earthmomma31

I wanted to post an intro here tonight. I have lots of time after my
sis's wedding this weekend to ponder what is unschooling and how to
go about doing it or not doing it as I really have only a vague idea
about what it is.

I'm Laura, 34 yrs at home momma to Kirsten 10 yrs, Brooke 5 yrs,
Connor 2 yrs and Joshua 9 months and wife to my husband Michael.

I homeschooled myself through 2 yrs of high school and I have a
massive love of learning. To this day I am a library hound peeling
books off shelves of stuff I will never even do but want to learn
about. I liked school(or should I say education) I loved
homeschooling a million times more, working at my own pace etc. My
mom told me I would grow up and be a doctor. I even went to college
majoring in pre-med and dropped out because I only want to be a mom
have lots of kids and stay at home. I am organized self-motivated and
completely lost.

My oldest daughter Kirsten went to public school in Kindergarten. We
were told by her teacher the first week she was slow and needed
special classes for speech. We had her tested and not only did she
NOT need any special help she tested several grades above in
comprehension with understanding topics of conversation well above
her years. Despite this, her evaluations showed her behind the class
in reading, phonetics the whole year. By her first grade year, third
week I had enough of the next teacher and pulled her out of PS to
teach her myself.

I first did nothing with her for a month. Then apparently I made a
mistake and start her with book learning, from lifepacs to the well
trained mind, rod and staff, I tried a lot including unit studies as
well. She bucked me the whole time. She hates her schoolwork, hates
learning the stuff I am trying to cram down her throat despite the
idea that everybody has to learn this. She is not like me but very
much like her dad who hated schoolwork too.

Then the other day she forgot something and I said to her that she
was younger than me and should be able to remember things better than
me. Her reply was that her head was too filled with all the useless
stuff I make her do during school and thats why she forgot.

And that's when the light bulb went on in my head. My last brain cell
began to tick. I remember about some fanatical idea of unschooling
and here I am. I have a limited understanding of what it is about and
thus I will peruse former messages in order to not ask many
repetitive questions that may clog up the list.

She is a huge fan of the library and often checks out many, many
books, even needing more bags because her backpack only holds the
first forty or so books she checks out. She checks out a good amount
of non-fiction as well as fiction and loves to read. I think there is
where I will start and just leave her to do her own thing right now.
She also loves weather related phenomena and twisters, tornados. Her
dad has plans in the works to take her storm chasing after she turns
12 yrs old.

My hopes is that I haven't screwed up her thirst for knowledge too
much and that I can learn what she wants to learn and what if
anything I need to do to encourage that.

I forgot to introduce our pets, Kirsten has 3 house rabbits(2 girls
and one boy)(we initially thought we had three boys but thats another
story all together) and we also have 3 guinea pigs. House rabbits are
domesticated rabbits that have free range of our home much like cats
and dogs do. The guinea pig girls get out of their habitat to run at
night too.

All our pet friends are rescues. We cloth diaper the rabbits and
guinea pigs. Which is another fun topic that completely astounds
people. No they don't wear the cloth diapers. The prefolds line the
bottom of their litter pans which then is covered with timothy hay.
All three rabbits and guinea pigs have habitats I built from organize
its from target and coroplast from a local plant. You can see the
ideas from cavycages.com. It wasn't my idea but it works for us. The
rabbits then retreat there if the kids get too loud or they want a
break. Their habitats are lined with fleece blankets over cotton
ones. Those we change every other day. The litter pan liners we
change everyday.

My husband is a union firefighter and works every third day for 24
hours. He is building his photography business during his off time.

I am already considered radical by my family, friends and neighbors,
for growing my own garden, homeschooling, not circing the boys,
homeschooling, breastfeeding, cloth diapering, brewing our own
beer/cordials, staying at home and raising my kids, not vaxing etc. I
used to being way out there in my way of thinking outside the box. I
am pretty sure now they'll think I left the galaxy but that doesn't
bother me in the least.

I am really looking forward to learning here.

Laura
earthmomma in Wisconsin

Schafer Vanessa

Hi Laura,

Welcome to the group!!! I am Vanessa, mom to 2, a son
Tyler who will be 12, and a daughter Alexandra, who
will be 10 in a couple of months.

We have been unschooling since September of last year.
The group is great and has lots of good people
willing to help. We live in Michigan.


--- earthmomma31 <earthmomma@...> wrote:

> I wanted to post an intro here tonight. I have lots
> of time after my
> sis's wedding this weekend to ponder what is
> unschooling and how to
> go about doing it or not doing it as I really have
> only a vague idea
> about what it is.
>
> I'm Laura, 34 yrs at home momma to Kirsten 10 yrs,
> Brooke 5 yrs,
> Connor 2 yrs and Joshua 9 months and wife to my
> husband Michael.
>
> I homeschooled myself through 2 yrs of high school
> and I have a
> massive love of learning. To this day I am a library
> hound peeling
> books off shelves of stuff I will never even do but
> want to learn
> about. I liked school(or should I say education) I
> loved
> homeschooling a million times more, working at my
> own pace etc. My
> mom told me I would grow up and be a doctor. I even
> went to college
> majoring in pre-med and dropped out because I only
> want to be a mom
> have lots of kids and stay at home. I am organized
> self-motivated and
> completely lost.
>
> My oldest daughter Kirsten went to public school in
> Kindergarten. We
> were told by her teacher the first week she was slow
> and needed
> special classes for speech. We had her tested and
> not only did she
> NOT need any special help she tested several grades
> above in
> comprehension with understanding topics of
> conversation well above
> her years. Despite this, her evaluations showed her
> behind the class
> in reading, phonetics the whole year. By her first
> grade year, third
> week I had enough of the next teacher and pulled her
> out of PS to
> teach her myself.
>
> I first did nothing with her for a month. Then
> apparently I made a
> mistake and start her with book learning, from
> lifepacs to the well
> trained mind, rod and staff, I tried a lot including
> unit studies as
> well. She bucked me the whole time. She hates her
> schoolwork, hates
> learning the stuff I am trying to cram down her
> throat despite the
> idea that everybody has to learn this. She is not
> like me but very
> much like her dad who hated schoolwork too.
>
> Then the other day she forgot something and I said
> to her that she
> was younger than me and should be able to remember
> things better than
> me. Her reply was that her head was too filled with
> all the useless
> stuff I make her do during school and thats why she
> forgot.
>
> And that's when the light bulb went on in my head.
> My last brain cell
> began to tick. I remember about some fanatical idea
> of unschooling
> and here I am. I have a limited understanding of
> what it is about and
> thus I will peruse former messages in order to not
> ask many
> repetitive questions that may clog up the list.
>
> She is a huge fan of the library and often checks
> out many, many
> books, even needing more bags because her backpack
> only holds the
> first forty or so books she checks out. She checks
> out a good amount
> of non-fiction as well as fiction and loves to read.
> I think there is
> where I will start and just leave her to do her own
> thing right now.
> She also loves weather related phenomena and
> twisters, tornados. Her
> dad has plans in the works to take her storm chasing
> after she turns
> 12 yrs old.
>
> My hopes is that I haven't screwed up her thirst for
> knowledge too
> much and that I can learn what she wants to learn
> and what if
> anything I need to do to encourage that.
>
> I forgot to introduce our pets, Kirsten has 3 house
> rabbits(2 girls
> and one boy)(we initially thought we had three boys
> but thats another
> story all together) and we also have 3 guinea pigs.
> House rabbits are
> domesticated rabbits that have free range of our
> home much like cats
> and dogs do. The guinea pig girls get out of their
> habitat to run at
> night too.
>
> All our pet friends are rescues. We cloth diaper the
> rabbits and
> guinea pigs. Which is another fun topic that
> completely astounds
> people. No they don't wear the cloth diapers. The
> prefolds line the
> bottom of their litter pans which then is covered
> with timothy hay.
> All three rabbits and guinea pigs have habitats I
> built from organize
> its from target and coroplast from a local plant.
> You can see the
> ideas from cavycages.com. It wasn't my idea but it
> works for us. The
> rabbits then retreat there if the kids get too loud
> or they want a
> break. Their habitats are lined with fleece blankets
> over cotton
> ones. Those we change every other day. The litter
> pan liners we
> change everyday.
>
> My husband is a union firefighter and works every
> third day for 24
> hours. He is building his photography business
> during his off time.
>
> I am already considered radical by my family,
> friends and neighbors,
> for growing my own garden, homeschooling, not
> circing the boys,
> homeschooling, breastfeeding, cloth diapering,
> brewing our own
> beer/cordials, staying at home and raising my kids,
> not vaxing etc. I
> used to being way out there in my way of thinking
> outside the box. I
> am pretty sure now they'll think I left the galaxy
> but that doesn't
> bother me in the least.
>
> I am really looking forward to learning here.
>
> Laura
> earthmomma in Wisconsin
>
>




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earthmomma31

--- In [email protected], "Brian & Alexandra
Polikowsky" <polykow@...> wrote
> Laura,
> have you read John Holt??
> Where are you in WI? I am in MN and go to WI a lot.
> Alex

We live in Beloit, south central/ stateline Illinios. Roughly 45 due
south minutes from Madison.

Laura
earthmomma in Wisconsin

Brian & Alexandra Polikowsky

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Then the other day she forgot something and I said to her that she
was younger than me and should be able to remember things better than
me. Her reply was that her head was too filled with all the useless
stuff I make her do during school and thats why she forgot.<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

YOur dd is awesome! I had to LOL at her statment.
Alex




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

Brian & Alexandra Polikowsky

Laura,
have you read John Holt??
Where are you in WI? I am in MN and go to WI a lot.
Alex



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