Audio learning and unschooling
madh4ofwaipu
We live in an environment where raidio is not available. Before learning about unschooling we brought the jolly phonics system. Both my childre 2.5 and 5.5 love to sing the songs....the cd ended up in the car and we often find ourselves singing along.
Now we have a new radio in the car but still no reception but we do have an iPod link so we can take any music from the computer inside along with us.
But as my children seem to love the learning CDs do I buy more?
I feel I should it's music and fun and mixed up with other interesting stuff.
Or am I trying to force an issue?
Now we have a new radio in the car but still no reception but we do have an iPod link so we can take any music from the computer inside along with us.
But as my children seem to love the learning CDs do I buy more?
I feel I should it's music and fun and mixed up with other interesting stuff.
Or am I trying to force an issue?
Joyce Fetteroll
On Nov 19, 2011, at 2:25 AM, madh4ofwaipu wrote:
What would you say?
The principle is to be guided by their interests not to override
theirs with your agenda. Many beginning unschoolers override their
kids interests with schoolish things. You're trying to override your
kids interests with anti-(overtly)educational things ;-)
If they're enjoying it, yes, of course.
Joyce
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> But as my children seem to love the learning CDs do I buy more?If someone said "my children seem to love the legos. Do I buy more?"
What would you say?
The principle is to be guided by their interests not to override
theirs with your agenda. Many beginning unschoolers override their
kids interests with schoolish things. You're trying to override your
kids interests with anti-(overtly)educational things ;-)
If they're enjoying it, yes, of course.
Joyce
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Sandra Dodd
-=-But as my children seem to love the learning CDs do I buy more?
I feel I should it's music and fun and mixed up with other interesting stuff.
Or am I trying to force an issue?-=-
If they're liking it and you're doing it for fun, and if you're willing to turn it off if they're tired of it, I don't think there's a problem.
My kids liked storytelling tapes, too, in the days of CD tapes in cars. :-) And Raffi.
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
I feel I should it's music and fun and mixed up with other interesting stuff.
Or am I trying to force an issue?-=-
If they're liking it and you're doing it for fun, and if you're willing to turn it off if they're tired of it, I don't think there's a problem.
My kids liked storytelling tapes, too, in the days of CD tapes in cars. :-) And Raffi.
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
madh4ofwaipu
--- In [email protected], Joyce Fetteroll <jfetteroll@...> wrote:
Will look at more CDs like the phonics one but maybe mix in some story's and see what other kids listen to music wise.
>I suppose i feel bad because they are stuck in the car and only get to listen to what I provide.
>
> On Nov 19, 2011, at 2:25 AM, madh4ofwaipu wrote:
>
> > But as my children seem to love the learning CDs do I buy more?
>
> If someone said "my children seem to love the legos. Do I buy more?"
> What would you say?
>
> The principle is to be guided by their interests not to override
> theirs with your agenda. Many beginning unschoolers override their
> kids interests with schoolish things. You're trying to override your
> kids interests with anti-(overtly)educational things ;-)
>
> If they're enjoying it, yes, of course.
>
> Joyce
Will look at more CDs like the phonics one but maybe mix in some story's and see what other kids listen to music wise.
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
chris ester
Our family loves audio learning. Many libraries have what is called
'full-cast' readings of popular novels, like the Lemony Snicket series,
meaning that they have voice actors reading the parts of the characters in
the book. My mother in law got hooked on Junie B Jones that way! There
are also tons of online radio shows that can be downloaded and we have
gotten a lot of enjoyment from the ZBS foundation shows, including Cactus
Kapoor and Ruby the Galactic Gumshoe.
http://www.zbs.org/catalog/
These are all fun and entertaining and your kids will learn to listen
intently. There are also lecture series and the like at libraries. If my
kids asked for that sort of thing (they loved schoolhouse rock) then I
checked it out for them, but it would be their idea. I am just the
facilitator.
Chris
'full-cast' readings of popular novels, like the Lemony Snicket series,
meaning that they have voice actors reading the parts of the characters in
the book. My mother in law got hooked on Junie B Jones that way! There
are also tons of online radio shows that can be downloaded and we have
gotten a lot of enjoyment from the ZBS foundation shows, including Cactus
Kapoor and Ruby the Galactic Gumshoe.
http://www.zbs.org/catalog/
These are all fun and entertaining and your kids will learn to listen
intently. There are also lecture series and the like at libraries. If my
kids asked for that sort of thing (they loved schoolhouse rock) then I
checked it out for them, but it would be their idea. I am just the
facilitator.
Chris
On Sat, Nov 19, 2011 at 2:25 AM, madh4ofwaipu <megan2@...>wrote:
> **
>
>
> We live in an environment where raidio is not available. Before learning
> about unschooling we brought the jolly phonics system. Both my childre 2.5
> and 5.5 love to sing the songs....the cd ended up in the car and we often
> find ourselves singing along.
> Now we have a new radio in the car but still no reception but we do have
> an iPod link so we can take any music from the computer inside along with
> us.
> But as my children seem to love the learning CDs do I buy more?
> I feel I should it's music and fun and mixed up with other interesting
> stuff.
> Or am I trying to force an issue?
>
>
>
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Joyce Fetteroll
On Nov 19, 2011, at 9:36 PM, madh4ofwaipu wrote:
responsibility -- your joy really! :-) -- to use the greater power of
your knowledge of the world to share things you believe they'll love.
They can tell you what they like and don't like. But their ability to
tell you what they want is limited by their knowledge of the world. So
even if you stepped entirely back to give them full freedom to decide
what they wanted to hear -- which no unschooling parent should be
doing! -- the pool of ideas they have to draw from is very very
limited. It's up to you to tap into what they enjoy and provide more
of that. It's up to you to get to know them better so you can more
effectively narrow down the world of choices to what you believe will
delight them.
Joyce
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> I suppose i feel bad because they are stuck in the car and only getWith great power comes great responsibility. :-) So make it your
> to listen to what I provide.
responsibility -- your joy really! :-) -- to use the greater power of
your knowledge of the world to share things you believe they'll love.
They can tell you what they like and don't like. But their ability to
tell you what they want is limited by their knowledge of the world. So
even if you stepped entirely back to give them full freedom to decide
what they wanted to hear -- which no unschooling parent should be
doing! -- the pool of ideas they have to draw from is very very
limited. It's up to you to tap into what they enjoy and provide more
of that. It's up to you to get to know them better so you can more
effectively narrow down the world of choices to what you believe will
delight them.
Joyce
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Claire
My 6 & 4 year olds love to listen to Beatrix Potter stories on CD, music from the Putumayo series, but also my music, not that my collection is large or even up to date. But I really enjoy playing my favourite songs for them, and listening to them discover songs they particularly like (The Lion Sleeps Tonight is a big hit at our house!) We bounce along in the car all singing away - great fun.
Claire
Claire
Sandra Dodd
Beware the word "just."
-=- If my
kids asked for that sort of thing (they loved schoolhouse rock) then I
checked it out for them, but it would be their idea. I am just the
facilitator.-=-
Parents should have ideas, too. It's not much of a friendship when one friend gets all the ideas and the other is "just" something. It's not much of a partnership when one partner isn't allowed to initiate anything.
http://sandradodd.com/nest
Schoolhouse Rock is fun, but older parents are more likely to know about it than younger parents or children. It's okay to introduce it, as long as it's not "required" or forced on a child as an educational thing, but is just fun for its own sake.
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
-=- If my
kids asked for that sort of thing (they loved schoolhouse rock) then I
checked it out for them, but it would be their idea. I am just the
facilitator.-=-
Parents should have ideas, too. It's not much of a friendship when one friend gets all the ideas and the other is "just" something. It's not much of a partnership when one partner isn't allowed to initiate anything.
http://sandradodd.com/nest
Schoolhouse Rock is fun, but older parents are more likely to know about it than younger parents or children. It's okay to introduce it, as long as it's not "required" or forced on a child as an educational thing, but is just fun for its own sake.
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Meredith
Joyce Fetteroll <jfetteroll@...> wrote:
---Meredith
>> If someone said "my children seem to love the legos. Do I buy more?"But if someone said "my children seem to love math manipulatives; do I buy more?" that's a bit of a different thing. Then it would be good to look at what the kids like about them - maybe they'd like some blocks or magnets or marble runs or games and the manipulatives do some of what they want but could be expanded upon in a dozen other ways that don't "look" quite so educational.
> What would you say?
>Maybe you are, maybe not. What do they like about that music, those songs? A lot of times, kids like music that's simple and sing-able, so that may be the bulk of the appeal, so its worth exploring other music which is simple and easy to sing. Old Woodie Guthrie kids' songs come to mind, and Rafi, and nursery rhymes set to music.
> On Nov 19, 2011, at 2:25 AM, madh4ofwaipu wrote:
> Or am I trying to force an issue?
> We live in an environment where raidio is not available.If you have internet radio is available ;) Look into Sirius and Pandora. I don't have a Sirius account at the moment, but Pandora is free, and I see they have a "family" section which has sub-categories of Toddler, Lullabye, Folk, and Kids' Indie (oooh, They Might be Giants!).
---Meredith
Pam Sorooshian
On Sun, Nov 20, 2011 at 10:47 AM, Meredith <plaidpanties666@...>wrote:
lots of things. If you named specific ones, I would say the same thing
about them as Lego. My family LOVED pattern blocks and so I bought several
sets and invested in the really nice wooden ones. I also bought magnetic
ones and fraction pattern blocks. Those are "math manipulatives" - at
least that's how they are sold.
We also had geoboards - lots of fun with those. Cuisenaire rods are cool
because of the relationships between the rods - the kids played with them
sometimes in various ways. Dice are "math manipulatives" that schools
sometimes call "number cubes" <G> and we have zillions of them...I have
little teensy ones and eraser ones and ones that have one die inside
another one and, of course, there are all the different "sided" ones and so
on.
My kids also liked the math wrap-ups -- these are really intended to drill
kids on math facts, but they are set up like interesting hands-on puzzles
and my kids not only liked the store-bought ones, they made their own based
on things like "characters in the Redwall books."
It bothers me that unschoolers are actually "anti" school supplies to the
point of avoiding them. When I go in school supply stores or look at their
websites, I look for the cool stuff. It is harder to find these days - in
the late 80's and early 90's school supply stores were filled with cool
math and science and literature stuff...those were the days of "whole
language" and "constructivist mathematics" and "hands-on science" and
"authentic assessment" (that last means not doing paper and pencil tests).
Yes, be careful not to think math manipulatives are better than Legos or
blocks just because they are sold in school supply stores. But don't throw
them out because of it either.
So - for the cd's, it isn't that they are educational that matters, it is
what kind of music, rhythms, rhymes, lyrics, voices, instruments, etc.,
that the kids like that matters. If there are more of that style, get those
- don't worry about whether they are considered "educational" or not.
Same with computer games, if they are fun, get more like them. My kids
liked the "Mighty Math" series of computer games...so I got more of those.
Yes, they are intended for an educator market...they have weird
capabilities of tracking what level of math the kids are doing. We ignored
that and they loved playing the games. Same with The Logical Journey of the
Zoombinis and Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego and Reading Rabbit and
Math Workshop and on and on.
-pam
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>>>But if someone said "my children seem to love math manipulatives; do ILegos are a specific thing and "math manipulatives" is a big category of
> buy more?" that's a bit of a different thing.>>>
lots of things. If you named specific ones, I would say the same thing
about them as Lego. My family LOVED pattern blocks and so I bought several
sets and invested in the really nice wooden ones. I also bought magnetic
ones and fraction pattern blocks. Those are "math manipulatives" - at
least that's how they are sold.
We also had geoboards - lots of fun with those. Cuisenaire rods are cool
because of the relationships between the rods - the kids played with them
sometimes in various ways. Dice are "math manipulatives" that schools
sometimes call "number cubes" <G> and we have zillions of them...I have
little teensy ones and eraser ones and ones that have one die inside
another one and, of course, there are all the different "sided" ones and so
on.
My kids also liked the math wrap-ups -- these are really intended to drill
kids on math facts, but they are set up like interesting hands-on puzzles
and my kids not only liked the store-bought ones, they made their own based
on things like "characters in the Redwall books."
It bothers me that unschoolers are actually "anti" school supplies to the
point of avoiding them. When I go in school supply stores or look at their
websites, I look for the cool stuff. It is harder to find these days - in
the late 80's and early 90's school supply stores were filled with cool
math and science and literature stuff...those were the days of "whole
language" and "constructivist mathematics" and "hands-on science" and
"authentic assessment" (that last means not doing paper and pencil tests).
Yes, be careful not to think math manipulatives are better than Legos or
blocks just because they are sold in school supply stores. But don't throw
them out because of it either.
So - for the cd's, it isn't that they are educational that matters, it is
what kind of music, rhythms, rhymes, lyrics, voices, instruments, etc.,
that the kids like that matters. If there are more of that style, get those
- don't worry about whether they are considered "educational" or not.
Same with computer games, if they are fun, get more like them. My kids
liked the "Mighty Math" series of computer games...so I got more of those.
Yes, they are intended for an educator market...they have weird
capabilities of tracking what level of math the kids are doing. We ignored
that and they loved playing the games. Same with The Logical Journey of the
Zoombinis and Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego and Reading Rabbit and
Math Workshop and on and on.
-pam
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
chris ester
On Sun, Nov 20, 2011 at 9:04 AM, Sandra Dodd <Sandra@...> wrote:
It really does not translate.
words forced) their child to do something that wasn't needed to say, save
their life (if my child needed insulin and refused it, there would be
forcing used). My children were always very self possessed and so forcing
them into something would have been far more work than it would probably
been worth.
Oh, and it seems weird to be an "older" parent, but I guess since I am
looking down the barrel of '45', that would make me older.... LOL
Chris
> **A very good point. I should watch my propensity to use irony in e-mail.
>
>
> >>Beware the word "just."
>
> -=- If my
>
> kids asked for that sort of thing (they loved schoolhouse rock) then I
> checked it out for them, but it would be their idea. I am just the
> facilitator.-=-
>
> Parents should have ideas, too. It's not much of a friendship when one
> friend gets all the ideas and the other is "just" something. It's not much
> of a partnership when one partner isn't allowed to initiate anything.<<<
>
It really does not translate.
>I am always at a loss when someone says that they have 'made' (in other
> http://sandradodd.com/nest
>
> >>>Schoolhouse Rock is fun, but older parents are more likely to know
> about it than younger parents or children. It's okay to introduce it, as
> long as it's not "required" or forced on a child as an educational thing,
> but is just fun for its own sake.
>
> Sandra<<<
>
words forced) their child to do something that wasn't needed to say, save
their life (if my child needed insulin and refused it, there would be
forcing used). My children were always very self possessed and so forcing
them into something would have been far more work than it would probably
been worth.
Oh, and it seems weird to be an "older" parent, but I guess since I am
looking down the barrel of '45', that would make me older.... LOL
Chris
>[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>