Jill Parmer

Today, I listened to a blog radio interview from the Unschoolers
Winter Waterpark Gathering. The interviewee was Ruth Radney, from
Ohio. I've not heard of her before, but no matter. In the interview
a caller asked her what the difference was between homeschooling and
unschooling. Her answer was lengthy, but the gist of it was...

Unschooling is a way of homeschooling.
Every family/child/child's learning is different.
Some like textbooks, to spend their time at the kitchen table or at
little desks, prefer mixing textbooks with more relaxed time, online
curriculum.
There are as many different ways to homeschool as there are families.
The only things she said about unschooling was, "Unschooling is just
in some ways more relaxed but also I think just as labor intensive as
far as parental involvement providing opportunities for learning.
Just a different approach with maybe fewer textbooks. There are some
unschoolers who prefer textbooks so that the children can choose what
works best for them."

Her answer didn't give me much of a difference between homeschooling
and unschooling. From this, I can see where some people give their
kids breaks from the kitchen table or textbooks and say that they
unschool, and thus misconceptions about unschooling, I think.

There were some cute stories of kids making connections, and parents
helping their kids with their interests, and one of a kid saying, no
mom, I don't want any more lessons, I want to poke around on the
piano how I'm doing it. It definitely wasn't radical unschooling,
the interviewee suggested limiting time if your kids spend too much
time doing something and lose track of time.

Interview here...
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/parenting/2009/02/04/Unschooling-Live-at-
UWWG

If that cuts off.. try this.

~Jill




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Nicole Willoughby

It definitely wasn't radical unschooling,

the interviewee suggested limiting time if your kids spend too much

time doing something and lose track of time.

>>>>>>

I have to wonder what she means by limiting time because they loose track of time . Force them to stop because its  :eyeball roll: surely an addiction? Make them stop for a while because something else has to be done?

I had to limit Court's time on WOW today because we had to go pick up her brother from school. We just moved and I don't know any neighbors yet that i could call to check on her or she could go running to if there was a problem . Its a good 15 minute drive to the school so if she were to call me I couldn't just dash home so I just dont feel ok leaving a 9 year old home alone in the current situation.

Knowing she hates transition ...what kid dosent when they have to stop doing something they love ?...I made it as pleasant as possible for her. I gave her a few warnings ... 30 minutes left ..ok you are down to 5 and need to get where you can log out ...and asked if she wanted me to grab anything for her to take like her ipod.

I see sometimes having to limit time on something as a necessary part of being part of a family.

Nicole

Never play with hot lava in the house ~Alyssa,5




--- On Wed, 2/4/09, Jill Parmer <jparmer@...> wrote:
From: Jill Parmer <jparmer@...>
Subject: [AlwaysLearning] Misconceptions about unschooling
To: [email protected]
Date: Wednesday, February 4, 2009, 9:57 PM












Today, I listened to a blog radio interview from the Unschoolers

Winter Waterpark Gathering. The interviewee was Ruth Radney, from

Ohio. I've not heard of her before, but no matter. In the interview

a caller asked her what the difference was between homeschooling and

unschooling. Her answer was lengthy, but the gist of it was...



Unschooling is a way of homeschooling.

Every family/child/ child's learning is different.

Some like textbooks, to spend their time at the kitchen table or at

little desks, prefer mixing textbooks with more relaxed time, online

curriculum.

There are as many different ways to homeschool as there are families.

The only things she said about unschooling was, "Unschooling is just

in some ways more relaxed but also I think just as labor intensive as

far as parental involvement providing opportunities for learning.

Just a different approach with maybe fewer textbooks. There are some

unschoolers who prefer textbooks so that the children can choose what

works best for them."



Her answer didn't give me much of a difference between homeschooling

and unschooling. From this, I can see where some people give their

kids breaks from the kitchen table or textbooks and say that they

unschool, and thus misconceptions about unschooling, I think.



There were some cute stories of kids making connections, and parents

helping their kids with their interests, and one of a kid saying, no

mom, I don't want any more lessons, I want to poke around on the

piano how I'm doing it. It definitely wasn't radical unschooling,

the interviewee suggested limiting time if your kids spend too much

time doing something and lose track of time.



Interview here...

http://www.blogtalk radio.com/ parenting/ 2009/02/04/ Unschooling- Live-at-

UWWG



If that cuts off.. try this.



~Jill



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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]