Life to the Full
[email protected]
I continue to have this thought as I read and learn more and more about unschooling...that it really is so much the "living life to the full" that Jesus talked about. Living loved and loving others...joy...peace...patience...kindness...and all that good stuff. Does anyone else feel that way? (And I completely expect that there are a variety of faiths represented on the board and I totally respect that...) But if you are a Christian and unschooler, I'm curious to know your thoughts.
Steph
Steph
Damien
> I continue to have this thought as I read and learn more and more about unschooling...that it really is so much the "living life to the full" that Jesus talked about. Living loved and loving others...joy...peace...patience...kindness...and all that good stuff. Does anyone else feel that way? (And I completely expect that there are a variety of faiths represented on the board and I totally respect that...) But if you are a Christian and unschooler, I'm curious to know your thoughts.Yes, I agree! As a Christian, I believe we should be on the forefront of living lives full of "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith," and "doing unto others as we would have them do unto" us. If we are to treat even our enemies with kindness, why on earth not our own children?! It makes me so sad the way Christians in general treat their kids.
>
> Steph
>
I think the difference is that they are seeing it as "religion" instead of relationship. If I were trying to indoctrinate my children with religious beliefs in order to save their souls from hell, I'd probably be pretty uptight about making sure it was pounded into their heads too. But I'm not. I have a relationship with God and because of that love I want to share that relationship with my children. I hope and pray that they will also have a relationship with him, but I can't and wouldn't want to force them to. What I can do is treat her with the same love, grace, and kindness that God treats me with.
Fortunately, I do also see the Christian gentle parenting movement growing. It's not radical unschooling, but it's worlds away from spanking and shaming.
Emily
http://joyfulbreathmag.com/
Natural Christian Living
Emily S
--- In [email protected], "stephanielabarge@..." <stephanielabarge@...> wrote:
I think the difference is that they are seeing it as a "religion" instead of relationship. If I was trying to indoctrinate my kids with religious beliefs to save their soul from hell, I'd probably be pretty uptight about pounding it into their heads too. But I'm not. I have a relationship with God and out of that springs love and joy that I want to share with my childen. I hope and pray that they will also have the same relationship, but I can't and wouldn't want to force them to. What I can do, is treat them with the same love, grace and kindness that God treats me with.
Fortunatly, I do see the Christian gentle parenting movement growing. It's not radical unschooling, but it's worlds away from spanking and shaming.
(I tried to post this earlier not realizing I was on my husband's account, but I don't think it worked. If it did, I apologize for the double post.)
Emily
http://joyfulbreathmag.com/
Natural Christian Living
>I agree! As a Christian, I believe we should be on the forefront of living lives full of "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith," and "doing onto others as we would have them do to us." If we are to treat even our enemies with kindness, why on earth not our children?! It makes me so sad how Christians in general treat their kids.
> I continue to have this thought as I read and learn more and more about unschooling...that it really is so much the "living life to the full" that Jesus talked about. Living loved and loving others...joy...peace...patience...kindness...and all that good stuff. Does anyone else feel that way? (And I completely expect that there are a variety of faiths represented on the board and I totally respect that...) But if you are a Christian and unschooler, I'm curious to know your thoughts.
>
> Steph
I think the difference is that they are seeing it as a "religion" instead of relationship. If I was trying to indoctrinate my kids with religious beliefs to save their soul from hell, I'd probably be pretty uptight about pounding it into their heads too. But I'm not. I have a relationship with God and out of that springs love and joy that I want to share with my childen. I hope and pray that they will also have the same relationship, but I can't and wouldn't want to force them to. What I can do, is treat them with the same love, grace and kindness that God treats me with.
Fortunatly, I do see the Christian gentle parenting movement growing. It's not radical unschooling, but it's worlds away from spanking and shaming.
(I tried to post this earlier not realizing I was on my husband's account, but I don't think it worked. If it did, I apologize for the double post.)
Emily
http://joyfulbreathmag.com/
Natural Christian Living
threegirlmama
== I think the difference is that they are seeing it as a "religion" instead of relationship.==
Absolutely! Religion can be a very harmful thing, and I think that in some cases people are very "abused" by religion, and that's completely the opposite of the life Jesus lived and the example he gave.
I am reading Sandra's "big book", and while there is no mention of Christianity other than her Baptist upbringing, it sure does seem to me that she knows quite a bit about the heart of God and his love for his children, and has lived that out in her own life with her own children. Especially when she talks about rules...because it makes me think about the ten commandments and how they no longer apply to those who are in Christ. It's more like they are the 10 promises, because if we are living as Jesus taught us, "we WILL NOT" do any of those things! There is freedom in Christ!! (this is not my original thought by the way, learned it from Wayne Jacobsen at lifestream.org)
It seems that the awareness of unschooling has come to me at a time when I am also "unchurching", and there seem to be a lot of interesting parallels. Especially the idea that you need someone to "teach you" to follow Jesus. It seems to me that the best way to teach someone to follow Jesus is to just really follow him and live it out. My husband and I have not been attending anywhere regularly for three years after 12 years of being heavily involved and in leadership. We didn't experience any horrible abuse, but we did see quite a lot of it. It just didn't seem to have anything to do with how Jesus taught us to live, and so we decided to just follow him. Anyway, I guess God is showing me a life of freedom outside of institutions of any kind, and it's humbling because I find that the more I learn it seems like there's so much more that I don't know, but that doesn't stop me from asking questions and seeking answers!
Absolutely! Religion can be a very harmful thing, and I think that in some cases people are very "abused" by religion, and that's completely the opposite of the life Jesus lived and the example he gave.
I am reading Sandra's "big book", and while there is no mention of Christianity other than her Baptist upbringing, it sure does seem to me that she knows quite a bit about the heart of God and his love for his children, and has lived that out in her own life with her own children. Especially when she talks about rules...because it makes me think about the ten commandments and how they no longer apply to those who are in Christ. It's more like they are the 10 promises, because if we are living as Jesus taught us, "we WILL NOT" do any of those things! There is freedom in Christ!! (this is not my original thought by the way, learned it from Wayne Jacobsen at lifestream.org)
It seems that the awareness of unschooling has come to me at a time when I am also "unchurching", and there seem to be a lot of interesting parallels. Especially the idea that you need someone to "teach you" to follow Jesus. It seems to me that the best way to teach someone to follow Jesus is to just really follow him and live it out. My husband and I have not been attending anywhere regularly for three years after 12 years of being heavily involved and in leadership. We didn't experience any horrible abuse, but we did see quite a lot of it. It just didn't seem to have anything to do with how Jesus taught us to live, and so we decided to just follow him. Anyway, I guess God is showing me a life of freedom outside of institutions of any kind, and it's humbling because I find that the more I learn it seems like there's so much more that I don't know, but that doesn't stop me from asking questions and seeking answers!
Emily S
--- In [email protected], "threegirlmama" <sdlabarge@...> wrote:
Especially when she talks about rules...because it makes me think about the ten commandments and how they no longer apply to those who are in Christ. It's more like they are the 10 promises, because if we are living as Jesus taught us, "we WILL NOT" do any of those things! There is freedom in Christ!!
>
Just to throw another curve ball in there..... I actually do believe in following not only the 10 commandments, but the rest of the Torah. I'm a Torah observant Christian, which has gotten a pretty bad rap for being "legalistic." But Torah just means "teaching" and out of my love for God, I want to follow his teachings.
It's the same relationship I want to have with my kids. I want them to trust me to give them good advice and come to me for help, because I've shown them that I care about them, listen to them, and support them. I want to be worthy of their love and respect. I want to treat them with kindness and grace whether they are doing what I think they should or not. That's the relationship I have with God, so that's what I want to reflect in my relationships with my kids.
Emily
http://joyfulbreathmag.com/
http://peaceondarknights.blogspot.com/
Susan Steynberg
hi Emily
im in the same posistion as you are, im also seeing the unschooling thru the
eyes of Grace. ive also left my church because it was always about doing
more having more, always reaching and giving and never having.
im now learning about God's Grace. ive unschooled my kids on and off for 5
yrs. sometimes i schooled them at home out of fear and then i see there is
no life then we do some unschooling again. then it seems like peace has
arrived again. my husband does not really agree with unschooling.
Law gives strengh to sin, ive seen that in my oun life and my kids.....
the whole essance is about Christ in u, and Christ in my kids....
Love in christ Susan Steynberg (south africa)
im in the same posistion as you are, im also seeing the unschooling thru the
eyes of Grace. ive also left my church because it was always about doing
more having more, always reaching and giving and never having.
im now learning about God's Grace. ive unschooled my kids on and off for 5
yrs. sometimes i schooled them at home out of fear and then i see there is
no life then we do some unschooling again. then it seems like peace has
arrived again. my husband does not really agree with unschooling.
Law gives strengh to sin, ive seen that in my oun life and my kids.....
the whole essance is about Christ in u, and Christ in my kids....
Love in christ Susan Steynberg (south africa)
On Wed, Apr 21, 2010 at 12:36 AM, threegirlmama <sdlabarge@...> wrote:
>
>
> == I think the difference is that they are seeing it as a "religion"
> instead of relationship.==
>
> Absolutely! Religion can be a very harmful thing, and I think that in some
> cases people are very "abused" by religion, and that's completely the
> opposite of the life Jesus lived and the example he gave.
>
> I am reading Sandra's "big book", and while there is no mention of
> Christianity other than her Baptist upbringing, it sure does seem to me that
> she knows quite a bit about the heart of God and his love for his children,
> and has lived that out in her own life with her own children. Especially
> when she talks about rules...because it makes me think about the ten
> commandments and how they no longer apply to those who are in Christ. It's
> more like they are the 10 promises, because if we are living as Jesus taught
> us, "we WILL NOT" do any of those things! There is freedom in Christ!! (this
> is not my original thought by the way, learned it from Wayne Jacobsen at
> lifestream.org)
>
> It seems that the awareness of unschooling has come to me at a time when I
> am also "unchurching", and there seem to be a lot of interesting parallels.
> Especially the idea that you need someone to "teach you" to follow Jesus. It
> seems to me that the best way to teach someone to follow Jesus is to just
> really follow him and live it out. My husband and I have not been attending
> anywhere regularly for three years after 12 years of being heavily involved
> and in leadership. We didn't experience any horrible abuse, but we did see
> quite a lot of it. It just didn't seem to have anything to do with how Jesus
> taught us to live, and so we decided to just follow him. Anyway, I guess God
> is showing me a life of freedom outside of institutions of any kind, and
> it's humbling because I find that the more I learn it seems like there's so
> much more that I don't know, but that doesn't stop me from asking questions
> and seeking answers!
>
>
>
--
Susan Steynberg
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Sandra Dodd
-=-. sometimes i schooled them at home out of fear and then i see
there is
no life then we do some unschooling again. then it seems like peace has
arrived again. my husband does not really agree with unschooling.-=-
See if there's anything here that would make him feel better:
http://sandradodd.com/dads
The problem with going back and forth between schooling and "some
unschooling" is that you never get to the real, flowing unschooling.
But that's probably not as important as keeping the marriage strong.
So finding ways to help our husband be confident that the children are
learning would be good.
If you can't find other unschoolers to meet, I don't have a great idea
right now. If you were in Europe or the U.S. I'd suggest you get to
something where other unschoolers would be so you could meet some of
the older kids and see how the families interact.
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
there is
no life then we do some unschooling again. then it seems like peace has
arrived again. my husband does not really agree with unschooling.-=-
See if there's anything here that would make him feel better:
http://sandradodd.com/dads
The problem with going back and forth between schooling and "some
unschooling" is that you never get to the real, flowing unschooling.
But that's probably not as important as keeping the marriage strong.
So finding ways to help our husband be confident that the children are
learning would be good.
If you can't find other unschoolers to meet, I don't have a great idea
right now. If you were in Europe or the U.S. I'd suggest you get to
something where other unschoolers would be so you could meet some of
the older kids and see how the families interact.
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]