Sylvia Woodman

I recently re read the essay The School In My Head and it really resonated with me. There are still parts of me that long for school supplies in September. I have lots of homeschooling friends in real life and I have complicated emotions every September when I hear all about their new lesson plans etc. Latin! Greek! Mandarin! Biology! or whatever and it all sounds so great. But our family tends to spend much of September at the beach and spending time with extended family and by the time we are back in October I'm hearing from all those same moms about how hard it is to get the kids to focus on their lessons and what a battle it is to get them to do the math or whatever and I look at my well rested, relaxed, bright eyed and curious kids and I remember why we chose unschooling for our family.

Thanks,

Sylvia

BRIAN POLIKOWSKY

Hey I get lots of school supplies in the fall!!!!!! They have great sales and I stock up on paper, pens and any other material  we may want to use and that I like to have.

I get  what you wrote.

Just now on my local homeschooling list they are all talking about annual testing and how their kids did and this and that. We do test. We picked the simplest and fastest test and our kids like it. IT is oral. It is just to comply with the state legislation.
Test results mean nothing. If I want to know what my kids know and how they are doing all I have to is be a good unschooling parent and be connected, interested in my kids, supporting them, listening to them,  doing things with them, discovering and learning things with them. 

I do not care what they kids results are and the kids never asked so far.  It is so different how  we live and how they live and their fears.
Just last week a mother was going on about how they are not finishing the school year well and how the kids do not want to do any of the work and it is a battle.

There is another way. A much more peaceful and happy way!  A way with lots of learning  . Learning what matters and  learning for life. Learning is never something you graduate when you are 18.

I am grateful for unschooling and this list.

 Life is good here. My kids are happy.  I cannot imagine  any other way.

 
Alex Polikowsky
 
 


Sandra Dodd

"I recently re read the essay The School In My Head," Sylvia wrote.

It's here:
Ten years old.  Still true. :-)

Sandra

janine davies

Its been year and a half and I still have my moments too…. So therefore very grateful for lots of happenings lately that have been compounding it for me, and helping me stay positive and grateful.

Lots of defending and some answering to do on unschooling lately amongst our friends who school, and on my FB page, which I don't welcome and find tricky, but it does help as the initial gusto they have at the start of terms does turn quite quickly… and although they can become attacking in their efforts to defend it, it does give a real peek into what we feel so lucky to not be a part of anymore. 

Negativity has been a bit rife here and on FB too as Sandra mentioned, but I have found it helpful too as it has been countered so marvellously lately with positive links and experiences here, and on the UK FB site. 

I have found writing (privately) to compound it more for me helps, and collecting links and quotes, and I am really feeling very unschooled now and like I 'get it' more, and my eyes and thinking feel wide open now, but it can be a wee bit unsettling too -  once you know you know! 

It really helps me to read and write, and keep in touch and updated with it all on FB and here, and stick with my 'tribe' more, but best of all and most important of course is connecting deeper and deeper with my boys and partner every day, and we have been doing lots and lots of that, and then just yesterday this happened:

My eldest 11yrs came bouncing down the stairs  and said this completely out of the blue "Mum Ive been thinking that if I asked one of my old school friends what they did today they would prob say maths and english, or I don't know i can't remember. Where as I would say - Oh Ive been battling in 'Chivalry' choosing between which medieval weapon to use and different battle modes, and playing online in teams with friends from Japan, the US, Italy & Germany, I survived a zombie apocalypse, downloaded 23 new mods in minecraft and created my own server, and perfected my flips on the trampoline in the rain!"

And it was only 2pm at this point, he then went on to watch 'cloudy with meatballs 2' with us, and help his brother make his new star wars lego, and show me his 'Derek' from 'Zoolander' impression acting out fav scenes which was so funny and entertaining, and the impression is really good! 
which he has been perfecting, amongst others, from watching parodies and fav film clip montages on youtube.

Couldn't have asked for a better reminder - Gratitude in abundance. 

Janine x






To: [email protected]
From: sylvia057@...
Date: Mon, 28 Apr 2014 16:23:35 -0400
Subject: [AlwaysLearning] Gratitude

 

I recently re read the essay The School In My Head and it really resonated with me. There are still parts of me that long for school supplies in September. I have lots of homeschooling friends in real life and I have complicated emotions every September when I hear all about their new lesson plans etc. Latin! Greek! Mandarin! Biology! or whatever and it all sounds so great. But our family tends to spend much of September at the beach and spending time with extended family and by the time we are back in October I'm hearing from all those same moms about how hard it is to get the kids to focus on their lessons and what a battle it is to get them to do the math or whatever and I look at my well rested, relaxed, bright eyed and curious kids and I remember why we chose unschooling for our family.

Thanks,

Sylvia

Sherry Franklin

What is the name of the unschooling Facebook page, please?

Thank you,
Sherry







To: [email protected]
From: sylvia057@...
Date: Mon, 28 Apr 2014 16:23:35 -0400
Subject: [AlwaysLearning] Gratitude

 

I recently re read the essay The School In My Head and it really resonated with me. There are still parts of me that long for school supplies in September. I have lots of homeschooling friends in real life and I have complicated emotions every September when I hear all about their new lesson plans etc. Latin! Greek! Mandarin! Biology! or whatever and it all sounds so great. But our family tends to spend much of September at the beach and spending time with extended family and by the time we are back in October I'm hearing from all those same moms about how hard it is to get the kids to focus on their lessons and what a battle it is to get them to do the math or whatever and I look at my well rested, relaxed, bright eyed and curious kids and I remember why we chose unschooling for our family.

Thanks,

Sylvia

Sandra Dodd

-=-What is the name of the unschooling Facebook page, please?-=-

I'm guessing you mean the one most related to this group.

http://sandradodd.com/facebookgroup has the link, and some introductory info.  It's easier to remember (for me, anyway)  my webpage and /facebookgroup than to go and look it up on facebook and cut and paste every time. :-)

Sandra