cindyjsowers

I just wanted to post my experience of the past couple days in helping my kids pursue an interest of theirs which led to ME learning stuff I didn't think was even remotely possible a week ago. I have 2 boys, 10 and 7, who are INTENSELY interested in all things Pokemon. This isn't a passing fancy, but has held their interest for at least 2 years. It started with first watching the cartoon, then getting the GBA and then the Nintendo DS (we now have the newest DSIs as well), and finding as many used and new Pokemon games for Gameboy and DS as were available, playing those games for so many hours, that you might think that was all they did for 2 years :) Pouring through the manuals, collecting sticker books and cards, and all sorts of toys, etc. Well, this week, suddenly it was proclaimed that it was finished, that all the games had been played to the furthest extent possible and nothing more could be done (one boy had obtained Action Replay, used all the cheats, all sorts of cheats had been researched on-line, including watching countless Youtube videos on this topic, etc.). It was announced to me by youngest boy that the only thing to be done was for us to create our own Pokemon game! He tells me "hacking Pokemon" must be learned immediately. I am not a techie by any stretch. The thought of figuring this out, for me, was daunting, to say the least. Frankly, I was tempted to crawl under my chair and hide. DH is the tech guy in this family, but he is at work during the day, and kids were chomping at the bit for this information early in the a.m. I didn't think I would be able to make it through an entire day with their intense desire unless I figured out a way to get past my comfort zone. I was really not sure at all that I would be able to figure out any of it, and I told them going in that I would try my best, but didn't think I could make any promises as to outcome. Well, we all sat around the computer and for about 6 hours, we researched everything we could find on hacking Pokemon. The kids mostly watched "tutorial" youtubes and helped me find sites, etc. At the start, I seriously didn't even know what hacking was, much less think it was possible. But, we now have quite a lot of folders with things called "emulations," "ROMs," "ISP files, "ISP patches" and others called "Advanced Map" and "Advanced Text." We spent last night playing the hacks we could find (lots seem to be in Spanish and I was informed on one youtube tutorial that if we couldn't figure out the Spanish, then we were too stupid to attempt to make hacks :) ) to get a feel for what other people had done, and tonight the guys are writing their own versions using the map and text things we got, and we have offered to help 2 of their friends get started on this so we all have something to talk about. By the end of my night last night, my brain felt so fried, I didn't think I could ever have another thought. Anyway, I just wanted to say, for anyone who feels overwhelmed by their kids' desire for more and more technical information, if you can be a little bit calm about it, it's amazing what you can find these days that didn't even exist, say, last year. It's just amazing. Not too long ago, I would have guaranteed you that there was no way possible I could figure any of this stuff out. There are so many people willing to share their information via websites, youtubes, etc., that if your kids have an interest that is way out of your comfort zone, you can probably still figure out the basic stuff, and with that, the whole thing just explodes. With the internet, there is certainly a lot of garbage out there, but there are also people, like people on this list, who are intensely interested in passing along the things that they are passionate about, have learned, the problems that they have encountered and roads not to take, intended to inform and take the scary stuff out of learning something new. It's really, truly, amazing.

Cindy

Sandra Dodd

-=-With the internet, there is certainly a lot of garbage out there,
but there are also people, like people on this list, who are intensely
interested in passing along the things that they are passionate about,
have learned, the problems that they have encountered and roads not to
take, intended to inform and take the scary stuff out of learning
something new. It's really, truly, amazing. -=-

The random quotes generators and the random link generators were all
out there, free, and explained, for people who were sharing them just
to be nice.

There are all sorts of tutorials on making web pages do various
things, and there's been clip art freely available since before
websites did much at all.

On YouTube there are also people showing how to play various
instruments, which is wonderful.

There are cooking shows (small and large) out there too. There's a
series of depression-era recipes (anyone have that link or want to
find it?) and I think it's about the coolest thing EVER that people
can share their knowledge, large and small.


Here's where I showed people how to shell eggs instead of peeling them:
http://sandradodd.blogspot.com/2008/07/umbrellas-and-eggs.html

I think the internet makes unschooling easy and wonderful.

Sandra



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

Jenny C

" I have 2 boys, 10 and 7, who are INTENSELY interested in all things
Pokemon. This isn't a passing fancy, but has held their interest for at
least 2 years. "

I LOVE Pokemon stories! Pokemon was so huge in my daughter's life. It
led to everything that she's into now. She still holds a special place
in her heart for all things Pokemon. She seems to connect with others
that were the same way, even if they aren't now still into Pokemon.

Like your kids, Pokemon was such an intense passion for my daughter. It
led to other anime, other manga, pets, video games, fashion, Japanese
culture, horror movies, make-up, music. Like branches of a tree, it
kept sprouting out new ideas and interests. That one passion evolved
and changed and grew up with my daughter.

It's amazing how one seemingly small passion can evolve into something
huge and life changing that leads to everything else in the world! I
love this about unschooling, EVERYthing counts, especially the seemingly
small things!

cindyjsowers

--- In [email protected], Sandra Dodd <Sandra@...> wrote:

-- The random quotes generators and the random link generators were all out there, free, and explained, for people who were sharing them just to be nice.

Sandra, speaking of -- when I go to your page and select "randomize me" I only get "Art by Bo King," so either this is something I seriously need to be aware of (I'm an artist, I have considered the possibility that this is true :) ) or there is a glitch? Just wanted to let you know. You may have addressed this before and I am just not aware of it.


----I think the internet makes unschooling easy and wonderful.


I agree, though easy to find out about, and certainly EASIER to apply than years ago because of the above, but not ALWAYS EASY to apply, because, at least *I* am "always learning" :). It can't be spoon fed to you. You actually have to make the effort. But thanks for being one of the 2 or 3 people whose pages I can resonnate with, for bothering at all (because you really don't HAVE to, right?) to put all that time and effort into conveying this information, bothering to learn how to put up a web page, making it usable and useful, and for inspiring other people to do the same. I am not sure why people are willing to share all they know with the world, given the massive time expenditure involved, but I am glad and thankful that they do :)

Cindy

cindyjsowers

--- In [email protected], "Jenny C" <jenstarc4@...> wrote:


--- Like your kids, Pokemon was such an intense passion for my daughter. It led to other anime, other manga, pets, video games, fashion, Japanese culture, horror movies, make-up, music. Like branches of a tree, it kept sprouting out new ideas and interests. That one passion evolved and changed and grew up with my daughter.


When I first watched the first Pokemon cartoon, I seriously could have taken it or left it. When dh got me my own DS for a mother's day gift and the kids got me Pokemon Diamond, I was just kind of, "okay, I'll try it," but not expecting too much. About 44 hours of playing time later (in one week) I was still baffled as to how these rather uninteresting graphics-wise (to me) little people could be that compelling. I STILL don't totally get it, but my kids at this moment are designing their own games and have just realized how in the world a "glitch" could happen, and how much work it must have been to put together a complete working game. I hate filing stuff with the state, but wonder if I could just put down that our intent for the entire year is simply "all things Pokemon"? :), because that's the world I want to live in.

Cindy

tmissinne

Deacon, who's four, just discovered Pokemon about two weeks ago. It's
fun for me, as I wasn't allowed tv, computers, video games, fiction (and
many other things) as a child. We played 20 hours of the gamecube
pokemon last week, some of which I would have had a hard time figuring
out if it weren't for wonderful people who write incredibly detailed
walkthroughs online. Right now we're watching the very first pokemon
series which we got from Netflix. In the first episode pikachu gets
injured, Deacon had to go hide in the bedroom while I waited to see if
Pikachu was going to be ok! I have to admit that I'm hoping this
interest hangs on for awhile, because it's fun for me. Plus I've wanted
to learn hacking ever since I read 'Little brother' (great teen fiction
scifi)! Trisha
--- In [email protected], "cindyjsowers" <cindyjsowers@...>
wrote:
>
> --- In [email protected], "Jenny C" jenstarc4@ wrote:
>
>
> --- Like your kids, Pokemon was such an intense passion for my
daughter. It led to other anime, other manga, pets, video games,
fashion, Japanese culture, horror movies, make-up, music. Like branches
of a tree, it kept sprouting out new ideas and interests. That one
passion evolved and changed and grew up with my daughter.
>
>
> When I first watched the first Pokemon cartoon, I seriously could have
taken it or left it. When dh got me my own DS for a mother's day gift
and the kids got me Pokemon Diamond, I was just kind of, "okay, I'll try
it," but not expecting too much. About 44 hours of playing time later
(in one week) I was still baffled as to how these rather uninteresting
graphics-wise (to me) little people could be that compelling. I STILL
don't totally get it, but my kids at this moment are designing their own
games and have just realized how in the world a "glitch" could happen,
and how much work it must have been to put together a complete working
game. I hate filing stuff with the state, but wonder if I could just
put down that our intent for the entire year is simply "all things
Pokemon"? :), because that's the world I want to live in.
>
> Cindy
>



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

Sandra Dodd

-=-But thanks for being one of the 2 or 3 people whose pages I can
resonnate with, for bothering at all (because you really don't HAVE
to, right?) to put all that time and effort into conveying this
information, bothering to learn how to put up a web page, making it
usable and useful, and for inspiring other people to do the same. -=-

Thanks. True, I don't have to, though the first few years (I forget
if the deal I had made with myself was three years or four) I was
doing as penance for having talked my cousin, Nada, out of
homeschooling her oldest son, Paul. I was studying to be a teacher
and was SURE school was IT on a stick and that school reform was
surely about to make the garden of Eden out of the wasteland that
school was clearly becoming.

ooops.

So when I started unschooling I called Nada and said "I was so wrong,
and it's easy and it's legal. Unfortunately, by then Paul was about
to be out of school, or was out. She took one of his younger
brothers out that week. I felt HORRIBLE, and rightly so. So I
resolved that as penance for having prevented a family of five kids
from having been homeschooled, I had to go out and try to save at
least five kids from being schooled.

Then after a while I was just having fun, and meeting other
unschoolers I really enjoyed working with (online, in our word-work),
and here I still am.

When this year started I made a resolution to do more, and I have
been. I figure I should make my site really solid and useful enough
that it will be helpful after I'm gone, and I should encourage others
to help freely too. I don't want anyone to have to pay money to learn
to unschool, nor to feel they have to give someone money to help them
out.

Sandra

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

MrsStranahan

>
>
>
> ----There are cooking shows (small and large) out there too. There's a
> series of depression-era recipes (anyone have that link or want to
> find it?) and I think it's about the coolest thing EVER that people
> can share their knowledge, large and small.----
>







Do you mean Clara? She has a whole series on YouTube. I think her son made
the videos. Really sweet.

http://www.youtube.com/user/DepressionCooking

Lauren


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

[email protected]

Ooooo Lauren! Thank you. My grandmother was a depression era cook. I
have always wished I could have learned more from her. Her husband was
my Grandpa Hoyle who I've talked about before. He could cook simple
dishes yummy and it was always fun because he was such a hoot.

By the way, I loved that video about shelling eggs, Sandra. Now I
know. I did that for Karl tonight, and it was perfectly easy. Talk
about take the chore out of boiled eggs. It's fun.

~Katherine




On Apr 23, 2009, at 8:45 PM, MrsStranahan wrote:

>>
>>
>>
>> ----There are cooking shows (small and large) out there too. There's a
>> series of depression-era recipes (anyone have that link or want to
>> find it?) and I think it's about the coolest thing EVER that people
>> can share their knowledge, large and small.----
>>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Do you mean Clara? She has a whole series on YouTube. I think her son
> made
> the videos. Really sweet.
>
> http://www.youtube.com/user/DepressionCooking
>
> Lauren
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>

[email protected]

Oh I think I'm like this too due to lots of things being off limits
when I was a kid. Talk about increasing the value of something by
making it artificially scarce!

~Katherine


On Apr 23, 2009, at 7:06 PM, tmissinne wrote:

> Deacon, who's four, just discovered Pokemon about two weeks ago. It's
> fun for me, as I wasn't allowed tv, computers, video games, fiction
> (and
> many other things) as a child.

Jenny C

It's
> fun for me, as I wasn't allowed tv, computers, video games, fiction
(and
> many other things) as a child.

Wow, no fiction? That really fascinates me. I'm always surprised at
the things that parents have forbidden their children to know and be
exposed to. I lived a pretty sheltered life growing up and consequently
was pretty naive about a lot of things.

I don't think that was very helpful for finding and marrying a partner.
I think perhaps it was assumed I'd find a partner through the narrow
confines of the world that my parents had created for me, but that isn't
reality. I went to college in an inner city university with thousands
of people that were different from me. I met one person in all that
time in college that was like me and her father was a pastor.

I love that my children get to meet lots of people and are used to being
around people that are different than them and know different things and
think differently and live differently. They are much less judgemental
than I am! It's something that I've had to work hard to not be and it
still hangs over me from my own childhood sometimes. Chamille is often
a compass for me about these things.

I have to admit that I'm hoping this
> interest hangs on for awhile, because it's fun for me. Plus I've
wanted
> to learn hacking ever since I read 'Little brother' (great teen
fiction
> scifi)! Trisha

It's fun when interests hang in for a while, and you can watch them
evolve and change and grow! It may not turn into hacking at all, it
could evolve into some other cool interest. I love how that works, to
see kids naturally absorb all that they love and add to it and gather
new ideas and pick up from this or that and pick up new interests from
the long time ones. It's partly why I love Pokemon stories, because
they are all different, yet they have that one thing in common.