revealing our lives
Sandra Dodd
I'm guessing Zak's private life wasn't going to go over well here.
He wrote this, on the side to me:
-=-Thanks for your curiosity about my private life, but I was more
interested in discussing the issues involved than revealing aspects
of my personal situation in a public forum such as this. -=-
He also included some deeply ignorant and insulting commentary about
the people on the list, unschooling and the list itself.
I want to make this point for anyone on the list who wonders:
The only reason people are unschooling in so many parts of the world
now is that people were willing to reveal details of their lives, and
their honest thoughts and experiences. John Holt wasn't reporting on
scientific test results. He was writing what he himself had seen and
thought, and taking his ideas into classrooms and friends' homes and
public places and trying them out with real, live kids and writing
what he saw.
John Holt had no children of his own, but he had the interest and
energy to correspond with lots of unschooling families and to collect
their writings and send them back. That became Growing Without
Schooling, which was first just basically a newsletter, and became a
magazine supported in part by his sales of his own books and some
other things.
Those who wrote to GWS were writing about their private lives, in a
public forum.
Those who wrote in the early unschooling discussions at *Prodigy and
the AOL forum were writing about their personal situations in a
public forum.
Without that, there would be no unschooling.
Without that, there would be no earthly purpose for this list, or
unschooling.info, or the Unschooling Discussion list, or Unschooling
Basics or ANY of the things that have made unschooling a viable,
lively possibility.
People can move toward this more directly and quickly and deeply
from knowing what others have discovered and experienced.
Some Zak who teaches education wants to convince people he knows more
and cares more than I do (and many others here), but won't even tell
us how old his children are (or if he even has children). So in his
world, having a master's or PhD equals credentials. But in this
world, having children who are out of school and happy equals
credentials. Sharing in a useful fashion is what's useful.
Joyce's collections, my collection, the pages of writings by other
unschoolers linked at the bottom of this, the blogs of various
unschoolers.... THOSE things make unschooling fluid and alive. The
conferences where people can meet and see other families in action
make unschooling whole and real and vibrant.
http://sandradodd.com/unschooling
links to other people's pages are near the bottom, in the center.
Sandra
He wrote this, on the side to me:
-=-Thanks for your curiosity about my private life, but I was more
interested in discussing the issues involved than revealing aspects
of my personal situation in a public forum such as this. -=-
He also included some deeply ignorant and insulting commentary about
the people on the list, unschooling and the list itself.
I want to make this point for anyone on the list who wonders:
The only reason people are unschooling in so many parts of the world
now is that people were willing to reveal details of their lives, and
their honest thoughts and experiences. John Holt wasn't reporting on
scientific test results. He was writing what he himself had seen and
thought, and taking his ideas into classrooms and friends' homes and
public places and trying them out with real, live kids and writing
what he saw.
John Holt had no children of his own, but he had the interest and
energy to correspond with lots of unschooling families and to collect
their writings and send them back. That became Growing Without
Schooling, which was first just basically a newsletter, and became a
magazine supported in part by his sales of his own books and some
other things.
Those who wrote to GWS were writing about their private lives, in a
public forum.
Those who wrote in the early unschooling discussions at *Prodigy and
the AOL forum were writing about their personal situations in a
public forum.
Without that, there would be no unschooling.
Without that, there would be no earthly purpose for this list, or
unschooling.info, or the Unschooling Discussion list, or Unschooling
Basics or ANY of the things that have made unschooling a viable,
lively possibility.
People can move toward this more directly and quickly and deeply
from knowing what others have discovered and experienced.
Some Zak who teaches education wants to convince people he knows more
and cares more than I do (and many others here), but won't even tell
us how old his children are (or if he even has children). So in his
world, having a master's or PhD equals credentials. But in this
world, having children who are out of school and happy equals
credentials. Sharing in a useful fashion is what's useful.
Joyce's collections, my collection, the pages of writings by other
unschoolers linked at the bottom of this, the blogs of various
unschoolers.... THOSE things make unschooling fluid and alive. The
conferences where people can meet and see other families in action
make unschooling whole and real and vibrant.
http://sandradodd.com/unschooling
links to other people's pages are near the bottom, in the center.
Sandra
Bob Collier
Aha. The "issues involved". What is that?
Thank you, Sandra, for making everything clear.
I joined an 'alternative parenting' group a couple of years ago and
there was a thread on the subject of children who are 'picky eaters'.
Mainly commentary on a certain magazine article. I posted a reply in
which I mentioned some of my son's interesting tastes in food.
I got an off list email from one of the list owners informing me
that "we don't talk about our children" and this was a warning that I
had "violated" the group's rules of discussion. Violated? Crikey.
What kind of word is that to use? So I wrote back informing the lady
that I was leaving the group anyway. Or words to that effect.
I do feel myself that it's our personal stories - of which our
children are a part - and our actual experiences of unschooling that
matter more than analysing unschooling in itself as if we're back in
school.
I'm more than happy to talk about my private life. Get ready for some
outrageous revelations. Only kidding.
Or am I? :)
Bob
Thank you, Sandra, for making everything clear.
I joined an 'alternative parenting' group a couple of years ago and
there was a thread on the subject of children who are 'picky eaters'.
Mainly commentary on a certain magazine article. I posted a reply in
which I mentioned some of my son's interesting tastes in food.
I got an off list email from one of the list owners informing me
that "we don't talk about our children" and this was a warning that I
had "violated" the group's rules of discussion. Violated? Crikey.
What kind of word is that to use? So I wrote back informing the lady
that I was leaving the group anyway. Or words to that effect.
I do feel myself that it's our personal stories - of which our
children are a part - and our actual experiences of unschooling that
matter more than analysing unschooling in itself as if we're back in
school.
I'm more than happy to talk about my private life. Get ready for some
outrageous revelations. Only kidding.
Or am I? :)
Bob
--- In [email protected], Sandra Dodd <Sandra@...> wrote:
>
> I'm guessing Zak's private life wasn't going to go over well
here.
> He wrote this, on the side to me:
>
> -=-Thanks for your curiosity about my private life, but I was more
> interested in discussing the issues involved than revealing
aspects
> of my personal situation in a public forum such as this. -=-
>
> He also included some deeply ignorant and insulting commentary
about
> the people on the list, unschooling and the list itself.
>
>
>
> I want to make this point for anyone on the list who wonders:
>
> The only reason people are unschooling in so many parts of the
world
> now is that people were willing to reveal details of their lives,
and
> their honest thoughts and experiences. John Holt wasn't reporting
on
> scientific test results. He was writing what he himself had seen
and
> thought, and taking his ideas into classrooms and friends' homes
and
> public places and trying them out with real, live kids and writing
> what he saw.
>
> John Holt had no children of his own, but he had the interest and
> energy to correspond with lots of unschooling families and to
collect
> their writings and send them back. That became Growing Without
> Schooling, which was first just basically a newsletter, and became
a
> magazine supported in part by his sales of his own books and some
> other things.
>
> Those who wrote to GWS were writing about their private lives, in
a
> public forum.
>
> Those who wrote in the early unschooling discussions at *Prodigy
and
> the AOL forum were writing about their personal situations in a
> public forum.
>
> Without that, there would be no unschooling.
>
> Without that, there would be no earthly purpose for this list, or
> unschooling.info, or the Unschooling Discussion list, or
Unschooling
> Basics or ANY of the things that have made unschooling a viable,
> lively possibility.
>
> People can move toward this more directly and quickly and deeply
> from knowing what others have discovered and experienced.
>
> Some Zak who teaches education wants to convince people he knows
more
> and cares more than I do (and many others here), but won't even
tell
> us how old his children are (or if he even has children). So in
his
> world, having a master's or PhD equals credentials. But in this
> world, having children who are out of school and happy equals
> credentials. Sharing in a useful fashion is what's useful.
>
> Joyce's collections, my collection, the pages of writings by other
> unschoolers linked at the bottom of this, the blogs of various
> unschoolers.... THOSE things make unschooling fluid and alive.
The
> conferences where people can meet and see other families in action
> make unschooling whole and real and vibrant.
> http://sandradodd.com/unschooling
> links to other people's pages are near the bottom, in the center.
>
> Sandra
>
marji
At 13:18 5/8/2007, you wrote:
believe in unschooling or the courage to start had it not been for
folks revealing how unschooling worked in their personal lives. Liam
and I are both *immensely* grateful for the folks who not only shared
their copious wisdom with us but also allowed us to peep in at their
lives. Those glimpses were what sustained me until I had my own good
experiences to *prove* that unschooling was every great thing I had
heard it was. What a wonderful life we live now because of those folks!
"Thank you" just doesn't seem to be enough!
Love,
Marji
_.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._
<http://myspace.com/marjizintz>Visit Marji on
<http://myspace.com/marjizintz>MySpace
<http://marjizintz.blogspot.com/>Our Unschooling Life (a blog)
"The animals of this world exist for their own reasons. They were
not made for humans any more than blacks were made for whites or
women created for men."
~Alice Walker
_.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>Those who wrote in the early unschooling discussions at *Prodigy andIt's highly doubtful that I would ever have had the ability to
>the AOL forum were writing about their personal situations in a
>public forum.
>
>Without that, there would be no unschooling.
>
>Without that, there would be no earthly purpose for this list, or
>unschooling.info, or the Unschooling Discussion list, or Unschooling
>Basics or ANY of the things that have made unschooling a viable,
>lively possibility.
>
>People can move toward this more directly and quickly and deeply
>from knowing what others have discovered and experienced.
believe in unschooling or the courage to start had it not been for
folks revealing how unschooling worked in their personal lives. Liam
and I are both *immensely* grateful for the folks who not only shared
their copious wisdom with us but also allowed us to peep in at their
lives. Those glimpses were what sustained me until I had my own good
experiences to *prove* that unschooling was every great thing I had
heard it was. What a wonderful life we live now because of those folks!
"Thank you" just doesn't seem to be enough!
Love,
Marji
_.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._
<http://myspace.com/marjizintz>Visit Marji on
<http://myspace.com/marjizintz>MySpace
<http://marjizintz.blogspot.com/>Our Unschooling Life (a blog)
"The animals of this world exist for their own reasons. They were
not made for humans any more than blacks were made for whites or
women created for men."
~Alice Walker
_.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]