balance and unschooling
Sandra Dodd
All of what's below is gemlike and has been added to the unschooling
nest page
http://sandradodd.com/nest
It also touches excellently on the idea of balance which stumps so
many new unschoolers. I'll response to this with more about that.
Those quoted are Schuyler (the first quote) and Joanna:
====================================
-=-Candy fed with love beats the heck out of broccoli eaten out of
fear. And my kids like broccoli even in the face of a jar filled with
candy and a drawer filled with snacks. Television watched as a family,
altogether talking about Shirley Valentine or giant squids or Sandy
the Squirrel and living as an astronaut under the sea, well that's so
amazing, it's so many kinds of connection and conversation and joy,
whatever fear you live with isn't anything against the absolute
pleasure of hanging out together that I've got with my kids.-=-
This is the heart of the matter for me--all the discussion about
whether sugar is good or bad, or whether t.v. is good or bad takes the
focus away from unschooling and sets my head reeling. The grounding
force is the relationship with my children. And that's something that
happens in the moment--in many moments. Will the moments be made of
fear and control, or will they be made of something more connecting,
with substance and trust that they have real thinking brains?
People want to look at these issues as though there are only two
options: free reign or limit. Black or white thinking. There is a
whole world of conversation and relationship with your children
between the two extremes. And that's where unschooling lives--a child
exploring their world in connection with a parent.
Are you going to be a parent who enlarges your child's world and helps
them to find their own power and hone their decision making and
critical thinking abilities, or will you be a parent who limits and
closes down your child's world and imposes your own ideas of right and
wrong.
Stand WITH your child to navigate these issues, not in their way. The
more you let them make important decisions, the more they will think
them through and strive to make good ones for themselves.
Joanna
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
nest page
http://sandradodd.com/nest
It also touches excellently on the idea of balance which stumps so
many new unschoolers. I'll response to this with more about that.
Those quoted are Schuyler (the first quote) and Joanna:
====================================
-=-Candy fed with love beats the heck out of broccoli eaten out of
fear. And my kids like broccoli even in the face of a jar filled with
candy and a drawer filled with snacks. Television watched as a family,
altogether talking about Shirley Valentine or giant squids or Sandy
the Squirrel and living as an astronaut under the sea, well that's so
amazing, it's so many kinds of connection and conversation and joy,
whatever fear you live with isn't anything against the absolute
pleasure of hanging out together that I've got with my kids.-=-
This is the heart of the matter for me--all the discussion about
whether sugar is good or bad, or whether t.v. is good or bad takes the
focus away from unschooling and sets my head reeling. The grounding
force is the relationship with my children. And that's something that
happens in the moment--in many moments. Will the moments be made of
fear and control, or will they be made of something more connecting,
with substance and trust that they have real thinking brains?
People want to look at these issues as though there are only two
options: free reign or limit. Black or white thinking. There is a
whole world of conversation and relationship with your children
between the two extremes. And that's where unschooling lives--a child
exploring their world in connection with a parent.
Are you going to be a parent who enlarges your child's world and helps
them to find their own power and hone their decision making and
critical thinking abilities, or will you be a parent who limits and
closes down your child's world and imposes your own ideas of right and
wrong.
Stand WITH your child to navigate these issues, not in their way. The
more you let them make important decisions, the more they will think
them through and strive to make good ones for themselves.
Joanna
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]