Kimbrah

Hi! I am new to unschooling. I read about 4 of John Holt's books over
the last few months and became captivated with the idea of unschooling
our three boys (at least that's all we have so far). The oldest will
be 4 in July and I have already been working on changing my ideas of
"teaching" him, which is very hard for me because I am such a
teacher-type. It's harder for me to just get down and play with my
children, but I am learning, too.

My question for the group would be, has anyone found that friends and
family (especially older friends and family) think that unschooling is
just a way to let your kids take charge and run all over you? I keep
getting this a lot, that I am doing them a disservice by letting them
guide their own learning, that they are going to turn out to be
spoiled brat monsters or something. I do not believe this to be true,
but there are times when a seed of doubt that I am doing the right
thing is placed in my heart when so many of my friends and family are
against what we want to do with the boys. Any discussion about this
would be appreciated. I feel a bit defeated and I haven't even truly
started yet.

Erica Iwamura

We are new to unschooling (still learning as we go along) too and we are
LOVING it!! (well, DH is still at the "unsure" stage, BUT me and the kids
are loving it!, LOL) As for our family and friends that don't get "it", I
don't even go into details.. especially with family. They just know that we
homeschool and for now thats all they need to know about how we CHOOSE to
educate our children. I want to live a rich, full, fun life with my family
and I have made the choice to do that and unschooling is the way to do
that. Some friends who know that I have started unschooling don't say
anything about it but I know they don't truly get it. Hopefully they will
see it as time goes on!

Erica

On 4/25/07, Kimbrah <felicitasblog@...> wrote:
>
> Hi! I am new to unschooling. I read about 4 of John Holt's books over
> the last few months and became captivated with the idea of unschooling
> our three boys (at least that's all we have so far). The oldest will
> be 4 in July and I have already been working on changing my ideas of
> "teaching" him, which is very hard for me because I am such a
> teacher-type. It's harder for me to just get down and play with my
> children, but I am learning, too.
>
> My question for the group would be, has anyone found that friends and
> family (especially older friends and family) think that unschooling is
> just a way to let your kids take charge and run all over you? I keep
> getting this a lot, that I am doing them a disservice by letting them
> guide their own learning, that they are going to turn out to be
> spoiled brat monsters or something. I do not believe this to be true,
> but there are times when a seed of doubt that I am doing the right
> thing is placed in my heart when so many of my friends and family are
> against what we want to do with the boys. Any discussion about this
> would be appreciated. I feel a bit defeated and I haven't even truly
> started yet.
>
>
>



--
"Play is the highest form of research." - Albert Einstein


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Sandra Dodd

-=-I keep
getting this a lot, that I am doing them a disservice by letting them
guide their own learning, that they are going to turn out to be
spoiled brat monsters or something.-=-



Reading these might help.

http://sandradodd.com/nest
http://sandradodd.com/spoiled

Sandra

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