Reading, why, and what (and how many times)
Sandra Dodd
The other day I quoted from my book worship page on my daily Just Add Light and Stir blog. Someone linked it on facebook, and a tussle ensued over someone bragging that she had never watched an entire movie, nor a youtube video, but only liked to read books. I suggested someone who came to such a discussion claiming never to have finished a single book might not be qualified to discuss comparisons, and so I got jumped. :-) Didn't get hurt.
Today this popped up, totally unrelated to that other discussion, and it's interesting.
http://psychcentral.com/news/2011/04/25/reading-fulfills-need-for-belonging/25610.html
It's a brief article on a site called psychcentral.com that says when people read and they identify with the characters, it fulfills the need for association. (They didn't use that word; I am.)
==================
If you ask someone why they read, the response is usually to learn, or as an escape from the everyday routine of life. New research finds reading does much more than �merely� educate or entertain.
Psychologist Dr. Shira Gabriel studied how reading appears to foster a human connection � that is, as we read we become a part of the community described in the narrative � even when the text is set in a fictional fantasy land. This connection appears to satisfy the deeply human, and evolutionarily crucial, need for belonging.
....
�[B]belonging� to these fictional communities delivered the same mood and life satisfaction people get from affiliation with real-life groups.
According to the researchers, the study shows that reading is not just for escape or education, but helps to fulfill a deep psychological need.
==================
That's the beginning and the end of it. It's not long in between.
So escape. No problem for me. But imaginary friends? Yeah, I've wished I was really in a book. Is that super healthy? Not too bad, but I'm even less interested now in having book-focussed people tell me that a child who's watching a movie with real-life friends would be better off reading a book full of imaginary friends.
The good news is people can do both. :-)
I've created a new page for some writing Frank Maier did, and will add to it about people watching things twice. It opens with sound, so if others are asleep, turn your volume down.
http://sandradodd.com/again
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Today this popped up, totally unrelated to that other discussion, and it's interesting.
http://psychcentral.com/news/2011/04/25/reading-fulfills-need-for-belonging/25610.html
It's a brief article on a site called psychcentral.com that says when people read and they identify with the characters, it fulfills the need for association. (They didn't use that word; I am.)
==================
If you ask someone why they read, the response is usually to learn, or as an escape from the everyday routine of life. New research finds reading does much more than �merely� educate or entertain.
Psychologist Dr. Shira Gabriel studied how reading appears to foster a human connection � that is, as we read we become a part of the community described in the narrative � even when the text is set in a fictional fantasy land. This connection appears to satisfy the deeply human, and evolutionarily crucial, need for belonging.
....
�[B]belonging� to these fictional communities delivered the same mood and life satisfaction people get from affiliation with real-life groups.
According to the researchers, the study shows that reading is not just for escape or education, but helps to fulfill a deep psychological need.
==================
That's the beginning and the end of it. It's not long in between.
So escape. No problem for me. But imaginary friends? Yeah, I've wished I was really in a book. Is that super healthy? Not too bad, but I'm even less interested now in having book-focussed people tell me that a child who's watching a movie with real-life friends would be better off reading a book full of imaginary friends.
The good news is people can do both. :-)
I've created a new page for some writing Frank Maier did, and will add to it about people watching things twice. It opens with sound, so if others are asleep, turn your volume down.
http://sandradodd.com/again
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
lizarosegottlieb
And it's not just in fiction that one can find "friends." This post has helped me understand my MIL a little bit better. She is very print-centric. When she reads author's books, I have the distinct feeling she is becoming a peer of theirs. She also has stacks of New Yorkers, Science Journals, Review of Books, Nation Geographics, Saveurs... she is hard pressed to let them go. Now I see it's a bit like having all these people hanging out in her house. A quiet, one-sided cocktail party, if you will. Sure, they're all writing non-fiction, but it's escape on some level, nonetheless. -which is not to say its bad! Just good to notice. Open the flow...
... and here's something else: she, my 8 yo daughter, and I have been watching Lark Rise to Candleford together - ! Talk about sharing a group of friends! MIL keeps mentioning how we're passing on our anglophile heritage to my daughter...
Liza Rose
... and here's something else: she, my 8 yo daughter, and I have been watching Lark Rise to Candleford together - ! Talk about sharing a group of friends! MIL keeps mentioning how we're passing on our anglophile heritage to my daughter...
Liza Rose
--- In [email protected], Sandra Dodd <Sandra@...> wrote:
>
> ==================
> If you ask someone why they read, the response is usually to learn, or as an escape from the everyday routine of life. New research finds reading does much more than "merely" educate or entertain.
> Psychologist Dr. Shira Gabriel studied how reading appears to foster a human connection that is, as we read we become a part of the community described in the narrative even when the text is set in a fictional fantasy land. This connection appears to satisfy the deeply human, and evolutionarily crucial, need for belonging.
>
> ....
>
> "[B]belonging" to these fictional communities delivered the same mood and life satisfaction people get from affiliation with real-life groups.
>
> According to the researchers, the study shows that reading is not just for escape or education, but helps to fulfill a deep psychological need.
>
> ==================
>
> That's the beginning and the end of it. It's not long in between.
>
> So escape. No problem for me. But imaginary friends? Yeah, I've wished I was really in a book. Is that super healthy? Not too bad, but I'm even less interested now in having book-focussed people tell me that a child who's watching a movie with real-life friends would be better off reading a book full of imaginary friends.
>
Sandra Dodd
-=-she, my 8 yo daughter, and I have been watching Lark Rise to Candleford together - ! Talk about sharing a group of friends! MIL keeps mentioning how we're passing on our anglophile heritage to my daughter...-=-
Hey, I'm an anglophiliac. I didn't know about this series. Netflix has complaints that people can't get the disks fast enough. I'll be in the UK in a few weeks and will just buy a set, maybe.
I read a lot as a kid, and many of my best and worst memories center around books and libraries and librarians. I wrote about my surprise that my children weren't the same way here: http://sandradodd.com/bookandsax
Someone said that unschoolers shun books (or that I shunned books), and I made this blog post a few years ago:
http://sandradodd.blogspot.com/2008/03/books-shun-or-not-to-shun.html
Seeing the value in movies and art and music doesn't equal "shunning books." Only a book worshipper could think so. :-) It's such a "thou shalt have no other media before me" thought.
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Hey, I'm an anglophiliac. I didn't know about this series. Netflix has complaints that people can't get the disks fast enough. I'll be in the UK in a few weeks and will just buy a set, maybe.
I read a lot as a kid, and many of my best and worst memories center around books and libraries and librarians. I wrote about my surprise that my children weren't the same way here: http://sandradodd.com/bookandsax
Someone said that unschoolers shun books (or that I shunned books), and I made this blog post a few years ago:
http://sandradodd.blogspot.com/2008/03/books-shun-or-not-to-shun.html
Seeing the value in movies and art and music doesn't equal "shunning books." Only a book worshipper could think so. :-) It's such a "thou shalt have no other media before me" thought.
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Melissa Wiley
On Tue, Apr 26, 2011 at 8:31 AM, Sandra Dodd <Sandra@...> wrote:
show several times, and now a sizable percentage of google searches that
bring people to my blog have to do with that show.
Other British shows we've enjoyed (to various degrees):
the recent Upstairs, Downstairs reboot (disappointingly brief, though--only
3 episodes)
Garrow's Law
Berkeley Square
Downton Abbey (loved this)
Life on Mars (REALLY loved this)
Friends have recommended North and South (the BBC version, not the American
Civil War version), which stars an actor we loved in Lark Rise. We have that
one in our Netflix queue.
Lissa
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>We love Lark Rise to Candleford! A funny aside--I have blogged about the
>
> -=-she, my 8 yo daughter, and I have been watching Lark Rise to Candleford
> together - ! Talk about sharing a group of friends! MIL keeps mentioning how
> we're passing on our anglophile heritage to my daughter...-=-
>
> Hey, I'm an anglophiliac. I didn't know about this series. Netflix has
> complaints that people can't get the disks fast enough. I'll be in the UK in
> a few weeks and will just buy a set, maybe.
>
show several times, and now a sizable percentage of google searches that
bring people to my blog have to do with that show.
Other British shows we've enjoyed (to various degrees):
the recent Upstairs, Downstairs reboot (disappointingly brief, though--only
3 episodes)
Garrow's Law
Berkeley Square
Downton Abbey (loved this)
Life on Mars (REALLY loved this)
Friends have recommended North and South (the BBC version, not the American
Civil War version), which stars an actor we loved in Lark Rise. We have that
one in our Netflix queue.
Lissa
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Sandra Dodd
A ramble from Reading to Learn Nothing Day, through England... (not Reading in Berkshire, but reading whatever wherever)
-=-We love Lark Rise to Candleford! A funny aside--I have blogged about the
show several times, and now a sizable percentage of google searches that
bring people to my blog have to do with that show.-=-
I should read your blog more often. :-)
I've watched Downton Abbey on Amazon. (Maybe they have Lark Rise to Candleford, too.)
I'll be near London on the 14th and Edinburgh on the 19th, so I'm about to get my Anglophile fix for a while. The photos in Just Add Light and Stir will turn from adobe and trucks in New Mexico to architectural and cultural details of the UK for a while. Some of the readers of Always Learning will be hanging out with me a while "on the other side."
For anyone not in that neighborhood who might want to follow my giddy adventures (or jetlagged disorganization), I'm keeping a blog here:
http://sandraeurope2011.blogspot.com/
and it can be subscribed to directly there (upper right).
It looks like now that my kids are grown that I keep ditching my family and travelling, but honest--I invited them, and their lives are too fun and full for them to want to leave. That's pretty cool, but does make me look a little like Mayzie the lazy bird. To me, anyway. Except my kids have been past the egg-stage for 20 years and more.
So where was I? Anglophilia. I love English stuff.
http://sandradodd.blogspot.com/2009/07/lnd-in-ldn.html
Oh. That was about Learn Nothing Day. I'll be in Albuquerque this year. But there are t-shirts available here:
http://www.cafepress.com/LearnNothingDay
This year will be the fourth learn nothing day.
http://sandradodd.com/learnnothingday/
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
-=-We love Lark Rise to Candleford! A funny aside--I have blogged about the
show several times, and now a sizable percentage of google searches that
bring people to my blog have to do with that show.-=-
I should read your blog more often. :-)
I've watched Downton Abbey on Amazon. (Maybe they have Lark Rise to Candleford, too.)
I'll be near London on the 14th and Edinburgh on the 19th, so I'm about to get my Anglophile fix for a while. The photos in Just Add Light and Stir will turn from adobe and trucks in New Mexico to architectural and cultural details of the UK for a while. Some of the readers of Always Learning will be hanging out with me a while "on the other side."
For anyone not in that neighborhood who might want to follow my giddy adventures (or jetlagged disorganization), I'm keeping a blog here:
http://sandraeurope2011.blogspot.com/
and it can be subscribed to directly there (upper right).
It looks like now that my kids are grown that I keep ditching my family and travelling, but honest--I invited them, and their lives are too fun and full for them to want to leave. That's pretty cool, but does make me look a little like Mayzie the lazy bird. To me, anyway. Except my kids have been past the egg-stage for 20 years and more.
So where was I? Anglophilia. I love English stuff.
http://sandradodd.blogspot.com/2009/07/lnd-in-ldn.html
Oh. That was about Learn Nothing Day. I'll be in Albuquerque this year. But there are t-shirts available here:
http://www.cafepress.com/LearnNothingDay
This year will be the fourth learn nothing day.
http://sandradodd.com/learnnothingday/
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Frantz Family
On 4/26/2011 9:31 AM, Sandra Dodd wrote:
(especially classic ones) up as an idol. I usually get an odd look.
Its as if there is no other way to learn but through books. The
suggestions you get for the different types of learners are often book
centric. If visual - they read the book; if kinesthetic - they do
something while you read the book; if audio - they listen to the book on
tape; etc. I have read classics that were a waste of time and have even
found worthwhile books written in the last ten years. ;-) We love books
here, even our toddlers will choose a book over a toy to take to bed
with them, but there are many other things we do too.
Margo
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> Seeing the value in movies and art and music doesn't equal "shunning books." Only a book worshipper could think so. :-) It's such a "thou shalt have no other media before me" thought.I have mentioned to a few people that I think homeschoolers set books
>
> Sandra
>
(especially classic ones) up as an idol. I usually get an odd look.
Its as if there is no other way to learn but through books. The
suggestions you get for the different types of learners are often book
centric. If visual - they read the book; if kinesthetic - they do
something while you read the book; if audio - they listen to the book on
tape; etc. I have read classics that were a waste of time and have even
found worthwhile books written in the last ten years. ;-) We love books
here, even our toddlers will choose a book over a toy to take to bed
with them, but there are many other things we do too.
Margo
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Sandra Dodd
-=-I have mentioned to a few people that I think homeschoolers set books
(especially classic ones) up as an idol. I usually get an odd look.
Its as if there is no other way to learn but through books.-=-
At least you've meet some who learn through classic books. That's good!
Some seem to set the curricular materials up that way. When they ask whether unschoolers use books, they mean a math book, and English book, a science book and a math book.
In the old days when homeschoolers hung out together online in a few small places, some structured homeschoolers would disavow structure, and proudly brag that they were liberal homeschoolers, or eclectic, or progressive, because they didn't mind if their kids sat on the couch to do their work, or on the swing outside, just as long as they did their work somewhere, sometime.
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
(especially classic ones) up as an idol. I usually get an odd look.
Its as if there is no other way to learn but through books.-=-
At least you've meet some who learn through classic books. That's good!
Some seem to set the curricular materials up that way. When they ask whether unschoolers use books, they mean a math book, and English book, a science book and a math book.
In the old days when homeschoolers hung out together online in a few small places, some structured homeschoolers would disavow structure, and proudly brag that they were liberal homeschoolers, or eclectic, or progressive, because they didn't mind if their kids sat on the couch to do their work, or on the swing outside, just as long as they did their work somewhere, sometime.
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Sarah
You have to watch 'Lost in Austen'. A great series, a lovely addition to my pleasure in 'Pride and Prejudice' and a reminder that the classics are not sacred, untouchable texts.
--- In [email protected], Melissa Wiley <thebonnyglen@...> wrote:
>
> On Tue, Apr 26, 2011 at 8:31 AM, Sandra Dodd <Sandra@...> wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > -=-she, my 8 yo daughter, and I have been watching Lark Rise to Candleford
> > together - ! Talk about sharing a group of friends! MIL keeps mentioning how
> > we're passing on our anglophile heritage to my daughter...-=-
> >
> > Hey, I'm an anglophiliac. I didn't know about this series. Netflix has
> > complaints that people can't get the disks fast enough. I'll be in the UK in
> > a few weeks and will just buy a set, maybe.
> >
>
> We love Lark Rise to Candleford! A funny aside--I have blogged about the
> show several times, and now a sizable percentage of google searches that
> bring people to my blog have to do with that show.
>
> Other British shows we've enjoyed (to various degrees):
>
> the recent Upstairs, Downstairs reboot (disappointingly brief, though--only
> 3 episodes)
> Garrow's Law
> Berkeley Square
> Downton Abbey (loved this)
> Life on Mars (REALLY loved this)
>
> Friends have recommended North and South (the BBC version, not the American
> Civil War version), which stars an actor we loved in Lark Rise. We have that
> one in our Netflix queue.
>
> Lissa
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
dola dasgupta-banerji
>>>>>>>Seeing the value in movies and art and music doesn't equal "shunningbooks." Only a book worshipper could think so. :-) It's such a "thou shalt
have no other media before me" thought.<<<<<<<<
Yeah I really liked this one. The amount of language skills that Ishaan my 5
year-old son has picked up just watching movies is amazing. His favourite
film these days is 'Day After Tomorrow" and he has gathered more knowledge
about global warming and the fragile ecology of the planet by just asking me
questions with ref to the film...
What I see kids cramming through books he has picked up within a week.
The kids like watching Barbie movies too. They both watch Babie and a
Fashion Fairy Tale over and over again. Ishaan for Eiffel Tower and French
and Gourika for Fashion. In the end they both dance to the cat walk music!
Recently a friend of mine from Belgium has been visiting us often and Ishaan
asks her words in French. They both now know that in Belgium also French is
spoken. Plus Muriel (my friend) and Ishaan have formed this incredible
bond!!!
I am not undermining books here, but I do not want to put lesser value on
other media as well.
The other day we were watching 'Princess and the Frog' and we talked of how
Jazz came from New Orleans. The movie had such wonderful Jazz in it....
Then a few days later I was doing some research for an article that I had to
write on unschooling in India and I found out that Louise Armstrong did not
go to school. I was so excited I shared this with the children..How cool is
that???
Which book would have all this info in together? I was wondering?...The dots
connect when we are able to value each form of media as a learning
potential....
Dola
On Tue, Apr 26, 2011 at 9:01 PM, Sandra Dodd <Sandra@...> wrote:
>
>
> -=-she, my 8 yo daughter, and I have been watching Lark Rise to Candleford
> together - ! Talk about sharing a group of friends! MIL keeps mentioning how
> we're passing on our anglophile heritage to my daughter...-=-
>
> Hey, I'm an anglophiliac. I didn't know about this series. Netflix has
> complaints that people can't get the disks fast enough. I'll be in the UK in
> a few weeks and will just buy a set, maybe.
>
> I read a lot as a kid, and many of my best and worst memories center around
> books and libraries and librarians. I wrote about my surprise that my
> children weren't the same way here: http://sandradodd.com/bookandsax
>
> Someone said that unschoolers shun books (or that I shunned books), and I
> made this blog post a few years ago:
> http://sandradodd.blogspot.com/2008/03/books-shun-or-not-to-shun.html
>
> Seeing the value in movies and art and music doesn't equal "shunning
> books." Only a book worshipper could think so. :-) It's such a "thou shalt
> have no other media before me" thought.
>
> Sandra
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Sandra Dodd
-=-Then a few days later I was doing some research for an article that I had to
write on unschooling in India and -=-
Who made you write an article?
Was it an article you chose to write? Wanted to write? Or really "had to write"?
-=Which book would have all this info in together? I was wondering?...The dots
connect when we are able to value each form of media as a learning
potential....-=-
You're right--and IF someone writes about connections in a book, he or she always has to stop somewhere, and those who read it will add their own. I read a book called Vermeer's Hat, by Timothy Brook. He goes into detail about Vermeer's paintings, and what the maps and objects were and where they would have come from on those days. There's quite a bit about trading outposts in China, and the Dutch East India company, and what kind of money was flowing where in the 1700s, and where those coins were made, and where the silver came from and... all kinds of connections.
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
write on unschooling in India and -=-
Who made you write an article?
Was it an article you chose to write? Wanted to write? Or really "had to write"?
-=Which book would have all this info in together? I was wondering?...The dots
connect when we are able to value each form of media as a learning
potential....-=-
You're right--and IF someone writes about connections in a book, he or she always has to stop somewhere, and those who read it will add their own. I read a book called Vermeer's Hat, by Timothy Brook. He goes into detail about Vermeer's paintings, and what the maps and objects were and where they would have come from on those days. There's quite a bit about trading outposts in China, and the Dutch East India company, and what kind of money was flowing where in the 1700s, and where those coins were made, and where the silver came from and... all kinds of connections.
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Sandra Dodd
-=-You have to watch 'Lost in Austen'.-=-
I listened to the book. Didn't know there was a video version!
I love this world, and all this quick exchange of information.
I've been a guest speaker for a graduate seminar at Arizona State University twice this semester, by Skype. This morning I answered some questions from some of the students in that group, all of whom are working on masters' degrees or PhDs in education. One was about the internet.
---------
-=-What do you think of free/Sudbury schools, and do you think they make it possible for children to unschool �at school�?-=-
It's still school, but it's an interesting alternative school.
I don't think there can be "unschooling at school."
An alternative program in the Albuquerque Public Schools that's 20 years old now, called The Family School, started off billing itself as "half-time homeschool," but within two years they were telling people exactly what to do with that other half a day, and having mandatory weekly meetings of all parents, and missing a meeting could lose your spot to another family. That wasn't any kind of homeschooling. The school was controlling and dictating to the whole family, and not just the kids. (And they were fully double-dipping, as the kids were there either through lunch, or before lunch to the end of the day, so they got full funding for two batches of kids.)
-=-Also: How do you see unschooling changing in today�s internet generation, if at all? How do you feel about the contributions that technology has made/can make to unschooling, apart from the obvious (to us) learning benefits of videogaming?-=-
Google. YouTube. Kahn Academy.
Just yesterday I watched two videos on installing a ceramic soap dish. My kids will never feel they need to take a course in tile laying, for example. Holly's learning guitar, and she looks at videos. There's an online guitar tuning site (more than one), and chord sites, and sites for transcribing songs to other keys. Marty plays drums, and there are how-to videos, and reviews of equipment.
-=-How do you see the SCA in relation to unschooling (one student was involved in the SCA in college, and is considering getting involved again, this time with kids)?-=-
Our middle child, Marty, is still involved in the SCA, as is my husband. Marty won a mask contest by making a documentable cow mask of leather, with knotwork his sister did. They learned these things in the SCA. He knew to check the Viking Answer Lady site, because he and his dad/Keith do Norse personas. And there are people who have learned knotwork because of Holly and Keith teaching it at an unschooling conference once, and they learned it in the SCA.
http://sandradodd.com/knotwork
Another benefit from the SCA is the friends they've had, of all ages, who have interesting knowledge and hobbies. Marty's first job was making boots with a man who had been his dad's squire, who now lives in our old house.
http://www.nmia.com/~bohemond/Bootshop/period-page/period-boots.htm
He was offered the job because he had shown himself to be interested and reliable, and because he was available and willing to work. So the unschooling and the SCA have fed back and forth over the years.
The whats and whys of what people wear, do, make, sing, and eat around the SCA are learning experiences of more than just history and geography. Lots of interpersonals and practical crafts and engineering skills. Setting up elaborate camps of cloth and rope, for instance, is something Marty will be able to do for the rest of his life, if he wants to. :-) He had helped many people set such camps up in all sorts of conditions.
Armored combat has been one of Marty's main sports and physical activities for the past seven years. (Before that it was roller-blading and boffer fighting.)
I don't mind answering questions like these! They can send more.
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
I listened to the book. Didn't know there was a video version!
I love this world, and all this quick exchange of information.
I've been a guest speaker for a graduate seminar at Arizona State University twice this semester, by Skype. This morning I answered some questions from some of the students in that group, all of whom are working on masters' degrees or PhDs in education. One was about the internet.
---------
-=-What do you think of free/Sudbury schools, and do you think they make it possible for children to unschool �at school�?-=-
It's still school, but it's an interesting alternative school.
I don't think there can be "unschooling at school."
An alternative program in the Albuquerque Public Schools that's 20 years old now, called The Family School, started off billing itself as "half-time homeschool," but within two years they were telling people exactly what to do with that other half a day, and having mandatory weekly meetings of all parents, and missing a meeting could lose your spot to another family. That wasn't any kind of homeschooling. The school was controlling and dictating to the whole family, and not just the kids. (And they were fully double-dipping, as the kids were there either through lunch, or before lunch to the end of the day, so they got full funding for two batches of kids.)
-=-Also: How do you see unschooling changing in today�s internet generation, if at all? How do you feel about the contributions that technology has made/can make to unschooling, apart from the obvious (to us) learning benefits of videogaming?-=-
Google. YouTube. Kahn Academy.
Just yesterday I watched two videos on installing a ceramic soap dish. My kids will never feel they need to take a course in tile laying, for example. Holly's learning guitar, and she looks at videos. There's an online guitar tuning site (more than one), and chord sites, and sites for transcribing songs to other keys. Marty plays drums, and there are how-to videos, and reviews of equipment.
-=-How do you see the SCA in relation to unschooling (one student was involved in the SCA in college, and is considering getting involved again, this time with kids)?-=-
Our middle child, Marty, is still involved in the SCA, as is my husband. Marty won a mask contest by making a documentable cow mask of leather, with knotwork his sister did. They learned these things in the SCA. He knew to check the Viking Answer Lady site, because he and his dad/Keith do Norse personas. And there are people who have learned knotwork because of Holly and Keith teaching it at an unschooling conference once, and they learned it in the SCA.
http://sandradodd.com/knotwork
Another benefit from the SCA is the friends they've had, of all ages, who have interesting knowledge and hobbies. Marty's first job was making boots with a man who had been his dad's squire, who now lives in our old house.
http://www.nmia.com/~bohemond/Bootshop/period-page/period-boots.htm
He was offered the job because he had shown himself to be interested and reliable, and because he was available and willing to work. So the unschooling and the SCA have fed back and forth over the years.
The whats and whys of what people wear, do, make, sing, and eat around the SCA are learning experiences of more than just history and geography. Lots of interpersonals and practical crafts and engineering skills. Setting up elaborate camps of cloth and rope, for instance, is something Marty will be able to do for the rest of his life, if he wants to. :-) He had helped many people set such camps up in all sorts of conditions.
Armored combat has been one of Marty's main sports and physical activities for the past seven years. (Before that it was roller-blading and boffer fighting.)
I don't mind answering questions like these! They can send more.
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Melissa Wiley
On Wed, Apr 27, 2011 at 10:06 AM, Sandra Dodd <Sandra@...> wrote:
place in the comments of my blog, I posted about BBC (and other) costume
dramas I have loved, and others that have been recommended to me.
http://melissawiley.com/blog/2011/04/26/bbc-me/ People have been chiming
in all morning with more suggestions.
I even mentioned Lost in Austen! I was talking about a BBC TV movie version
of The Railway Children, which I loved, and the young actress who played
Bobbie, the main character, in that movie in 2000 is the lead in Lost in
Austen. So it was fun to come here this morning and read Sarah's suggestion.
The internet is perfectly amazing. This morning my 10yo asked me what kinds
of video games I played as a kid. I told her about our Atari console. I was
trying to describe the Adventure game I loved so much and it occurred to me
that there were probably videos on YouTube, so we checked, and there were.
Then we looked at demos of Pitfall, Donkey Kong, Pac Man, and Space
Invaders---all in those primitive graphics I remember. They were so exciting
at the time! And today, in a different way. The sound effects stirred up so
many memories. I remember figuring out how to win Adventure before my
friend's older brothers did, and they were cheering me on. I was little and
scrawny and terrible at sports, so that was a big moment for me--impressing
older kids in a *game*.
It's incredibly cool to be able to show my kids, within seconds, the games I
played as a kid. A few minutes later, we were watching the (rather amazing)
mating dance of the Australian peacock spider.
I love living now. :)
Lissa
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> -=-You have to watch 'Lost in Austen'.-=-Me too! Last night, inspired by this discussion and a similar one taking
>
> >>I listened to the book. Didn't know there was a video version!
>
> >>I love this world, and all this quick exchange of information.
>
place in the comments of my blog, I posted about BBC (and other) costume
dramas I have loved, and others that have been recommended to me.
http://melissawiley.com/blog/2011/04/26/bbc-me/ People have been chiming
in all morning with more suggestions.
I even mentioned Lost in Austen! I was talking about a BBC TV movie version
of The Railway Children, which I loved, and the young actress who played
Bobbie, the main character, in that movie in 2000 is the lead in Lost in
Austen. So it was fun to come here this morning and read Sarah's suggestion.
The internet is perfectly amazing. This morning my 10yo asked me what kinds
of video games I played as a kid. I told her about our Atari console. I was
trying to describe the Adventure game I loved so much and it occurred to me
that there were probably videos on YouTube, so we checked, and there were.
Then we looked at demos of Pitfall, Donkey Kong, Pac Man, and Space
Invaders---all in those primitive graphics I remember. They were so exciting
at the time! And today, in a different way. The sound effects stirred up so
many memories. I remember figuring out how to win Adventure before my
friend's older brothers did, and they were cheering me on. I was little and
scrawny and terrible at sports, so that was a big moment for me--impressing
older kids in a *game*.
It's incredibly cool to be able to show my kids, within seconds, the games I
played as a kid. A few minutes later, we were watching the (rather amazing)
mating dance of the Australian peacock spider.
I love living now. :)
Lissa
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