mecynthiaas

Hi everyone,
I'm Cynthia, a new member and a new unschooler. I live in the Los
Angeles area, in the San Fernando Valley. This is our fifth year
homeschooling and our children are 9, 6, and 3. We've plunged into
unschooling and I sure would like to have an unschooling group! So,
taking the advice of people on this list, I sent out a message to our
local inclusive, secular homeschooling group saying that anyone who
is interested in an unschooling group should email me. The first
respondants were friends who I know teach reading, writing and math
to their kids and "unschool" the rest. I've also had two responses
from people new to the area, and I want to ask them if they
are "real" unschoolers! I feel uncomfortable doing that, but I'm not
really interested in starting a group if it's not going to be
composed of unschoolers. What do you do when non-unschoolers seem to
be the only ones who want to join your unschooling group? And how do
I tell who is who?

Cynthia

Robyn Coburn

I'm Cynthia, a new member and a new unschooler. I live in the Los
Angeles area, in the San Fernando Valley. This is our fifth year
homeschooling and our children are 9, 6, and 3. We've plunged into
unschooling and I sure would like to have an unschooling group! So,
taking the advice of people on this list, I sent out a message to our
local inclusive, secular homeschooling group saying that anyone who
is interested in an unschooling group should email me. The first
respondants were friends who I know teach reading, writing and math
to their kids and "unschool" the rest. I've also had two responses
from people new to the area, and I want to ask them if they
are "real" unschoolers! I feel uncomfortable doing that, but I'm not
really interested in starting a group if it's not going to be
composed of unschoolers. What do you do when non-unschoolers seem to
be the only ones who want to join your unschooling group? And how do
I tell who is who?>>>>>

You could try using the phrase Radical Unschoolers, and then you should get
fewer of the toe dippers.

When are you planning on meeting? I live in Playa Del Rey.

There is a group that considers itself unschoolers in the Pasadena area.
They have playgroups and outings. I gather that they also do some organized
classes, when I met up with one of the mothers, so it didn't seem as
unschooly as it first sounded. She told me, with a kind of sniff, that one
of her friends in the group had once been "flamed by Sandra" on
UnschoolingDiscussion, so I immediately had the sense that these were not a
Radical group. I took it to mean that the friend probably said something
that was not fully unschooling and got challenged on it (unless the friend
was a conversational construct and it was her).

I know there is a member of U/D that lives close to you in the Valley. If I
can track down her email addy, would you like me to pass on yours to her?

Robyn L. Coburn


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In a message dated 9/14/2004 9:55:24 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
cseid@... writes:

What do you do when non-unschoolers seem to be the only ones who want to
join your unschooling group?<<<<

Tell them, "Fine. But there will be NO discussion of curricula OR how to get
the kids to do their "work". Period."

That should scare them off pretty quickly! <g>



>> And how do I tell who is who?<<<

Ask which curriculum she uses. If she looks at you sideways, you have an
unschooler. <g>

~Kelly





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

nellebelle

>> And how do I tell who is who?<<<
Ask which curriculum she uses. If she looks at you sideways, you have an
unschooler. <g>>>>>

When I was new to this neighborhood and not yet considering homeschooling, I asked my next door neighbor if her daughter (the same age as mine, 4) would be going to preschool in the fall. She got huffy and said no and she was tired of people asking her that. I said I was so glad to finally meet someone else whose child wasn't going to preschool! (Unfortunately this neighbor does buy heavily into school once the kids are 5)

Sometimes you just have to ask!

Mary Ellen

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

Crystal

What do you do when non-unschoolers seem to be the only ones who
want to join your unschooling group? And how do I tell who is who? --
Cynthia

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I would post the mission of the group. If the main focus is to be
play, then post that you are starting an Unschooling Play Group. My
kids belonged to a game group. It was posted that it was to be for
the kids to play games and that no school work was allowed. If the
group is more for you to meet other unschooling moms, then post it
as an Unschooler's Chat where the kids can play, too. Being
specific will exclude some, but that's what you want anyway.

Crystal

jenneferh2000

> What do you do when non-unschoolers seem to be the only ones who
> want to join your unschooling group?

Well, I guess you just have to politely point out that it is a group
exclusively for unschoolers and decline their 'membership' if they're
not. One thing that I did in my description of the yahoo group I
created was to specifically state that it was NOT a homeschooling
list. Then, that stops homeschoolers from inquiring. Or so it's
supposed to. It may be that you have to wait awhile before a good
core group of unschoolers join your group. Unless you are lucky to
live in a heavily unschooling populated area.

>And how do I tell who is who?

Maybe we could all come up with a list 'You know you are an
unschooler when...'

-Jennefer
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EugeneAreaUnschoolers