Unschooling experience today
miriam
I'm still getting cold shivers of nerves about unschooling since we are so new to this. I will suddenly feel that I should be doing something productive (ie educational- yes, I know. . .)with Katy. I get lost in doing something by myself and then think that I'm neglecting her. But when I go to check on her, she's perfectly happy working on something on the computer or playing in her room. I realize that she is reading all the time when she's on the computer and that she doesn't have to be curled in a corner of the couch reading a novel to be "reading."
I have been meaning for ages to get her room painted - especially since I'd let her draw and write on the walls when she was younger. So today we decided to paint her room together. This is not my favorite thing to do and I have painted walls maybe once in my life. We cleared space in her room and cleaned a little. I asked her to help me measure the room for the area (but I didn't make a big deal out of it or make it a lesson in math (yay for me!)figuring that the lesson was that she would see that it was something necessary to be done in the process of painting a room. Then we walked to the paint store down the street and chose our color and bought the supplies and came home.
We got two walls painted and Katy had such fun and really worked hard and didn't goof off or make a mess. I was so pleased with her. She remarked that it always looked so much easier on tv when kids painted and we talked about how tv shows only show the fun parts.
My mother would never have allowed me to help her paint since she wouldn't expect I would do a good job. I didn't really expect Katy to do a good job and she wasn't great at it, but neither am I. I'm so glad we did it together and I can't even begin to enumerate all the things she learned by doing it with me. Thank goodness I don't have to LOL.
I have been meaning for ages to get her room painted - especially since I'd let her draw and write on the walls when she was younger. So today we decided to paint her room together. This is not my favorite thing to do and I have painted walls maybe once in my life. We cleared space in her room and cleaned a little. I asked her to help me measure the room for the area (but I didn't make a big deal out of it or make it a lesson in math (yay for me!)figuring that the lesson was that she would see that it was something necessary to be done in the process of painting a room. Then we walked to the paint store down the street and chose our color and bought the supplies and came home.
We got two walls painted and Katy had such fun and really worked hard and didn't goof off or make a mess. I was so pleased with her. She remarked that it always looked so much easier on tv when kids painted and we talked about how tv shows only show the fun parts.
My mother would never have allowed me to help her paint since she wouldn't expect I would do a good job. I didn't really expect Katy to do a good job and she wasn't great at it, but neither am I. I'm so glad we did it together and I can't even begin to enumerate all the things she learned by doing it with me. Thank goodness I don't have to LOL.
Mel
" and Katy had such fun and really worked hard and didn't goof off or make a mess. I was so pleased with her. "
Hi Miriam,
Its really wonderful that you and Katy took on a room painting task. I'm just struggling with the above statement that you made. From the statement it seems that Katy had four outcomes to meet. I'm not saying that you purposely set these standards however you were pleased with Katy because "she had fun, worked hard, didn't goof off and hadn't made a mess". Out of curiosity, if Katy had experienced any of those things differently, how would your feelings of the painting project and with Katy been affected?
Mel
Hi Miriam,
Its really wonderful that you and Katy took on a room painting task. I'm just struggling with the above statement that you made. From the statement it seems that Katy had four outcomes to meet. I'm not saying that you purposely set these standards however you were pleased with Katy because "she had fun, worked hard, didn't goof off and hadn't made a mess". Out of curiosity, if Katy had experienced any of those things differently, how would your feelings of the painting project and with Katy been affected?
Mel
carnationsgalore
> I'm still getting cold shivers of nerves about unschooling sinceYes, I well remember the uncertainty of stepping away from the way I was raised to think of everything in terms of school or not school.
> we are so new to this. I will suddenly feel that I should be doing
> something productive (ie educational- yes, I know. . .)with Katy.
> I get lost in doing something by myself and then think that I'mHaving your own interests is great, but don't forget to spend time with Katy. How old is she? Do you do her favorite things with her, like playing on the computer or whatever else she is doing in her room?
> neglecting her. But when I go to check on her, she's perfectly
> happy working on something on the computer or playing in her room.
> I didn't really expect Katy to do a good job and she wasn't greatDon't think of it as either way. What would happen if the paint job had not turned out the way you intended? Shortly after we moved into our current home, the kids were 6, 8 and 13. They helped paint nearly all the walls in our house. The paint colors have changed several times over the years except in my bathroom. My youngest dd painted around the tub, near the baseboards, and as far up the door frame as she could reach. The paint does not look like a professional did it, and it never occurred to me that it should. I smile when I'm in the tub and see the paint line all over in some places. It reminds of a very happy moment. If we ever put our house up for sale, I'm sure we'll be repainting rooms (some are definitely not house sale colors) and we'll take care to make them look as professional as we can. But for now, this is our home and we can have it look however we want. :)
> at it, but neither am I.
Beth M.
Joanna
>That's great that you are stepping away from the expectations and limits of how you were parented--congratulations!! It sounds like you are trying to find a kinder and gentler way to be with your daughter, and with yourself. Treating our children with more respect and tenderness than we were shown can cause such profound healing in ourselves--it creates more peace in the world, a few hearts at a time. Mothers can literally change the world, and we are through unschooling!
> "My mother would never have allowed me to help her paint since she wouldn't expect I would do a good job. I didn't really expect Katy to do a good job and she wasn't great at it, but neither am I. I'm so glad we did it together and I can't even begin to enumerate all the things she learned by doing it with me. Thank goodness I don't have to LOL."
Joanna
>
Sandra Dodd
Paint is so overrated, too. <g> It's just paint.
Except for all that lead-based paint that caused so much brain damage
and sorrow to so many people for so many years, before kids had good,
safe, plastic toys and houses could be painted with acrylic paint
instead of oil-based and lead-containing.
Kirby was sick on the couch once when he was little. Keith and I were
painting the front room yellow, and talking to Kirby who was kinda
listless and feverish, sleeping and walking.
Keith and I went into the kitchen, just the next room, and Kirby got
up and painted while we were gone. Bummer he was painting the black
shelf yellow. But we didn't get mad at him. I kinda wish we had left
it yellow, though. We moved that shelf from the other house and we
still have it.
A friend of mine worked (probably still does) for the city of
Philadelphia, and used to answer his work phone this way: "Childhood
Lead Poisoning."
It sounded as though they were in the business of doing that, by his
cheery tone and confidence, rather than that they were engaged in
helping regulate the clean-up of old houses before resale and check
kids for exposure to lead.
Sandra
Except for all that lead-based paint that caused so much brain damage
and sorrow to so many people for so many years, before kids had good,
safe, plastic toys and houses could be painted with acrylic paint
instead of oil-based and lead-containing.
Kirby was sick on the couch once when he was little. Keith and I were
painting the front room yellow, and talking to Kirby who was kinda
listless and feverish, sleeping and walking.
Keith and I went into the kitchen, just the next room, and Kirby got
up and painted while we were gone. Bummer he was painting the black
shelf yellow. But we didn't get mad at him. I kinda wish we had left
it yellow, though. We moved that shelf from the other house and we
still have it.
A friend of mine worked (probably still does) for the city of
Philadelphia, and used to answer his work phone this way: "Childhood
Lead Poisoning."
It sounded as though they were in the business of doing that, by his
cheery tone and confidence, rather than that they were engaged in
helping regulate the clean-up of old houses before resale and check
kids for exposure to lead.
Sandra