Unschooling's Rag-tag classroom
Michelle Leifur Reid
(With many apologies to Martin Bell)
I think that unschool mom must be very old and very tired.... She's
been on the march a long time, you know. And look at her rag-tag
little classroom! All she has has for pupils are you and me. Dumb
little class. Listen! The drum beat isn't even regular. Everyone is
out of step. And there! You see? She keeps stopping along the way to
pick up one of her tinier pupils who decided to wander off and play
with a frog, or run in a field, or whose foot got tangled in the
underbrush. She will never get anywhere that way. And yet, the march
goes on.
Do you see how the marchers have broken up into little groups? Look at
that group up near the front. Now, there's a snappy out fit... –at
least they're in step with each other. Only they're not wearing their
shoes. They're carrying them in their hands. Silly little band. They
won't get far before mom will have to stop again.... And that group
over there. They are holding hands. Except the ones on the ends
noticed that they weren't holding another hand so the formed a circle.
They will never get anywhere that way.
*************
Whenever I think about what unschooling is all about this is the image
I get. (I adapted that from a piece of prose by Martin Bell in his
book "The Way of the Wolf" It is a collection of Christian prose,
poem and thoughts written eeek maybe 30 years ago?) Anyway, the poem
is called God's Rag-Tag Army and it truly is descriptive of our
household. If we were an unschooling army we would be marching in
circles, playing with frogs, getting caught in the underbrush, yet we
would still continue our "march" forward, getting to where we want to
get one step at a time, one adventure at a time, with no regards to
how an "army" should behave (unless, of course, we were wanting to
know how armies really behave :-D)
Michelle - waxing poetic today
--
Michelle
Michelle Leifur Reid
YOUR Pampered Chef Consultant
850-474-0817
http://www.pamperedchef.biz/michellelr
Check out my homeschool cooking classes!
I think that unschool mom must be very old and very tired.... She's
been on the march a long time, you know. And look at her rag-tag
little classroom! All she has has for pupils are you and me. Dumb
little class. Listen! The drum beat isn't even regular. Everyone is
out of step. And there! You see? She keeps stopping along the way to
pick up one of her tinier pupils who decided to wander off and play
with a frog, or run in a field, or whose foot got tangled in the
underbrush. She will never get anywhere that way. And yet, the march
goes on.
Do you see how the marchers have broken up into little groups? Look at
that group up near the front. Now, there's a snappy out fit... –at
least they're in step with each other. Only they're not wearing their
shoes. They're carrying them in their hands. Silly little band. They
won't get far before mom will have to stop again.... And that group
over there. They are holding hands. Except the ones on the ends
noticed that they weren't holding another hand so the formed a circle.
They will never get anywhere that way.
*************
Whenever I think about what unschooling is all about this is the image
I get. (I adapted that from a piece of prose by Martin Bell in his
book "The Way of the Wolf" It is a collection of Christian prose,
poem and thoughts written eeek maybe 30 years ago?) Anyway, the poem
is called God's Rag-Tag Army and it truly is descriptive of our
household. If we were an unschooling army we would be marching in
circles, playing with frogs, getting caught in the underbrush, yet we
would still continue our "march" forward, getting to where we want to
get one step at a time, one adventure at a time, with no regards to
how an "army" should behave (unless, of course, we were wanting to
know how armies really behave :-D)
Michelle - waxing poetic today
--
Michelle
Michelle Leifur Reid
YOUR Pampered Chef Consultant
850-474-0817
http://www.pamperedchef.biz/michellelr
Check out my homeschool cooking classes!