support groups
woebetty
We have been unschooling for about a year and a half now (my son is
11), and I have been searching for a good homeschool support group. A
physical group--not an online group. Everytime we visit one I come away
feeling like it wasn't the right fit for us. Sometimes he meets someone
he really wants to get together with again, but I find that the parents
aren't someone we'd want him to spend time with.
So I guess my questions are, How important is your face-to-face
homeschool support system? Do you or your children really benefit from
park days and pot lucks? What if your child likes it, but you find the
other parents are a lot different from you?
Online support has been very beneficial to me--where have you found
support?
11), and I have been searching for a good homeschool support group. A
physical group--not an online group. Everytime we visit one I come away
feeling like it wasn't the right fit for us. Sometimes he meets someone
he really wants to get together with again, but I find that the parents
aren't someone we'd want him to spend time with.
So I guess my questions are, How important is your face-to-face
homeschool support system? Do you or your children really benefit from
park days and pot lucks? What if your child likes it, but you find the
other parents are a lot different from you?
Online support has been very beneficial to me--where have you found
support?
diana jenner
On Wed, Apr 16, 2008 at 3:48 PM, woebetty <Woebetty@...> wrote:
the homeschoolers are FAR more relaxed than they were in South Dakota,
they're still too restrictive and disrespectful to their children for my
comfort. Even in the group of local "unschoolers" there's still an air of
"I'm the grownup, that's why!" that makes my hieny tingle (and not in a good
way!).
We look now to the entire community as sources of support, inspiration and
information -- as humans, not as unschoolers. Hayden (9.5) has made friends
all over the place, there's no ageism in him and he's inspired adults to
cast away their thoughts of ageism where he's concerned. They're friends,
not adult friends, straight-up friends.
community and see who I'd like to start a real friendship with :D Hayden's
attended a couple of events with the same result -- he doesn't much like the
*whole* community thing (there seems to be unspoken pressure to attend and
contribute), he likes that he's met a couple of boys he'd like to have over
to hang out. The parents, on the other hand, would like H to hang out with
their sons on the scheduled group days, avoiding "another" trip into town to
play. It's a quandary Hayden's happy to avoid - he'd rather hang out alone
at home than go to gym day to see his friends. (Physically alone, most often
he's on Skype <http://skype.com> with friends from all over the map--most of
whom he knows from unschooling conferences--see below)
excursion to a Live and Learn Conference <http://liveandlearnconference.org>.
There I was able to put faces and three-dimensional perspective to the words
I'd read on-line. Though I didn't meet a soul from my hometown, I made
friends I'll have for the rest of my life! One family my kids and I really
connected with lived a handful of hours from our hometown. We made a point
to get together as often as we could afford -- now that I've moved across
the country, we're working on moving them here, too :D It was an amazing
thing to SEE my mentors with their kids, to FEEL the love and respect
between them... there's really nothing like it in the world!
From the Live and Learn model, there are two regional unschooling
conferences available (Life is Good <http://lifeisgoodconference.com> & NE
Unschoolers <http://www.northeastunschoolingconference.com/index.html>), and
many more to come as Live and Learn will be ending after this year.
We've also created gatherings we like to call *non-cons* (as in, not a
conference) where friends gather in a city and hang out for a few or many
days, enjoying, inspiring, playing together. (We've been blessed with Marty
Dodd's presence at a few of them, not only is he the first unschooler my son
made friends with, they're honorary brothers to one another -- an amazing
gift -- I cannot gush enough about him ::bg::)
I love my lists :) Short of winning the lottery, buying the entire state of
Kansas and creating my own Utopian Unschooling Society, there's nothing to
replace the gifts I've found online :D
It's not the same, I know... letting go of what it *should be like* has
really benefited my life (in 12 million ways!), what it *really is* ain't so
bad.
--
~diana :)
xoxoxoxo
hannahbearski.blogspot.com
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> We have been unschooling for about a year and a half now (my son is**This has been my experience, as well. Although I now live in a place where
> 11), and I have been searching for a good homeschool support group. A
> physical group--not an online group. Everytime we visit one I come away
> feeling like it wasn't the right fit for us. Sometimes he meets someone
> he really wants to get together with again, but I find that the parents
> aren't someone we'd want him to spend time with.
>
the homeschoolers are FAR more relaxed than they were in South Dakota,
they're still too restrictive and disrespectful to their children for my
comfort. Even in the group of local "unschoolers" there's still an air of
"I'm the grownup, that's why!" that makes my hieny tingle (and not in a good
way!).
We look now to the entire community as sources of support, inspiration and
information -- as humans, not as unschoolers. Hayden (9.5) has made friends
all over the place, there's no ageism in him and he's inspired adults to
cast away their thoughts of ageism where he's concerned. They're friends,
not adult friends, straight-up friends.
> So I guess my questions are, How important is your face-to-face**I benefit from the park days and potlucks, just to meet folks in the
> homeschool support system? Do you or your children really benefit from
> park days and pot lucks? What if your child likes it, but you find the
> other parents are a lot different from you?
>
community and see who I'd like to start a real friendship with :D Hayden's
attended a couple of events with the same result -- he doesn't much like the
*whole* community thing (there seems to be unspoken pressure to attend and
contribute), he likes that he's met a couple of boys he'd like to have over
to hang out. The parents, on the other hand, would like H to hang out with
their sons on the scheduled group days, avoiding "another" trip into town to
play. It's a quandary Hayden's happy to avoid - he'd rather hang out alone
at home than go to gym day to see his friends. (Physically alone, most often
he's on Skype <http://skype.com> with friends from all over the map--most of
whom he knows from unschooling conferences--see below)
> Online support has been very beneficial to me--where have you found**The first time I found a REAL unschooling support system was my first
> support?
> ._
>
excursion to a Live and Learn Conference <http://liveandlearnconference.org>.
There I was able to put faces and three-dimensional perspective to the words
I'd read on-line. Though I didn't meet a soul from my hometown, I made
friends I'll have for the rest of my life! One family my kids and I really
connected with lived a handful of hours from our hometown. We made a point
to get together as often as we could afford -- now that I've moved across
the country, we're working on moving them here, too :D It was an amazing
thing to SEE my mentors with their kids, to FEEL the love and respect
between them... there's really nothing like it in the world!
From the Live and Learn model, there are two regional unschooling
conferences available (Life is Good <http://lifeisgoodconference.com> & NE
Unschoolers <http://www.northeastunschoolingconference.com/index.html>), and
many more to come as Live and Learn will be ending after this year.
We've also created gatherings we like to call *non-cons* (as in, not a
conference) where friends gather in a city and hang out for a few or many
days, enjoying, inspiring, playing together. (We've been blessed with Marty
Dodd's presence at a few of them, not only is he the first unschooler my son
made friends with, they're honorary brothers to one another -- an amazing
gift -- I cannot gush enough about him ::bg::)
I love my lists :) Short of winning the lottery, buying the entire state of
Kansas and creating my own Utopian Unschooling Society, there's nothing to
replace the gifts I've found online :D
It's not the same, I know... letting go of what it *should be like* has
really benefited my life (in 12 million ways!), what it *really is* ain't so
bad.
--
~diana :)
xoxoxoxo
hannahbearski.blogspot.com
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]