k

>>>I did need to get used to the style though, which is why I think the advice you get as a new member, to read for a few months(?) before you post, is very worthwhile. Also reading up on subjects that are of interest for your own situation on the web site is very helpful, and many questions can be answered by that, without even posting.<<<

Yes it's worthwhile to read the archives! Also when you can find the
time to, reading Joyce Fetteroll and Sandra Dodd's websites:
http://sandradodd.com and http://joyfullyrejoycing.com

The email list is a lot of reading. Following new threads is good but
old ones are, in a way, more productive for someone like me who wants
to see what happens without having to wait and wade through new stuff
everyday. The archives have already happened, so they are incredibly
helpful and the new stuff coming down the pipe (believe me) is about
9/10ths a repetition of what has gone before on the list.

One of things I've learned on this email list about unschooling is
that human nature is a very determinedly steady indicator of what will
happen on the list, and that's why we see the same questions being
posted over and over again. Go look in the archives. Almost everything
one can think to ask about unschooling has been asked already. The
search function is ok and better than it was when I started reading
the list. It's been improved.

Hint: to see all of a thread, there's a link at the top of the
messages so that threads appear either in the time each post was
posted or grouped by topics. Click "Group by Topic" and save yourself
the trouble of losing half or more of the threads you're reading and
so that you can see the progression of the thread you're on.

The websites are great because topics are already right there in the
margins to click on. You're already reading online by being on an
email list. And reading on a website though different can be
productive in other ways.

I spent loads of time reading. Otherwise being discouraged isn't hard
for someone who has almost no support in the community except
incidentally for unschooling. What I'm doing isn't like anything the
people around me are doing, for the most part. There are elements of
it in gentle parenting, but unschooling goes beyond gentle parenting
by supporting a child's interests in ways that really push the
envelope.

In particular, I hardly ever meet people other than unschoolers who
are so pro-vidgame/tv, etc. Most people are decidedly anti. It's hard
to imagine a more comprehensive learning resource, and NOT using seems
incredibly wasteful unless one's child isn't interested of course. But
mine definitely is interested. If I weren't reading and hadn't read
for a long time all the information about how great such a resource
is, I could easily be led to think I'm not doing the right thing to
let Karl delve into such an interest to such a degree as he has. He's
very knowledgeable about so many things due to that interest. Things
which sometimes wows him and other times he takes for granted. Things
I can't take for granted and still appreciate the thing that
unschooling is.

Same thing goes in particular with food. Most people are not very
relaxed about food consumption for their children. It either must all
be eaten or only certain things are allowed. But unschooling isn't
about how much or what to eat. It's about what the child, the person
whose range of choice unschooling can enhance considerably. I have
only one non-unschooling friend who is friendly about food and choice
for her children (and others). Right, I don't have lots of friends but
among the friends I have, only one is generous about food choice in
the family. :) Pretty much everybody else seems to be about
restriction for everyone. The opinionated ones raise eyebrows about
Karl's eating choices if it's not "good" for children or assume that I
chose his food if he eats what they think of as "good" food.

Unschooling is not a difficult concept, even if at first blush a
parent doesn't agree with it. What's difficult is knowing how to
support unschooling for one's own unique child. It took a lot of
reading and doing and experiencing the effects of it in our own family
to figure out the nuts and bolts of unschooling, what it is, what it
does, how to do it. I've been reading for over 5 years about
unschooling. I'm still learning about things I can do better.

Read the archives. If you don't know where to start, click on what
interests you. Or click on topics about tv, video games, food, etc.
Those are always hot topics full of juicy unschooling info and how to.

I also like these randomized links for daily inspiration:

http://joyfullyrejoycing.com/ (click "go to random page")
http://sandradodd.com/random

~Katherine, going now to read more of the webpages & archives

Sandra Dodd

-=-Unschooling is not a difficult concept, even if at first blush a
parent doesn't agree with it. What's difficult is knowing how to
support unschooling for one's own unique child. It took a lot of
reading and doing and experiencing the effects of it in our own family
to figure out the nuts and bolts of unschooling, what it is, what it
does, how to do it. I've been reading for over 5 years about
unschooling. I'm still learning about things I can do better-=-


It's simple, but it's not easy.
(I lifted that line from my friend Frank Aon. I like it.)

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