My Intro (long...sorry...)
Susan McGlohn
HI!
My name is Susan and we have been
homeschooling/unschooling since October 27, 1989, the
day my daughter was born, but didn't "officially"
begin until 1993. We have three children, ages 12,
10, and 3.
I first discovered John Holt through Nancy Wallace's
book _Better Than School_. It was the first
homeschooling book I read, and I checked that book out
about 10 times the first two years, along with all of
John Holt's books, and books by Dr. Raymond and
Dorothy Moore. Eventually I found a copy of N.W.'s
book on the internet and bought it. By then I had my
own home schooling library started.
I still read Nancy Wallace's books every year, to keep
my resolve fresh and alive.
Although not enitrely unschoolers in the radical
sense, we do lean very far in that direction. The
children decide what they want to study, and we create
units of study based on that. They help decide
activities, select the books, etc. They don't mind
when I suggest and add other aspects to the topics
that perhaps they hadn't thought about, since they
know that "Mom will always come up with fun ideas".
In the past, we have done nature study a'la Charlotte
Mason (sporadically, but heartily), as well as used
her techniques of narration and very short lessons.
We found even that to be too structured, though, and
seemed to take up our time spent on pursuing other
venues.
As the children become older, I don't even do that so
much any more, since their interests have changed.
They still enjoy learning math-related things, and
doing the units based on their interests, and Sarah
reads a lot. Andrew prefers playing games on the
computer and gundams and legos.
I have had trouble finding homeschooling groups where
I actually fit in, since we are Christians who
unschool. It seems that almost all Christians do the
school-at-home route, or classical education route.
Our best groups have been a local inclusive group here
in VA, although even there unschooling is very rare,
and there is a christ-centered unschoolers list on
yahoo that is nice.
But I hope I can be a part of the list here; it would
be wonderful to be able to connect with other HSers
who actually know who John Holt is, and Nancy Wallace,
and what GWS stands for :-)
Anyway, sorry so long, most of my posts won't be this
bad!
Thanks for listening,
=====
Susan c[_]
eclectichomeschooler@...
AOL IM: WifeToVegman
my web page:
http://theeclectichomeschooler.homestead.com/TheEclecticHomeshooler.html
__________________________________________________
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My name is Susan and we have been
homeschooling/unschooling since October 27, 1989, the
day my daughter was born, but didn't "officially"
begin until 1993. We have three children, ages 12,
10, and 3.
I first discovered John Holt through Nancy Wallace's
book _Better Than School_. It was the first
homeschooling book I read, and I checked that book out
about 10 times the first two years, along with all of
John Holt's books, and books by Dr. Raymond and
Dorothy Moore. Eventually I found a copy of N.W.'s
book on the internet and bought it. By then I had my
own home schooling library started.
I still read Nancy Wallace's books every year, to keep
my resolve fresh and alive.
Although not enitrely unschoolers in the radical
sense, we do lean very far in that direction. The
children decide what they want to study, and we create
units of study based on that. They help decide
activities, select the books, etc. They don't mind
when I suggest and add other aspects to the topics
that perhaps they hadn't thought about, since they
know that "Mom will always come up with fun ideas".
In the past, we have done nature study a'la Charlotte
Mason (sporadically, but heartily), as well as used
her techniques of narration and very short lessons.
We found even that to be too structured, though, and
seemed to take up our time spent on pursuing other
venues.
As the children become older, I don't even do that so
much any more, since their interests have changed.
They still enjoy learning math-related things, and
doing the units based on their interests, and Sarah
reads a lot. Andrew prefers playing games on the
computer and gundams and legos.
I have had trouble finding homeschooling groups where
I actually fit in, since we are Christians who
unschool. It seems that almost all Christians do the
school-at-home route, or classical education route.
Our best groups have been a local inclusive group here
in VA, although even there unschooling is very rare,
and there is a christ-centered unschoolers list on
yahoo that is nice.
But I hope I can be a part of the list here; it would
be wonderful to be able to connect with other HSers
who actually know who John Holt is, and Nancy Wallace,
and what GWS stands for :-)
Anyway, sorry so long, most of my posts won't be this
bad!
Thanks for listening,
=====
Susan c[_]
eclectichomeschooler@...
AOL IM: WifeToVegman
my web page:
http://theeclectichomeschooler.homestead.com/TheEclecticHomeshooler.html
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Check out Yahoo! Shopping and Yahoo! Auctions for all of
your unique holiday gifts! Buy at http://shopping.yahoo.com
or bid at http://auctions.yahoo.com
Joseph Fuerst
Hi, I'm another Susan....I'm a Catholic unschooler. So far I've found most
of the Catholic homeschoolers around here are strict school-at-home,
classical bent. And many seem to follow the 'old' church teachings...as in
pre-vatican II.
I've connected with them off and on. I try to focus on the more 'secular'
activities..."field trips" (cringing...it's not MY word !) and a "gym
class" (again, not my choice of wording). These usually benefit us,
overall. And I find if I can get past my own prejudices, many of them are
wonderful, caring people. A few toss out phrases about 'relaxing' about
academics...I wonder if they're closet unschoolers! And many of them have
very large families by today's standards ( i.e., over 5 children) I figure
they must have some at least relaxed standards!
I did find a positive reference about unschooling/John Holt in a Catholic
Homeschool book called "Homeward Bound" (Kimberly Hahn).
I'm sure this was way more than you wanted to know!
Susan
of the Catholic homeschoolers around here are strict school-at-home,
classical bent. And many seem to follow the 'old' church teachings...as in
pre-vatican II.
I've connected with them off and on. I try to focus on the more 'secular'
activities..."field trips" (cringing...it's not MY word !) and a "gym
class" (again, not my choice of wording). These usually benefit us,
overall. And I find if I can get past my own prejudices, many of them are
wonderful, caring people. A few toss out phrases about 'relaxing' about
academics...I wonder if they're closet unschoolers! And many of them have
very large families by today's standards ( i.e., over 5 children) I figure
they must have some at least relaxed standards!
I did find a positive reference about unschooling/John Holt in a Catholic
Homeschool book called "Homeward Bound" (Kimberly Hahn).
I'm sure this was way more than you wanted to know!
Susan
> I have had trouble finding homeschooling groups where
> I actually fit in, since we are Christians who
> unschool. It seems that almost all Christians do the
> school-at-home route, or classical education route.
>
Susan McGlohn
--- Joseph Fuerst <fuerst@...> wrote:
I just *knew* I would find someone here who knew what
I meant.
true unschoolers as friends, most are school-at-homers
or relaxed homeschoolers like I am. I enjoy doing the
"fun" activities with them, but I steer
wwwwwaaaaayyyyy clear of co-ops and formal classes.
I started a "field trips" list on the VAEclectic list,
but it started getting too organized for my taste, so
we left it. Instead of being a "I'm taking the kids
to the zoo, anyone want to go along?" it became a
thing where people would debate about which date was
best for everyone, and started taking polls to see
where the majority wanted to go and when and how.
Anyway, thanks again!
=====
{}
Susan c[__]
eclectichomeschooler@...
AOL IM: WifeToVegman
my web page:
http://theeclectichomeschooler.homestead.com/TheEclecticHomeshooler.html
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Check out Yahoo! Shopping and Yahoo! Auctions for all of
your unique holiday gifts! Buy at http://shopping.yahoo.com
or bid at http://auctions.yahoo.com
> Hi, I'm another Susan....I'm a Catholic unschooler.Thanks for the welcome! <smile>
> So far I've found most
> of the Catholic homeschoolers around here are strict
> school-at-home,
> classical bent. And many seem to follow the 'old'
> church teachings...as in
> pre-vatican II.
I just *knew* I would find someone here who knew what
I meant.
>Oh I know exactly what you mean; I only have a few
> I've connected with them off and on. I try to focus
> on the more 'secular'
> activities..."field trips" (cringing...it's not MY
> word !) and a "gym
> class" (again, not my choice of wording). These
> usually benefit us,
> overall. And I find if I can get past my own
> prejudices, many of them are
> wonderful, caring people.
true unschoolers as friends, most are school-at-homers
or relaxed homeschoolers like I am. I enjoy doing the
"fun" activities with them, but I steer
wwwwwaaaaayyyyy clear of co-ops and formal classes.
I started a "field trips" list on the VAEclectic list,
but it started getting too organized for my taste, so
we left it. Instead of being a "I'm taking the kids
to the zoo, anyone want to go along?" it became a
thing where people would debate about which date was
best for everyone, and started taking polls to see
where the majority wanted to go and when and how.
Anyway, thanks again!
=====
{}
Susan c[__]
eclectichomeschooler@...
AOL IM: WifeToVegman
my web page:
http://theeclectichomeschooler.homestead.com/TheEclecticHomeshooler.html
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Check out Yahoo! Shopping and Yahoo! Auctions for all of
your unique holiday gifts! Buy at http://shopping.yahoo.com
or bid at http://auctions.yahoo.com