I love when people brag Pam Sorooshian up.
Sandra Dodd
As we've
In regard to our grammar discussion, I should intactify my verb, and
say "I love when people brag up Pam Sorooshian," but in e-mail
subjects, the important part will fall right off if it's too far down
the line.
Below is a blog post from "The New Unschooler" here:
http://thenewunschooler.blogspot.com/2008/08/great-advice-for-talking-
to-relatives.html
Great Advice For Talking To Relatives
There are so many things I want to tell you about the HSC Learning
Without Limits Conference but I'm going to pace myself and tell you
about it a little at a time. I will tell you that I was buzzing with
excitement the entire weekend. I made some new friends, learned some
new things, and my feeling that unschooling is the right path for us
was absolutely, 100% confirmed (again and again).
Now I'm going to share the most important nugget of wisdom I found
amidst the gold mine of information at the conference. It came from
Pam Soorooshian.
On the last day of the conference I cornered Pam in the hallway
outside the ballroom where we'd just watched a fabulous slide show of
photos from the weekend. I'd been dying to ask here one particular
question and hadn't found the opportunity yet.
What I wanted to know was this: "How should I respond to my mother-in-
law when she says that if Jerry doesn't have to do some things he
doesn't want to do now, he'll never learn to do the things in life
that none of us really want to do, but need to get done nonetheless?"
Warren's mom has mentioned her concern about this a few times and I
could never really answer her because I guess a small part of me
wondered the same thing. I suspected that, just like the rest of us,
he would do some things he didn't really want to do because he'd have
a conflicting need that would trump his desire to avoid the
unappealing chore. For example, even though I hate washing dishes, I
do wash them because I hate having dishes piled on my counter even
more than I hate washing dishes. Pam confirmed that this was true.
Then she asked, "Do you really want him doing things he doesn't want
to do?"
Wow. When you put it that way I guess I'd have to say no. Not at all.
Pam pointed out that she has three girls and she definitely does not
want her girls feeling obliged to do things they aren't comfortable
with. That put a whole new twist on the question.
She suggested asking my mother-in-law, "What is your real concern?"
"Not being capable of doing things he doesn't want to do" is very
general. Is she worried that he won't wash his dishes or clean his
house as an adult? That one I can handle.
Or is she worried that he won't have the tenacity to reach his goals?
I have to admit, I've asked myself this question, too.
Pam pointed out that most of us want our children to find meaningful
work that they love so they won't have to do things they don't want
to do--like go to a job they hate. Yes, they may need to, say, take a
job they aren't crazy about as a stepping stone to the job of their
dreams, but that's about seeing the big picture and goal setting--
it's not being able to do unappealing activities.
Does Jerry see the big picture? Yes, he does. Most of the time. And
when he's unable to see the whole thing Warren and I are there to
fill in the gaps. Is he able to set goals? Pam said he probably does
it all the time with video games. And he does. That's what video
games are, right? You set a goal to beat the game and you work at
each level, beating them one by one, until you've reached it. Are
video game goals the only goals he's interested in at the moment? No,
but video games do feature prominently in most of them. He wants to
design video games and thanks to a program we discovered this weekend
(more about that later!) he's well on his way. He wants to build a
gaming computer and we're darn close to reaching that one (we'll
start as soon as we get back home). He wants to beat all four Guitar
Heroes. He does know how to reach goals but they're his own goals for
himself. Not mine.
So that tidbit was one of the best things about the conference. I'll
get to the rest later.
On the homecoming front, Jerry and I were supposed to be driving home
today but Weird Al Yankovic is playing tonight at the State Fair so
it looks like we'll be staying one more night--Jerry can't stand the
thought of missing it.
I never in my life expected to find myself at a Weird Al concert. Ever.
In regard to our grammar discussion, I should intactify my verb, and
say "I love when people brag up Pam Sorooshian," but in e-mail
subjects, the important part will fall right off if it's too far down
the line.
Below is a blog post from "The New Unschooler" here:
http://thenewunschooler.blogspot.com/2008/08/great-advice-for-talking-
to-relatives.html
Great Advice For Talking To Relatives
There are so many things I want to tell you about the HSC Learning
Without Limits Conference but I'm going to pace myself and tell you
about it a little at a time. I will tell you that I was buzzing with
excitement the entire weekend. I made some new friends, learned some
new things, and my feeling that unschooling is the right path for us
was absolutely, 100% confirmed (again and again).
Now I'm going to share the most important nugget of wisdom I found
amidst the gold mine of information at the conference. It came from
Pam Soorooshian.
On the last day of the conference I cornered Pam in the hallway
outside the ballroom where we'd just watched a fabulous slide show of
photos from the weekend. I'd been dying to ask here one particular
question and hadn't found the opportunity yet.
What I wanted to know was this: "How should I respond to my mother-in-
law when she says that if Jerry doesn't have to do some things he
doesn't want to do now, he'll never learn to do the things in life
that none of us really want to do, but need to get done nonetheless?"
Warren's mom has mentioned her concern about this a few times and I
could never really answer her because I guess a small part of me
wondered the same thing. I suspected that, just like the rest of us,
he would do some things he didn't really want to do because he'd have
a conflicting need that would trump his desire to avoid the
unappealing chore. For example, even though I hate washing dishes, I
do wash them because I hate having dishes piled on my counter even
more than I hate washing dishes. Pam confirmed that this was true.
Then she asked, "Do you really want him doing things he doesn't want
to do?"
Wow. When you put it that way I guess I'd have to say no. Not at all.
Pam pointed out that she has three girls and she definitely does not
want her girls feeling obliged to do things they aren't comfortable
with. That put a whole new twist on the question.
She suggested asking my mother-in-law, "What is your real concern?"
"Not being capable of doing things he doesn't want to do" is very
general. Is she worried that he won't wash his dishes or clean his
house as an adult? That one I can handle.
Or is she worried that he won't have the tenacity to reach his goals?
I have to admit, I've asked myself this question, too.
Pam pointed out that most of us want our children to find meaningful
work that they love so they won't have to do things they don't want
to do--like go to a job they hate. Yes, they may need to, say, take a
job they aren't crazy about as a stepping stone to the job of their
dreams, but that's about seeing the big picture and goal setting--
it's not being able to do unappealing activities.
Does Jerry see the big picture? Yes, he does. Most of the time. And
when he's unable to see the whole thing Warren and I are there to
fill in the gaps. Is he able to set goals? Pam said he probably does
it all the time with video games. And he does. That's what video
games are, right? You set a goal to beat the game and you work at
each level, beating them one by one, until you've reached it. Are
video game goals the only goals he's interested in at the moment? No,
but video games do feature prominently in most of them. He wants to
design video games and thanks to a program we discovered this weekend
(more about that later!) he's well on his way. He wants to build a
gaming computer and we're darn close to reaching that one (we'll
start as soon as we get back home). He wants to beat all four Guitar
Heroes. He does know how to reach goals but they're his own goals for
himself. Not mine.
So that tidbit was one of the best things about the conference. I'll
get to the rest later.
On the homecoming front, Jerry and I were supposed to be driving home
today but Weird Al Yankovic is playing tonight at the State Fair so
it looks like we'll be staying one more night--Jerry can't stand the
thought of missing it.
I never in my life expected to find myself at a Weird Al concert. Ever.
Sandra Dodd
http://thenewunschooler.blogspot.com
Click that, above, and if "Great Advice For Talking To Relatives"
isn't up top, look for it in the sidebar or search for it.
Or click the above and then cut and paste what's below to the end of it.
/2008/08/great-advice-for-talking-to-relatives.html
Click that, above, and if "Great Advice For Talking To Relatives"
isn't up top, look for it in the sidebar or search for it.
Or click the above and then cut and paste what's below to the end of it.
/2008/08/great-advice-for-talking-to-relatives.html
Meghan Anderson-Coates
<<<<<the HSC Learning
Without Limits Conference but I'm going to pace myself and tell you
about it a little at a time. I will tell you that I was buzzing with
excitement the entire weekend. >>>>>>>
�
�
I agree, it was a great conference! I was working at the conference this year so I only made it to a few sessions, but one of those was Pam's session on unschooling teens.�She had a great analogy about�the difference in how people see�spending money on video games�verses algebra text books, and how it shouldn't be�any different (of course there was much more to it than that).�It was really enjoyable. I love seeing her speak :-)
The best part of the conference for me was the after hours, late night chats with everyone. Saturday night we had a great one with a great group of people (including Pam). It's so nice to have a whole group of unschoolers to talk to and bounce ideas around with
�
�
<<<<<On the homecoming front, Jerry and I were supposed to be driving home
today but Weird Al Yankovic is playing tonight at the State Fair so
it looks like we'll be staying one more night--Jerry can't stand the
thought of missing it.
I never in my life expected to find myself at a Weird Al concert. Ever.>>>>>
�
�
We saw him at the state fair last year! He was AWESOME!
Meghan
�
Why not go out on a limb? Isn�t that where the fruit is?
~ Frank Scully
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Without Limits Conference but I'm going to pace myself and tell you
about it a little at a time. I will tell you that I was buzzing with
excitement the entire weekend. >>>>>>>
�
�
I agree, it was a great conference! I was working at the conference this year so I only made it to a few sessions, but one of those was Pam's session on unschooling teens.�She had a great analogy about�the difference in how people see�spending money on video games�verses algebra text books, and how it shouldn't be�any different (of course there was much more to it than that).�It was really enjoyable. I love seeing her speak :-)
The best part of the conference for me was the after hours, late night chats with everyone. Saturday night we had a great one with a great group of people (including Pam). It's so nice to have a whole group of unschoolers to talk to and bounce ideas around with
�
�
<<<<<On the homecoming front, Jerry and I were supposed to be driving home
today but Weird Al Yankovic is playing tonight at the State Fair so
it looks like we'll be staying one more night--Jerry can't stand the
thought of missing it.
I never in my life expected to find myself at a Weird Al concert. Ever.>>>>>
�
�
We saw him at the state fair last year! He was AWESOME!
Meghan
�
Why not go out on a limb? Isn�t that where the fruit is?
~ Frank Scully
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]