Meg Walker

How funny that you should post this today! I spent 12 hours sitting
in a ski lodge yesterday--read three books and knitted 3/4 of a
scarf. One of the books I grabbed as I walked out the door was Teach
Your Own. I hadn't read it in years and really needed a refresher of
John Holt's wonderful observations and thoughts.

- Meg

On Jan 27, 2006, at 10:18 AM, Sandra Dodd wrote:

> http://www.multiworld.org/taleemnet/publications/holt%20us.pdf
>
> There's the text of "The Underachieving School" by John Holt.
>
>
> For anyone who hasn't read enough John Holt lately, here's some
> commentary by Deb Lewis with long sections of the books (which you
> might want to buy and own!):
> http://sandradodd.com/holt/teachyourown
> http://sandradodd.com/holt/alifeworthliving.html
>
> Other Holt bits and links:
> http://sandradodd.com/johnholt
>



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Sandra Dodd

On Jan 27, 2006, at 8:47 AM, Meg Walker wrote:

> One of the books I grabbed as I walked out the door was Teach
> Your Own. I hadn't read it in years and really needed a refresher of
> John Holt's wonderful observations and thoughts.

-----------------------

If you have the urge to write something about your thoughts about his
thoughts, I'll find a place for it on the website, if you want.

(If you don't want to, that's just as fine. No pressure.)

Cool coincidence. <g>

Sandra

Meg Walker

Thanks, I'll think about it. I"m in a weird place right now with
homeschooling--feeling like it's so obviously been the right thing
for my kids, and struggling with my son's desire to go to high school
next year solely to play football!

I also really enjoyed a book called Morning by Morning written by an
African-American woman named Paula Penn-Nabrit who pulled her three
boys out of a fancy private school to homeschool them. Have you heard
of it?

- Meg

On Jan 27, 2006, at 11:22 AM, Sandra Dodd wrote:

>
> On Jan 27, 2006, at 8:47 AM, Meg Walker wrote:
>
> > One of the books I grabbed as I walked out the door was Teach
> > Your Own. I hadn't read it in years and really needed a refresher of
> > John Holt's wonderful observations and thoughts.
>
> -----------------------
>
> If you have the urge to write something about your thoughts about his
> thoughts, I'll find a place for it on the website, if you want.
>
> (If you don't want to, that's just as fine. No pressure.)
>
> Cool coincidence. <g>
>
> Sandra
>
>

Pamela Sorooshian

On Jan 29, 2006, at 8:30 PM, Meg Walker wrote:

>
> I also really enjoyed a book called Morning by Morning written by an
> African-American woman named Paula Penn-Nabrit who pulled her three
> boys out of a fancy private school to homeschool them. Have you heard
> of it?

I've met them, heard them speak, chatted with the boys and the parents.

The guys HATED homeschooling. They'd never heard of unschooling and
were quite openly dumbstruck at the idea.

-pam

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Sandra Dodd

On Jan 29, 2006, at 9:30 PM, Meg Walker wrote:

> I also really enjoyed a book called Morning by Morning written by an
> African-American woman named Paula Penn-Nabrit who pulled her three
> boys out of a fancy private school to homeschool them. Have you heard
> of it?

No, but I should look into it. A friend's fourteen year old has been
stuck into a fancy private school (after being homeschooled almost
all his life) because his dad says being African American,
homeschooling's no good for him. He's not liking the school much,
but he's making B's and taking advantage of some of the fun stuff.
So to his dad it looks like a good move. Maybe that book would help
their family.

Sandra

Sandra Dodd

On Jan 29, 2006, at 9:38 PM, Pamela Sorooshian wrote:

>
> I've met them, heard them speak, chatted with the boys and the
> parents.
>
> The guys HATED homeschooling

---------------

Oh. Maybe that book won't help. <g>

Sandra

Meg Walker

Yes, the author never hides the fact that her sons hated
homeschooling! She does say that she knew about unschooling and
thought it sounded wonderful in theory, but knew that her boys lacked
the motivation to ever do the cool stuff she heard unschooling
parents talk about their kids doing.

That bugged me, because throughout the book she was bucking
assumptions at every turn. Seems she didn't even recognize that
assumption she made about her kids.

- Meg

On Jan 29, 2006, at 11:38 PM, Pamela Sorooshian wrote:

>
> On Jan 29, 2006, at 8:30 PM, Meg Walker wrote:
>
> >
> > I also really enjoyed a book called Morning by Morning written by an
> > African-American woman named Paula Penn-Nabrit who pulled her three
> > boys out of a fancy private school to homeschool them. Have you
> heard
> > of it?
>
> I've met them, heard them speak, chatted with the boys and the
> parents.
>
> The guys HATED homeschooling. They'd never heard of unschooling and
> were quite openly dumbstruck at the idea.
>
> -pam
>

Meg Walker

This book probably would be useful for your friend. It was subtle yet
relentless racism that prompted them to remove the boys from school.
The author's uncle was an attorney who argued "Brown v. Board of
Education" at the Supreme Court! She got a lot of argument from her
family for the decision to homeschool. I think her reasons, which she
describes in great detail, would make interesting reading for your
friend.

- Meg

On Jan 29, 2006, at 11:46 PM, Sandra Dodd wrote:

>
> On Jan 29, 2006, at 9:30 PM, Meg Walker wrote:
>
> > I also really enjoyed a book called Morning by Morning written by an
> > African-American woman named Paula Penn-Nabrit who pulled her three
> > boys out of a fancy private school to homeschool them. Have you
> heard
> > of it?
>
> No, but I should look into it. A friend's fourteen year old has been
> stuck into a fancy private school (after being homeschooled almost
> all his life) because his dad says being African American,
> homeschooling's no good for him. He's not liking the school much,
> but he's making B's and taking advantage of some of the fun stuff.
> So to his dad it looks like a good move. Maybe that book would help
> their family.
>
> Sandra
>
>

Cindy Fox

Hi Sandra!

One of our Phoenix moms has a website and magazine for African-
American Unschoolers that might be of interest to your friend (and
others):

http://www.afamunschool.com/
http://www.afamunschool.com/fungasa.html (magazine)

There are a number of books and resources on the site. Courtney has
five awesome kids and is awesome herself. :) We don't see her often
because she's on the west side and very busy, but perhaps your
friend could call or email her with his concerns. She'll be a bit
busy right now, but she usually answers emails quickly.

Take care, c.

Cindy Fox

--- In [email protected], Sandra Dodd <Sandra@S...>
wrote:
>
>
> On Jan 29, 2006, at 9:30 PM, Meg Walker wrote:
>
> > I also really enjoyed a book called Morning by Morning written
by an
> > African-American woman named Paula Penn-Nabrit who pulled her
three
> > boys out of a fancy private school to homeschool them. Have you
heard
> > of it?
>
> No, but I should look into it. A friend's fourteen year old has
been
> stuck into a fancy private school (after being homeschooled
almost
> all his life) because his dad says being African American,
> homeschooling's no good for him. He's not liking the school
much,
> but he's making B's and taking advantage of some of the fun
stuff.
> So to his dad it looks like a good move. Maybe that book would
help
> their family.
>
> Sandra
>