > when I bought my kids some books.  After all, when my son was a
> > little baby he never asked for a book or to be read to but I
bought
> > books and read them.
> >
> > My daughter never asked me to make peanutbutter cookies with
her, but
> > when I asked her to make them with me she loved it and now asks
to
> > make them all the time.
> >
> > My daughter did not ask to play with playdough, she didn't know
what
> > it was or that it even existed, but when I bought her some and
opened
> > it up for her, she loved it and asks to play with it often. 
> >
> > I could go on but I won't.  Everyone's *unschool* is different.

[email protected]

In a message dated 1/17/05 7:12:38 PM, heasue2003@... writes:

<< I could go on but I won't. Everyone's *unschool* is different. >>

If there are no similarities, no common thread, then there is nothing to
name. If by everyone's unschool is different you mean that everything in the
world is equally valid and equally unschooling, that doesn't make sense.

Many things are NOT unschooling.

-=I have to ask, what is unschooling? -=-

http://sandradodd.com/unschooling
There's what I think it is.
Here are some other people's ideas, too:
http://sandradodd.com/unschool/definition.html

-=-Isn't it child lead learning? -=-

Not as I see it.
Neither is it parent-led learning.

It's maintaining a lifestyle in which learning flourishes.

-=Does that mean you never introduce anything new to your kids to see

wether or not they are interested? -=-

No one has ever said that here (except people who are new to unschooling and
being critical or snarky).

-=-And if so, I really screwed up

when I bought my kids some books. After all, when my son was a

little baby he never asked for a book or to be read to but I bought

books and read them. -=-

Do you honestly think there are people who didn't buy books for their young
children here? Does your sarcasm have a good purpose, or are you just being
defensive?

Let's talk about things that work, with natural learning in mind.

-=-My daughter did not ask to play with playdough, she didn't know what

it was or that it even existed, but when I bought her some and opened

it up for her, she loved it and asks to play with it often.


-=-I could go on but I won't.-=-

Have you ever bought something for your husband or a friend or a sibling
because you thought they would enjoy it, and then they did? Have you ever made
food for someone because you thought they would like it, and then they did?
Probably everyone here has. That's not unschooling. That's thoughtfulness and
generosity. The best unschoolers I've ever known were thoughtful and generous
with their kids and lots of other people, too.

-=-When my son was a year old I taught him how to sign a few words to

make communicating his needs easier for him. If that means I am

unschooling wrong, then I am unschooling wrong. All I know is that I

am doing what is right for my family. -=-

That's all fine, but if you're not interested in unschooling as a philosophy
and a topic of discussion, why post anything at all? This list is intended
for the discussion of unschooling, not for the sharing of whatever on earth is
right for anyone's family. I know some pretty punitive and controlling
families. They think what they're doing is right for their family.

Sandra

[email protected]

In a message dated 1/17/05 8:55:41 PM, heasue2003@... writes:

<< I will take

the time to read through *definitions* of unschooling because I am

interested in what others are doing. I, however will not stop

introducing my children to things that might interest them (such as

taking them to a museum even when they don't ask me to) just because

it isn't what some would call unschooling. >>

No one is suggesting you stop introducing your children to thinkgs that might
interest them.

-= I joined this group

because I don't believe in forcing my children to learn. -=-

That's fine.
Even if you did believe in forcing them to learn, people can't learn by force.

Sandra

pam sorooshian

These are descriptions of "strewing" - that's a good thing that parents
of unschoolers do for their kids. Offering cool things you think your
kids will enjoy is great.

But deciding for her that each week she'll learn about a different hero
- that's not "strewing" and it is not unschooling - it is deciding for
her what she'll learn this week and then doing your best to make it
enjoyable - that's schooling - nice schooling.

-pam

On Jan 17, 2005, at 6:05 PM, heasue2003 wrote:

> I have to ask, what is unschooling? Isn't it child lead learning?
> Does that mean you never introduce anything new to your kids to see
> wether or not they are interested? And if so, I really screwed up
> when I bought my kids some books. After all, when my son was a
> little baby he never asked for a book or to be read to but I bought
> books and read them.
>
> My daughter never asked me to make peanutbutter cookies with her, but
> when I asked her to make them with me she loved it and now asks to
> make them all the time.
>
> My daughter did not ask to play with playdough, she didn't know what
> it was or that it even existed, but when I bought her some and opened
> it up for her, she loved it and asks to play with it often.
>

Robyn Coburn

<<<<< I, however will not stop
introducing my children to things that might interest them (such as
taking them to a museum even when they don't ask me to) just because
it isn't what some would call unschooling.>>>>>

I guess I'm confused about your seemingly antagonistic (maybe I'm wrong)
reaction to the idea that you were strewing, one of the usually helpful
concepts in Unschooling, and basically exactly what you are doing in the
description above. I would think it ceases to be Unschooling if the parent
insists on everyone visiting a museum after unwillingness or dislike of the
plan had happened to be expressed, or if there was some preconceived outcome
to which the kids were being guided - "write a report about...."

<<<I could care less wether or not I am
labeled a teacher, unschooler, homeschooler or etc.>>>

However on an Unschooling discussion list it is often helpful to people's
journey for practices, language use and ideas which are probably *not*
leading towards Unschooling to be challenged if they come up.

It might be useful for some people to think about whether it really is OK
for anyone to consider oneself a "teacher" at any time in their journey. It
certainly doesn't work for me right now in my personal ongoing deschooling
process.

Jayn's (5) exposure to the idea of a teacher being the person responsible
for a student's learning achievement is minimal. However it has still
occurred that she has given the credit for her own learning to the teacher
she has been exposed to previously - it happened really strongly after the
couple of unproductive swimming lessons she had, despite it being all her
own work to learn to swim the following summer without any more lessons. The
idea that a child (particularly) won't learn without some expert teaching is
endemic in mainstream culture, so Jayn hears that idea (the "empty vessel"
model) sometimes. I just don't want her to hear it from me.

Robyn L. Coburn

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