New to this list
[email protected]
In a message dated 4/29/02 4:16:29 PM Central Daylight Time,
[email protected] writes:
<< . But I do have to have an evaluation or
testing done at the end of every year here in FL. So how would
I "prove math" in an evaluation, if we have no book? Gosh, I hope I
don't get a bunch of hate mail over this.... :) >>
Welcome Rebecca.
First of all, nobody would want to ever send you hate mail from this list (at
least none of the people I've met here!!) But it is a list of experienced
unschoolers, so the advice will be pointing you to unschooling, which does
not include "teaching" math.
Another thought for ya, I live in FL too. I had previously kept a scrapbook
full of pictures for our evalutation...so you can just find a really cool
evaluator.
But there are also a couple umbrella schools for unschoolers....and they are
very inexpensive. I will e-mail you the info. on the one I plan to sign up
with, if you want it.
What you have transitioned into with the unit type thing, is what I did
before totally coming to unschooling. So perhaps you are on your way?
It's a much more joyful, carefree way to live imo. But it does take a leap of
faith to know that your children will learn all that they need without a
single math lesson....
Stay and read, you'll surely learn a lot.
Ren
[email protected] writes:
<< . But I do have to have an evaluation or
testing done at the end of every year here in FL. So how would
I "prove math" in an evaluation, if we have no book? Gosh, I hope I
don't get a bunch of hate mail over this.... :) >>
Welcome Rebecca.
First of all, nobody would want to ever send you hate mail from this list (at
least none of the people I've met here!!) But it is a list of experienced
unschoolers, so the advice will be pointing you to unschooling, which does
not include "teaching" math.
Another thought for ya, I live in FL too. I had previously kept a scrapbook
full of pictures for our evalutation...so you can just find a really cool
evaluator.
But there are also a couple umbrella schools for unschoolers....and they are
very inexpensive. I will e-mail you the info. on the one I plan to sign up
with, if you want it.
What you have transitioned into with the unit type thing, is what I did
before totally coming to unschooling. So perhaps you are on your way?
It's a much more joyful, carefree way to live imo. But it does take a leap of
faith to know that your children will learn all that they need without a
single math lesson....
Stay and read, you'll surely learn a lot.
Ren
Kinkade
<< Another thought for ya, I live in FL too. I had previously kept a scrapbook
full of pictures for our evalutation...so you can just find a really cool
evaluator.>>
That is what I started doing this year too. I have been doing most of the Portfolio in a scrapbook form. Actually, I have been letting my girls do most of it. They absolutely love to make their own pages.
<< But there are also a couple umbrella schools for unschoolers....and they are
very inexpensive. I will e-mail you the info. on the one I plan to sign up
with, if you want it.>>
I would love to have that information. I heard of one umbrella school. They don't require testing or evaluations, only attendance records. BTW, that is really all the state of FL requires of "private schools", which is what an "umbrella school" really is. I have lost who they are, I have been getting so many emails, it's in there somewhere.... :)
<< What you have transitioned into with the unit type thing, is what I did
before totally coming to unschooling. So perhaps you are on your way?>>
That's what I thought. I've been, hanging around this group for a week or so, and from what I was seeing in the discussions I could see wasn't quite there. I am really trying hard to "trust" my kids. But if you don't mind. I have one question... (actually it was asked by my dh). How does this happen? How do our kids just learn? He is concerned about, how do kids just know what to learn. (This is a very hard question to ask, the words aren't coming) I guess what I am meaning is, if we don't direct them to... say Ancient Egypt or something else, how will they arrive there?
<< But it does take a leap of faith to know that your children will learn all that they need without a single math lesson....>>
I have gone to the unschooling.com and have read a lot, and plan to go back and read more... but I am feeling a little better about math. It really is hard to break "Bad Habits" <g> .
Thank you all, I will grow....
Rebecca
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
full of pictures for our evalutation...so you can just find a really cool
evaluator.>>
That is what I started doing this year too. I have been doing most of the Portfolio in a scrapbook form. Actually, I have been letting my girls do most of it. They absolutely love to make their own pages.
<< But there are also a couple umbrella schools for unschoolers....and they are
very inexpensive. I will e-mail you the info. on the one I plan to sign up
with, if you want it.>>
I would love to have that information. I heard of one umbrella school. They don't require testing or evaluations, only attendance records. BTW, that is really all the state of FL requires of "private schools", which is what an "umbrella school" really is. I have lost who they are, I have been getting so many emails, it's in there somewhere.... :)
<< What you have transitioned into with the unit type thing, is what I did
before totally coming to unschooling. So perhaps you are on your way?>>
That's what I thought. I've been, hanging around this group for a week or so, and from what I was seeing in the discussions I could see wasn't quite there. I am really trying hard to "trust" my kids. But if you don't mind. I have one question... (actually it was asked by my dh). How does this happen? How do our kids just learn? He is concerned about, how do kids just know what to learn. (This is a very hard question to ask, the words aren't coming) I guess what I am meaning is, if we don't direct them to... say Ancient Egypt or something else, how will they arrive there?
<< But it does take a leap of faith to know that your children will learn all that they need without a single math lesson....>>
I have gone to the unschooling.com and have read a lot, and plan to go back and read more... but I am feeling a little better about math. It really is hard to break "Bad Habits" <g> .
Thank you all, I will grow....
Rebecca
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[email protected]
In a message dated 4/30/02 8:15:36 AM, kinkade@... writes:
<< How does this happen? How do our kids just learn? >>
By playing. They learn to count and sort and categorize and speak and
describe and discuss by playing.
They learn history by going to museums, looking at paintings and sculptures
in books or wherever, by watching movies about Spartacus or The Patriot or
Henry VIII or ...
They learn science by playing with mud, balls, pivot boards in the yard,
ramps for little cars or big bikes or skateboards, kites, tops, frisbees...
<< if we don't direct them to... say Ancient Egypt or something else, how
will they arrive there? >>
How did you and your husband learn about ancient Egypt? Really think about
it.
Church? Watching The Ten Commandments on TV? Mummy movies? Heiroglyphics
puzzles in books? Scooby-Doo? Raiders of the Lost Ark?
There are some WONDERFUL kids and pop-up books and kids' books about Egyptian
history. We have lots. I don't "direct" the kids there, they just come
across things, and sometimes we look things up, and sometimes a book is on
the dining room table, or in the bathroom, and when we get to go to museums
we do.
The other day we had a rented twilight zone DVD and one of the stories
involved scarabs from Egypt. It was science fiction, but there was one point
of information. Enough dots get connected, enough vocabulary,
pictures-in-heads, factoids, references, and the child has his own model of
Egypt building, which he will add to for the rest of his life.
<< if we don't direct them to... say Ancient Egypt or something else, how
will they arrive there? >>
Keep their lives busy and open and encourage their joyous curiosity, and if
your family is never stagnant, the whole world will be right there, in your
house, outside your house, in all kinds of literature and art and movies and
artifacts all over the place.
When you're living in the world instead of in school, Egypt is a lot closer
to you than to school-kids, who need to wait for that one two-week unit on
Egypt, out of their whole twelve years. But if your kids have an aversion,
they can avoid two weeks. And if they have an interest, they can "study
Egypt" all they want to.
Sandra
<< How does this happen? How do our kids just learn? >>
By playing. They learn to count and sort and categorize and speak and
describe and discuss by playing.
They learn history by going to museums, looking at paintings and sculptures
in books or wherever, by watching movies about Spartacus or The Patriot or
Henry VIII or ...
They learn science by playing with mud, balls, pivot boards in the yard,
ramps for little cars or big bikes or skateboards, kites, tops, frisbees...
<< if we don't direct them to... say Ancient Egypt or something else, how
will they arrive there? >>
How did you and your husband learn about ancient Egypt? Really think about
it.
Church? Watching The Ten Commandments on TV? Mummy movies? Heiroglyphics
puzzles in books? Scooby-Doo? Raiders of the Lost Ark?
There are some WONDERFUL kids and pop-up books and kids' books about Egyptian
history. We have lots. I don't "direct" the kids there, they just come
across things, and sometimes we look things up, and sometimes a book is on
the dining room table, or in the bathroom, and when we get to go to museums
we do.
The other day we had a rented twilight zone DVD and one of the stories
involved scarabs from Egypt. It was science fiction, but there was one point
of information. Enough dots get connected, enough vocabulary,
pictures-in-heads, factoids, references, and the child has his own model of
Egypt building, which he will add to for the rest of his life.
<< if we don't direct them to... say Ancient Egypt or something else, how
will they arrive there? >>
Keep their lives busy and open and encourage their joyous curiosity, and if
your family is never stagnant, the whole world will be right there, in your
house, outside your house, in all kinds of literature and art and movies and
artifacts all over the place.
When you're living in the world instead of in school, Egypt is a lot closer
to you than to school-kids, who need to wait for that one two-week unit on
Egypt, out of their whole twelve years. But if your kids have an aversion,
they can avoid two weeks. And if they have an interest, they can "study
Egypt" all they want to.
Sandra
Sharon Rudd
> They learn science by playing with mud, balls, pivotPIVOT BOARD?
> boards in the yard,
> ramps for little cars or big bikes or skateboards,
> kites, tops, frisbees...
That sounds intersting. What is it?
Sharon of the Swamp
ps all the tops, spinners, and gyroscopes were out
yesterday....all over the kitchen floor and counters
and table....keep meaning to make a paper mache'
dreidle.
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Health - your guide to health and wellness
http://health.yahoo.com
Fetteroll
on 4/30/02 10:13 AM, Kinkade at kinkade@... wrote:
that kids start out without even realizing language exists and within a fe
years have mastered it. We shrug it off as mysterious but trivial because
all kids do it.
But I think we really need to pay attention. They learn English purely as a
side effect of living life and trying to get what they want. English is a
useful tool they happen to pick up and use one day because it was more
effective than pointing. And the more they find it useful and the more they
pick it up the better at it they get. (And then compare how effective that
is to how effective formal foreign language instruction is.)
Everything is like that. Math and science and history and writing are all
tools we use to get what we want and explore the world. Adding 15+23 isn't
important. What's important is who is winning the game. And how much
allowance they have accumulated versus how much they need. And how far away
this trip is compared to a trip they know well. And how much longer until
Daddy gets home. And how can you double 3/4 cup so we can make a double
batch of cookies. Kids pick up how numbers work (and nature and people and
communication) by using the tools. Despite what years of torturous math
instruction has led us to believe, kids don't need to be told to work
numbers in order to work them. They figure them out. Just as they figured
out the intricacies of the English language.
and have pretty much forgotten the things you don't? If kids' learning is
based on acquiring what *they* need (and find interesting or intriguing)
then how can they not know what to learn?
One point is that learning that way doesn't take nearly as long as it does
in school. Plus there aren't years of experience with learning being dull.
If a kid needs math to explore what he wants to in college, he'll have
learned (by using) enough math to get him as far as he is and can build on
that understanding to get the rest of what he needs. It *won't* take him
years. It will take months at most.
something that's interesting. Then they'll stumble across something else
that's interesting that will hook into the first. And so on.
Then you'll say, hmm, maybe if I pointed out a show or brought home a book
or a kit on hieroglyphs or pyramids or mummies .... And you can guage how
much more to direct depending on their level of interest.
But their learning won't be about "topics" like that. If you see learning
that way you won't be able to see learning when they're playing.
Joyce
> How does this happen? How do our kids just learn?How did they learn to speak English? This is an incredibly amazing process
that kids start out without even realizing language exists and within a fe
years have mastered it. We shrug it off as mysterious but trivial because
all kids do it.
But I think we really need to pay attention. They learn English purely as a
side effect of living life and trying to get what they want. English is a
useful tool they happen to pick up and use one day because it was more
effective than pointing. And the more they find it useful and the more they
pick it up the better at it they get. (And then compare how effective that
is to how effective formal foreign language instruction is.)
Everything is like that. Math and science and history and writing are all
tools we use to get what we want and explore the world. Adding 15+23 isn't
important. What's important is who is winning the game. And how much
allowance they have accumulated versus how much they need. And how far away
this trip is compared to a trip they know well. And how much longer until
Daddy gets home. And how can you double 3/4 cup so we can make a double
batch of cookies. Kids pick up how numbers work (and nature and people and
communication) by using the tools. Despite what years of torturous math
instruction has led us to believe, kids don't need to be told to work
numbers in order to work them. They figure them out. Just as they figured
out the intricacies of the English language.
> He is concerned about, howDo you need everything you were taught? Don't you use the things you need
> do kids just know what to learn. (This is a very hard question to ask, the
> words aren't coming)
and have pretty much forgotten the things you don't? If kids' learning is
based on acquiring what *they* need (and find interesting or intriguing)
then how can they not know what to learn?
One point is that learning that way doesn't take nearly as long as it does
in school. Plus there aren't years of experience with learning being dull.
If a kid needs math to explore what he wants to in college, he'll have
learned (by using) enough math to get him as far as he is and can build on
that understanding to get the rest of what he needs. It *won't* take him
years. It will take months at most.
> I guess what I am meaning is, if we don't direct themDo they want to go to Ancient Egypt? If they do they'll stumble across
> to... say Ancient Egypt or something else, how will they arrive there?
something that's interesting. Then they'll stumble across something else
that's interesting that will hook into the first. And so on.
Then you'll say, hmm, maybe if I pointed out a show or brought home a book
or a kit on hieroglyphs or pyramids or mummies .... And you can guage how
much more to direct depending on their level of interest.
But their learning won't be about "topics" like that. If you see learning
that way you won't be able to see learning when they're playing.
Joyce
[email protected]
In a message dated 4/30/02 9:25:18 AM, bearspawprint@... writes:
<< pivot
That sounds intersting. What is it? >>
A little seesaw or catapult. A board laid over another board. A
teeter-totter.
What kids do with lumber and firewood in the dirt.
Sandra
<< pivot
> boards in the yard,<<PIVOT BOARD?
That sounds intersting. What is it? >>
A little seesaw or catapult. A board laid over another board. A
teeter-totter.
What kids do with lumber and firewood in the dirt.
Sandra
Sharon Rudd
--- SandraDodd@... wrote:
Oh. Thanks. Ok, Roy's made all of these. I was
thinking pivot as in turn or change horizontal
directions. Merry-go-round sorta something.
Sharon of the Swamp
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Health - your guide to health and wellness
http://health.yahoo.com
Oh. Thanks. Ok, Roy's made all of these. I was
thinking pivot as in turn or change horizontal
directions. Merry-go-round sorta something.
Sharon of the Swamp
> <<PIVOT BOARD?__________________________________________________
> That sounds intersting. What is it? >>
>
> A little seesaw or catapult. A board laid over
> another board. A
> teeter-totter.
>
> What kids do with lumber and firewood in the dirt.
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Health - your guide to health and wellness
http://health.yahoo.com
[email protected]
In a message dated 4/30/02 10:10:04 AM, bearspawprint@... writes:
<< I was
thinking pivot as in turn or change horizontal
directions. Merry-go-round sorta something.
Sharon of the Swamp >>
Maybe I probably used the wrong word!
My dad made us a merry-go-round when I was a kid. Steel frame, big bearings,
on a steel post set in concrete. It was totally cool.
We moved, though, and he didn't have access to the same equipment (he had
been building trailers for boats and such and the angle iron was scrap).
Then he made us a teeter-totter better than any we'd ever seen.
Sandra
<< I was
thinking pivot as in turn or change horizontal
directions. Merry-go-round sorta something.
Sharon of the Swamp >>
Maybe I probably used the wrong word!
My dad made us a merry-go-round when I was a kid. Steel frame, big bearings,
on a steel post set in concrete. It was totally cool.
We moved, though, and he didn't have access to the same equipment (he had
been building trailers for boats and such and the angle iron was scrap).
Then he made us a teeter-totter better than any we'd ever seen.
Sandra
Karin
>Aren't these called levers?
>
> << I was
> thinking pivot as in turn or change horizontal
> directions. Merry-go-round sorta something.
> Sharon of the Swamp >>
>
> Maybe I probably used the wrong word!
>
>
Karin
[email protected]
In a message dated 4/30/02 10:59:19 AM, curtkar@... writes:
<< Aren't these called levers? >>
Not if both ends are equal and not if one end isn't underneath something
being pried up, I think.
I think something can pivot on one plane only. "Pivots 360 degrees" is what
they say when it goes around, I think.
Sandra
<< Aren't these called levers? >>
Not if both ends are equal and not if one end isn't underneath something
being pried up, I think.
I think something can pivot on one plane only. "Pivots 360 degrees" is what
they say when it goes around, I think.
Sandra
[email protected]
My husband says in the circus if there's a board on a cylinder it's a
"balance board."
"Teeter board" came up in the conversation.
"balance board."
"Teeter board" came up in the conversation.
Sharon Rudd
> My husband says in the circus if there's a board onas opposed to a balance beam which is not balancing,
> a cylinder it's a
> "balance board."
but is balanced already......
>Could a "teeter board" be used for milking....perhaps
> "Teeter board" came up in the conversation.
>
a ramp leading up to feeding stalls with a head clamp,
for goats...I saw a picture once...but perhaps
"teeter" neads an "a" for that
Sharon of the Swamp
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Health - your guide to health and wellness
http://health.yahoo.com
[email protected]
In a message dated 5/2/2002 4:27:16 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
bearspawprint@... writes:
-Roxana
Disclaimer:
Whilst every attempt has been made to ensure that the material contained in
this email is sane, please note that the author is quite, quite mad.
Sarcastic responses, bad jokes or attempts to call the men in the white coats
are strictly prohibited. If you receive this email in error - please eat it
immediately to
prevent it from falling into the wrong hands.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
bearspawprint@... writes:
> > My husband says in the circus if there's a board onThe beam may be, but one balances on the beam.
> > a cylinder it's a
> > "balance board."
>
> as opposed to a balance beam which is not balancing,
> but is balanced already......
-Roxana
Disclaimer:
Whilst every attempt has been made to ensure that the material contained in
this email is sane, please note that the author is quite, quite mad.
Sarcastic responses, bad jokes or attempts to call the men in the white coats
are strictly prohibited. If you receive this email in error - please eat it
immediately to
prevent it from falling into the wrong hands.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[email protected]
Whew! I had to go through a whole lot of yahoo list names to find this one, I
couldn't remember the name of the list I was on a few years ago, thought it
was unschooling dotcom or something like that but it didn't come up in a
search. Then a while back a friend sent me a couple of group names (Heidi are you
here?) but I couldn't find them either and I am sooo desperate to talk to
someone else to sort through this unschooling life without first having to explain
the difference between hsing, unschooling and noschooling. If I have to explain
it you don't get it. I am still getting it, LOL.
Anyhow, hello, my name is Laura and I do see at least one or two people I
know here. I live and learn with the youngest 2 of my 6 sons a 12 and a 16yro, we
are in our 5th year of having the boys home. My older kids were all schooled
and are all out of school, only the youngest of them still lives here and he
is 20.
We have been slowly migrating to the unschooling life over the past 5 yrs,
last year we were very close but not quite there, can't say exactly what
happened this year but it seems we have arrived. Has it happened for anyone else that
way? It's really odd because 5 yrs ago my DH was not even sold on hsing,yet,
I know he is fully aware of how we are living these past several months and
even he seems perfectly OK with it!!
I hope no one minds me posting right away after joining but I can't wait any
longer, I have about a million things to talk through and I'd like to do it
with people who are on the same page, I am exhausted from being the most
challenging person on my lists. From what I have been reading ya'll are up to it.
LOLOLOL
Laura in Ohio
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
couldn't remember the name of the list I was on a few years ago, thought it
was unschooling dotcom or something like that but it didn't come up in a
search. Then a while back a friend sent me a couple of group names (Heidi are you
here?) but I couldn't find them either and I am sooo desperate to talk to
someone else to sort through this unschooling life without first having to explain
the difference between hsing, unschooling and noschooling. If I have to explain
it you don't get it. I am still getting it, LOL.
Anyhow, hello, my name is Laura and I do see at least one or two people I
know here. I live and learn with the youngest 2 of my 6 sons a 12 and a 16yro, we
are in our 5th year of having the boys home. My older kids were all schooled
and are all out of school, only the youngest of them still lives here and he
is 20.
We have been slowly migrating to the unschooling life over the past 5 yrs,
last year we were very close but not quite there, can't say exactly what
happened this year but it seems we have arrived. Has it happened for anyone else that
way? It's really odd because 5 yrs ago my DH was not even sold on hsing,yet,
I know he is fully aware of how we are living these past several months and
even he seems perfectly OK with it!!
I hope no one minds me posting right away after joining but I can't wait any
longer, I have about a million things to talk through and I'd like to do it
with people who are on the same page, I am exhausted from being the most
challenging person on my lists. From what I have been reading ya'll are up to it.
LOLOLOL
Laura in Ohio
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]