Sandra Dodd

Or honest school.
Or school looking out for the real needs of their students.
Or school partnering with parents to do what's best for the individual students.

The notes above are from a wild discussion on Roya Sorooshian's faebook wall (now half dismantled by the one going the craziest) about whether school is harmful.

So what's below came to me by e-mail today, just as a bit of "hmmmm" and a thank-you note.  I'm leaving the writer's name out, but I did respond, and I do appreciate the note.
I thought others would appreciate this part, too:
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These are quotes from the President of the Manhattan Beach Unified School District's Parent Teacher Student Association as she made recommendation for parents for the first day of school.

"Because they will have to sit in classrooms and be focused academically, I believe it's important for them to get out and exercise and socialize a lot in the final weeks before the school year begins"
I encourage my kids to get done to the beach and go have fun now so that they feel like they had a good summer. This helps prepare them mentally"

......so socializing which is always a big argument for going to school needs to be done before school starts again ?.......
.......so parents need to tell children to fill up on as much fun as they can possibly have so they can stomach the rest of the year ?.......

She goes on: "They grow up so quickly, it's also important to get that family time in before school starts"

...... Thank you, Sandra - thank you for having sparked the unschooling philosophy in our minds !

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(anonymized by Sandra)

K Pennell

So sad and true, though, that you have to "get that family time in" before school starts. Once school starts, the academic pressure, the social pressure and the time crunch really seems to get in the way. It was that way with my oldest, always schooled.

As I type this, I'm sharing the computer with my son, who is researching where to find something in his game, and I'm watching him and about to make some food. Soon we'll be skyping. I'm so glad we haven't done any "getting ready for school" and he doesn't have to switch his schedule around, for the start of the school year.