10-year-old veterinary assistant
Tanya Ziegler
I came across a video today about a 10-year-old girl who completed an
on-line degree (took her 8 months) to become a certified veterinary
assistant, and now she volunteers once a week at her local vet clinic
doing exactly that.
Here's the link to the article - http://www.komotv.com/news/14848331.html
And the link to the video - A younger, female Doogie Howser:
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/ver/251.7/popup/index.php?cl=6171405
I found this to be a truly inspirational story. My immediate thoughts
were that I want my child to have the freedom to study something he
loves in-depth and practice it in a meaningful way to him. What a
wonderful gift to my child!
I sent this video clip to my niece who is 13. She stated a couple
years ago that she wanted to be a veterinarian "when she grew up"
because she loves animals. But her parents resonded by telling her
the "gross" parts of the job, and so she then said she wasn't sure she
could do that. I was so sad. She really does love animals and would
spend all her time with them if she could, but she is also in school
and really too busy to do more than have a couple pets of her own to
care for.
Neither the article nor video clip state whether the girl is
homeschooled (or unschooled, for that matter), but it is certainly a
wonderful example for unschoolers and new parents like myself of
another real life example of what's possible for our children.
This little news story also came at an appropriate time for me as I
just finished reading "The Unschooling Handbook". I admit that by
midway through the book I was feeling a bit overwhelmed with all that
I interpreted to be involved in finding unconventional ways to expose
our children to "school subjects" in the real world. (I know it's not
necessarily helpful to look at the world in terms of subjects, but
refer to it that way only because that's how the book is outlined.)
However, finally the last chapter discussed something that really
resonated with me.
To quote from page 215, "That so many children become lost when they
reach the legal age of majority shouldn't be surprising. With all
their years in school, with classes and assignments scheduled
throughout for them, when and where do most children get a chance to
feel useful, to create a meaningful place for themselves? They're
considered too young, too immature, too unreliable, too untrustworthy
to be allowed to do much of any real value; it's no wonder so many
turn to their peers for affirmation and respect. We "protect" them
from doing anything much in the way of real, meaningful work, deny
them the opportunity to find places where they are truly needed, and
then turn around and blame them for never doing anything worthwhile."
What I took away from this is that locking children up in school for
12 years inhibits their abilities to find meaningful things for
themselves and their lives. Yes, it's true that a schooled child can
find meaningful things in their lives, but school interferes by taking
up too much time and energy.
I've been thinking the last couple days and trying to put into concise
words why I want to unschool my child (partly for my own thought
organization, but also for those inquiring family and friends). The
basic theme I came up with was one word - FREEDOM. Freedom for my
child to have the time, space, and resources to live and explore life
in a meaningful way to him. Freedom for our family to have the time
and space to be together and share our lives without the dictations
and restrictions of school.
So, this video was my dose of the "warm and fuzzies" for the day.
Tanya
on-line degree (took her 8 months) to become a certified veterinary
assistant, and now she volunteers once a week at her local vet clinic
doing exactly that.
Here's the link to the article - http://www.komotv.com/news/14848331.html
And the link to the video - A younger, female Doogie Howser:
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/ver/251.7/popup/index.php?cl=6171405
I found this to be a truly inspirational story. My immediate thoughts
were that I want my child to have the freedom to study something he
loves in-depth and practice it in a meaningful way to him. What a
wonderful gift to my child!
I sent this video clip to my niece who is 13. She stated a couple
years ago that she wanted to be a veterinarian "when she grew up"
because she loves animals. But her parents resonded by telling her
the "gross" parts of the job, and so she then said she wasn't sure she
could do that. I was so sad. She really does love animals and would
spend all her time with them if she could, but she is also in school
and really too busy to do more than have a couple pets of her own to
care for.
Neither the article nor video clip state whether the girl is
homeschooled (or unschooled, for that matter), but it is certainly a
wonderful example for unschoolers and new parents like myself of
another real life example of what's possible for our children.
This little news story also came at an appropriate time for me as I
just finished reading "The Unschooling Handbook". I admit that by
midway through the book I was feeling a bit overwhelmed with all that
I interpreted to be involved in finding unconventional ways to expose
our children to "school subjects" in the real world. (I know it's not
necessarily helpful to look at the world in terms of subjects, but
refer to it that way only because that's how the book is outlined.)
However, finally the last chapter discussed something that really
resonated with me.
To quote from page 215, "That so many children become lost when they
reach the legal age of majority shouldn't be surprising. With all
their years in school, with classes and assignments scheduled
throughout for them, when and where do most children get a chance to
feel useful, to create a meaningful place for themselves? They're
considered too young, too immature, too unreliable, too untrustworthy
to be allowed to do much of any real value; it's no wonder so many
turn to their peers for affirmation and respect. We "protect" them
from doing anything much in the way of real, meaningful work, deny
them the opportunity to find places where they are truly needed, and
then turn around and blame them for never doing anything worthwhile."
What I took away from this is that locking children up in school for
12 years inhibits their abilities to find meaningful things for
themselves and their lives. Yes, it's true that a schooled child can
find meaningful things in their lives, but school interferes by taking
up too much time and energy.
I've been thinking the last couple days and trying to put into concise
words why I want to unschool my child (partly for my own thought
organization, but also for those inquiring family and friends). The
basic theme I came up with was one word - FREEDOM. Freedom for my
child to have the time, space, and resources to live and explore life
in a meaningful way to him. Freedom for our family to have the time
and space to be together and share our lives without the dictations
and restrictions of school.
So, this video was my dose of the "warm and fuzzies" for the day.
Tanya
Sandra Dodd
-=-This little news story also came at an appropriate time for me as I
just finished reading "The Unschooling Handbook". I admit that by
midway through the book I was feeling a bit overwhelmed with all that
I interpreted to be involved in finding unconventional ways to expose
our children to "school subjects" in the real world. (I know it's not
necessarily helpful to look at the world in terms of subjects, but
refer to it that way only because that's how the book is outlined.) -=-
Here are some other ways to look at that:
http://sandradodd.com/checklists
http://sandradodd.com/subjects
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
just finished reading "The Unschooling Handbook". I admit that by
midway through the book I was feeling a bit overwhelmed with all that
I interpreted to be involved in finding unconventional ways to expose
our children to "school subjects" in the real world. (I know it's not
necessarily helpful to look at the world in terms of subjects, but
refer to it that way only because that's how the book is outlined.) -=-
Here are some other ways to look at that:
http://sandradodd.com/checklists
http://sandradodd.com/subjects
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]