Mike & Denise Radakovitz

Hi all. I’m Denise and live in Holland, MI with dh, Mike, dd, Sienna (6),
and ds, Nicholas (4).



I love the idea of unschooling, but have to first learn how to deschool
myself. I’m always fighting that feeling of “we should be doing…” I just
read an article in “Live Free Learn Free” (Nov/Dec’05) that suggested
forgetting about what you are NOT doing and focusing instead on what you ARE
doing…this is really helpful to me. Also knowing that everyday isn’t going
to be a perfect day! Plus I need to get over the “what will other people
think?” (ie, grandparents, neighbors, etc.) I always have this panicky
feeling when my 6-yo dd says to me “I’m going out to play mom” at 9 in the
morning (“but shouldn’t we “do school” first I think?) Why?



Okay, more about me and my family. I’ve been a LLL Leader for 3 ½ years and
am a certified birth doula (although I’m not actively attending births). I
love to knit and go for nature hikes. My son loves playing with water and
dirt and doing exactly the opposite of what you ask him to do. My daughter
is into ballet and loves doing artwork. Together their favorite pastime is
arguing with each (I’m an only child so this whole sibling thing is quite
baffling to me). My hubby enjoys riding his recumbent bike, messing around
with electronics, and playing guitar. As a family, we love to ride our
tandem bikes to local parks, walk to the beach for breakfast (we live about
a ¼ mile from Lk Mich), and we just got a piano and are using the Stewart
Method to learn piano together at home. We’re also huge fans of
Kindermusik, both my kids just LOVE going and one of my co-leaders
own/operates Kindermusik of Holland…can’t say enough about it.



Lastly, I am trying to breath life into an online support group for west
Michigan called “West Michigan Eclectic Homeschoolers.” There is a huge
homeschooling population in W Mich, but the vast majority, imo, belong to
the CRC and homeschool strictly for religious purposes. It seems most are
very curriculum centered. This online group I’ve started is an inclusive
group and I’m hoping to attract various flavors of unschoolers from the
area.



Glad to be a part of this group. Looking forward to learning more about how
others turn everyday experiences into learning opportunities.



Denise







[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[email protected]

>>Glad to be a part of this group.>>

We're glad you're here. Welcome!

>> Looking forward to learning more about how others turn everyday experiences into learning opportunities.>>

That's the beauty of unschooling, everyday experiences *are* learning experiences! You don't have to work at that part.

If kids are looking, touching, reading, smelling, messing with, tasting, listening, feeling, thinking, writing, drawing, pondering or questioning-they're learning. Our job is to keep strewing their path with more and more opportunities to check out new things, ideas, places, tastes, people, sounds, etc. and to facilitate their exploration and understanding of the world.

The one thing we should try to avoid, IMO, is the temptation to turn fun or playful activities boring or undesirable by trying for "learning opportunities".
--
~Mary
http://zenmommasgarden.blogspot.com/

"The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the
green earth, dwelling deeply in the present moment and feeling truly
alive."
~Thich Nhat Hanh

Rebecca De Hate

--- In [email protected], "Mike & Denise Radakovitz"
<mdradak@...> wrote:
>
>
> Lastly, I am trying to breath life into an online support group
for west
> Michigan called "West Michigan Eclectic Homeschoolers." There is
a huge
> homeschooling population in W Mich, but the vast majority, imo,


Hello Denise,

My name is Rebecca and I am also new to this group and so far I am
loving all the information I am gleaning. Unfortunately, this week
I attempted to have my son go to headstart (against my own instinct
because I felt obligated, since I signed him up a year ago...)
Anyway I had him get on the bus the first 2 days but by the third
day when he truly did not want to go -- I didn't force it. And if I
had to do it over I wouldn't not have even did it the first day.
Anyway, lesson learned and now I'm delving totally whole heartly
into this whole unschooling thought.

Now, I am from Clio MI just north of Flint and so far have not
quite found a good Homeschooling group. but your support group
sounded great -- think you could let me in??? I will see if I can
find you .. and ask there too... anyway I am glad to hear from one
more Michigander. I have a friend (from Pontiac, MI) who has
homeschooled/unschooled her child since lastly was young and now she
is 13 and I think she is one of the most unique, loving, amazing
girl I have ever met. So even though I just got a degree in
Elementary education, I'm pretty much going to say to heck with the
traditional....

OK, OK I realize i'm babbling...

becca

April Morris

Welcome, Denise! We have an unschooling yahoo list in Michigan. You can find
us here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/michigan_unschoolers/ We have quite
a few members from
your side of the State!
--
~April
Mom to Kate-20, Lisa-17, Karl-15, & Ben-11.
*REACH Homeschool Grp, an inclusive group in Oakland County
http://www.reachhomeschool.com
* Michigan Unschoolers
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/michigan_unschoolers/
*Check out Chuck's art www.artkunst23.com
"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us."
Gandalf the Grey

On 9/15/06, Mike & Denise Radakovitz <mdradak@...> wrote:
>
> Hi all. I'm Denise and live in Holland, MI with dh, Mike, dd, Sienna
> (6),
> and ds, Nicholas (4).
>
> I love the idea of unschooling, but have to first learn how to deschool
> myself. I'm always fighting that feeling of "we should be doing�" I just
> read an article in "Live Free Learn Free" (Nov/Dec'05) that suggested
> forgetting about what you are NOT doing and focusing instead on what you
> ARE
> doing�this is really helpful to me. Also knowing that everyday isn't going
> to be a perfect day! Plus I need to get over the "what will other people
> think?" (ie, grandparents, neighbors, etc.) I always have this panicky
> feeling when my 6-yo dd says to me "I'm going out to play mom" at 9 in the
> morning ("but shouldn't we "do school" first I think?) Why?
>
> Okay, more about me and my family. I've been a LLL Leader for 3 � years
> and
> am a certified birth doula (although I'm not actively attending births). I
> love to knit and go for nature hikes. My son loves playing with water and
> dirt and doing exactly the opposite of what you ask him to do. My daughter
> is into ballet and loves doing artwork. Together their favorite pastime is
> arguing with each (I'm an only child so this whole sibling thing is quite
> baffling to me). My hubby enjoys riding his recumbent bike, messing around
> with electronics, and playing guitar. As a family, we love to ride our
> tandem bikes to local parks, walk to the beach for breakfast (we live
> about
> a � mile from Lk Mich), and we just got a piano and are using the Stewart
> Method to learn piano together at home. We're also huge fans of
> Kindermusik, both my kids just LOVE going and one of my co-leaders
> own/operates Kindermusik of Holland�can't say enough about it.
>
> Lastly, I am trying to breath life into an online support group for west
> Michigan called "West Michigan Eclectic Homeschoolers." There is a huge
> homeschooling population in W Mich, but the vast majority, imo, belong to
> the CRC and homeschool strictly for religious purposes. It seems most are
> very curriculum centered. This online group I've started is an inclusive
> group and I'm hoping to attract various flavors of unschoolers from the
> area.
>
> Glad to be a part of this group. Looking forward to learning more about
> how
> others turn everyday experiences into learning opportunities.
>
> Denise
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Denise

--- In [email protected], "April Morris" <klkb624@...>
wrote:
>
> Welcome, Denise! We have an unschooling yahoo list in Michigan. You
can find
> us here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/michigan_unschoolers/ We
have quite
> a few members from
> your side of the State!

Wow! Thanks for such a warm welcome everyone! I will definitely
check this out.
Denise

Denise

Thanks Mary...I think I might post your words on fridge for this month
as a reminder to myself. Seems like if I keep recharging my batteries
through daily reminders of where I want to be I do much better, I
don't lose sight of whats really important quite so easily.
Denise

>
> That's the beauty of unschooling, everyday experiences *are*
learning experiences! You don't have to work at that part.
>
> If kids are looking, touching, reading, smelling, messing with,
tasting, listening, feeling, thinking, writing, drawing, pondering or
questioning-they're learning. Our job is to keep strewing their path
with more and more opportunities to check out new things, ideas,
places, tastes, people, sounds, etc. and to facilitate their
exploration and understanding of the world.
>
> The one thing we should try to avoid, IMO, is the temptation to turn
fun or playful activities boring or undesirable by trying for
"learning opportunities".
> --
> ~Mary
> http://zenmommasgarden.blogspot.com/
>
> "The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the
> green earth, dwelling deeply in the present moment and feeling truly
> alive."
> ~Thich Nhat Hanh
>