nrsluv2b6

there is so much out there on teaching a child to read. i let my 5
year old pick his reading workbooks his choice to use workbooks not
mine. he wanted to have "home work" like the big kids.
the older 3 have lifepacs math but that is all everything else is
just reading together computer research on what they want etc. well i
did get some health lifepacs so they could have something in front of
them mostly to make sure i dont forget anything. :) my oldest has to
be threatened with grounding from the xbox and mo-ped to get him to
bathe. :)
i dont feel like i am in my happy place right now. i know what i
want but i also know it wont happen now. i am very impatient and
distressed about money (303$ electric bill) it is rubbing off on
them. i need my own life and they need me to have one. i need a
nanny a drivers liscence and a better car. yes i dont drive. i have
anxiety issues.
i guess what i really need is some tips on how to organize my money
and my life i need organization and it has all fallen apart and i am
going insane.

[email protected]

-----Original Message-----
From: luv2b6@...

there is so much out there on teaching a child to read. i let my
5
year old pick his reading workbooks his choice to use workbooks not
mine. he wanted to have "home work" like the big kids.
the older 3 have lifepacs math but that is all everything else is
just reading together computer research on what they want etc. well i
did get some health lifepacs so they could have something in front of
them mostly to make sure i dont forget anything.

-=-=-=-=-

Do you feel you *need* Lifepacs-anything? Do you not think math and
health info are available in the real world? Why not?

-=-=-==-=-

:) my oldest has to be threatened with grounding from the xbox and
mo-ped to get him to
bathe. :)

-=-=-=-=-

Yikes! Is a bath more important than your relationship? Why is he
choosing not to bathe?

-==-=-=-=-

i dont feel like i am in my happy place right now. i know what i
want but i also know it wont happen now. i am very impatient and
distressed about money (303$ electric bill) it is rubbing off on
them. i need my own life and they need me to have one. i need a
nanny a drivers liscence and a better car. yes i dont drive. i have
anxiety issues.
i guess what i really need is some tips on how to organize my money
and my life i need organization and it has all fallen apart and i am
going insane.


-=-=-=-

I'm sorry it seems so bad right now, but these aren't unschooling
issues. Can you manage a couselor? Have the local electric company come
in and tell you what you can do to lower your bill? (ours does that)
Why do you need a better car when you can't drive? How many/what ages
are your children? Are you interestied in unschooling? Why?




~Kelly

Kelly Lovejoy
Conference Coordinator
Live and Learn Unschooling Conference
http://liveandlearnconference.org

School's goal is to prepare them to be anything they want. But the
process is so dullifying and kids haven't explored the possibilities
of what they could be that many set their sites as low as possible.
They go to college to get a job to buy stuff. ~Joyce Fetteroll




________________________________________________________________________
Check out AOL.com today. Breaking news, video search, pictures, email
and IM. All on demand. Always Free.

Trudy

Kelly, you stated that you thought this was not an "unschooling issue,"
but I disagree. The very thoughts and feelings that have been
described by this mother is what drives many to throw up their hands in
frustration and to ultimately discover there is a better way --
unschooling.

It sounds like this mother is very tired and frustrated, and most - if
not all - homeschoolers (and unschoolers) have had days or periods of
time where they felt this way, worked through that period, and come out
on the other side. Maybe some could empathize and offer positive input
on how they coped.

Granted, there may be some bigger issues that need to be dealt with,
but since "unschooling" in general is learning from every aspect of our
lives and making it better, to say this isn't and "unschooling issue"
seems untrue to me.


Trudy Powell

Queana

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of nrsluv2b6
Sent: Wednesday, July 12, 2006 3:03 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [unschoolingbasics] i am confused!!!!!

there is so much out there on teaching a child to read. i let my 5
year old pick his reading workbooks his choice to use workbooks not
mine. he wanted to have "home work" like the big kids.
the older 3 have lifepacs math but that is all everything else is
just reading together computer research on what they want etc. well i
did get some health lifepacs so they could have something in front of
them mostly to make sure i dont forget anything. :)

*** Ack! Burn the lifepacs!!! No, seriously. Ok, maybe not, they are
probably expensive. But I was homeschooled, and I had to use lifepacs for a
year or two, and they were horrible, awful, my worst memories! My brother
has the same feeling about them. They are dry, boring workbooks. Awful.
There are so many better ways to learn about mathematics in the world!!!


my oldest has to
be threatened with grounding from the xbox and mo-ped to get him to
bathe. :)

*** How old is he? How often are you making him bathe? That sounds a
little strange.

i dont feel like i am in my happy place right now. i know what i
want but i also know it wont happen now. i am very impatient and
distressed about money (303$ electric bill) it is rubbing off on
them. i need my own life and they need me to have one. i need a
nanny a drivers liscence and a better car. yes i dont drive. i have
anxiety issues.
i guess what i really need is some tips on how to organize my money
and my life i need organization and it has all fallen apart and i am
going insane.

*** It sounds like you realize that what you are doing is not working. I'd
start with burning the lifepacs ;)

Have you looked into medication for your anxiety? Sometimes it can be
life-changing if there is a chemical imbalance or something.

Sometimes when I get stuck thinking about how to organize my
life/money/whatever, the best thing to do is take a deep breath and just
live *that day* as best I can. I can waste lots of precious time obsessing
about the best way to do such-and-such or the best way to budget
such-and-such, but just taking one day at a time and prioritizing that day
in a meaningful way can lead to lots of contentment!! Stop reading and
planning and start living! That's what I do when I feel overwhelmed.

~Q~

Betsy Hill

**Sometimes when I get stuck thinking about how to organize my
life/money/whatever, the best thing to do is take a deep breath and just
live *that day* as best I can.**

I used the advice to schedule one hour a week to worry, (for me 10am
on Mondays), and if I started worrying about money at any other time I
would remind myself to save it for the official worrying time on
Monday morning. Then if I remembered to worry at the right time on
Monday, I would try to channel the worry into constructive things I
could do.

Betsy

wen3so

Others have responded so thoughtfully and with such calming perspective to the other
areas of this post, so I only wanted to add:

In response to: " there is so much out there on teaching a child to read. i let my 5
year old pick his reading workbooks his choice to use workbooks not
mine. he wanted to have "home work" like the big kids."

Have you tried reading rods? They are cubes that have the letters (capital and lowercase) of
the alphabet on them; the consonants are blue cubes, the vowels in red and a white "silent
e". They come with a set of ten books; each focuses on the long or short vowel sound and
highlights it in the words for a visual cue. For some reason these really made sense,
especially with the rods. Whenever we got stuck on a word, physically being able to
manipulate the cubes seemed to make something click. (And they're so much fun to play
with: they've found many other uses like becoming a measuring stick, making up words
(great for emerging spellers), our 2-year old loves them for the put-together, take-apart
feature and early letter recognition type games, etc.) These are the only reading
"materials" we ever used (available at age four, not pushed, used only when chosen -which
wasn't really a whole lot) with our 5 year old, who can read independently.

We are avid readers in our house, so he is surrounded by books and often catches us
reading whenever we get the chance. This has seemed to be a greater motivator than I
initially thought or expected. We recently created a reading nook in a closet so that he can
have a private space to indulge in reading. That your 5 year old is already eager to learn to
read is all that you really need. Take every opportunity to honor reading and to honor the
child's emerging reading abilities and the rest will fall into place in its own time at its own
pace.

Peace,
wen

Michelle/Melbrigða

On 7/12/06, nrsluv2b6 <luv2b6@...> wrote:
> there is so much out there on teaching a child to read. i let my 5
> year old pick his reading workbooks his choice to use workbooks not
> mine. he wanted to have "home work" like the big kids.

In this day of computers, video games, and the obscene amount of
advertisement that we encounter each day I can't figure out how a
child *can't* learn to read eventually. Your child is only choosing
workbooks because he is mimicking what he is seeing being done. If
you were to sit and read books he would mimic that as well. If the
older children were hanging out of trees like monkeys he would be
doing the same. He isn't choosing to read because he wants to have
workbooks. He is choosing workbooks because that is the pattern that
he sees in the older members of the house. He doesn't understand that
there is another choice.

> the older 3 have lifepacs math but that is all everything else is
> just reading together computer research on what they want etc. well i
> did get some health lifepacs so they could have something in front of
> them mostly to make sure i dont forget anything. :)

Forget anything? Do you remember everything you learned from your
education? They are going to learn what they need to learn when they
need to learn it.


> my oldest has to
> be threatened with grounding from the xbox and mo-ped to get him to
> bathe. :)

How old is this child and how often are you requiring him to bathe?
My son isn't much interested in bathing often, yet because it isn't an
issue he doesn't have to be threatened or coerced to bathe when he
gets smelly or dirt encrusted (please note that he rarely is dirt
encrusted :-) ) Usually a simple reminder that the rest of the family
would appreciate note smelling his body odors is enough for him to
find a time to bathe.

> i dont feel like i am in my happy place right now. i know what i
> want but i also know it wont happen now. i am very impatient and
> distressed about money (303$ electric bill) it is rubbing off on
> them.

OK, I'm going to go be thankful for my $230 electric bill. And I"m
going to stop preaching about turning out the lights all the time and
just do it when I see an unecessary light on. :-)

>i need my own life and they need me to have one.

Can't you have a life together? If you feel like you need some "alone
time" then find a way to make that happen. Perhaps an early morning
walk around the neighborhood (which is a great remedy for stress to
boot), or have a girlfriend come pick you up and go out for a lunch or
just to have a cup of tea at her house. Find out what your bus routes
are and what kind of bus passes are available. If the electric bill
is overwhelming call the electric company before it becomes past due
and see if they have an assistance program or can come do a home
inspection to see how you can reduce (for not much money) your
electric waste (sealing doors and windows, using compact flourescent
bulbs, changing the temperature on your hot water heater for maximum
efficiency, what temperature to set your a/c on so that it runs less
and you get cooling power better during that time, etc etc etc) These
are usually free and sometimes they even have specials that if you
purchase the recommended things from them you get a deep discount
(like caulking for windows and foam insulation around doors).

--
Michelle
aka Melbrigða
http://eventualknitting.blogspot.com
[email protected] - Homeschooling for the Medieval Recreationist