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In a message dated 10/10/2004 7:06:33 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
cherokeecain@... writes:

Hello there. I'm new to the list and I'm having a wee bit of trouble
deciphering the abv. you guys use. Would someone be so kind as to list a few of
them for me. <<<<

Was this answered? It was still in my mailbox...

DH---dear husband
DS---dear son
DD---dear daughter
LLL---La Leche League
AP---attachment parenting
LOL----laugh out loud
<g>---grinning

Those are the most common here, I guess. Any others you're struggling with?



>>>>Also do any of you have older children who aren't reading or doing math
up to what ever standard? My daughter is 10 and isn't doing either and her
peers are. (Peers that are in public school mind you). It doesn't bother me for
the most part but it would be nice to know I'm not alone because sometimes I
certainly feel it.<<<<

I have two boys, eight and 16.They do math below AND above what's considered
"standard". Unschooling is a more "organic" approach to learning. If she's
not where her peers are, it's because *she* doesn't need to be where they are.
She's pursuing other learning. Chances are, when her peers are floundering
in school, hating it and hating learning, THAT's when she'll be head and
shoulders above them. At the MINIMUM, she will still love to learn and actively
seek out questions and answers. Her peers will be avoiding both.

Ten is very young. Unschooling is very different.

I'd relax and enjoy your daughter. She has a lifetime to learn all she needs
to learn. Seriously.

~Kelly







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Cheyenne Cain

I've been fairly quite about this because I didn't feel I had anything else to add. You guys have posted such interesting things. I'm probably going to say the same things most of you have already said only different.

I don't know where most of you stand in your faith but I am a Christian. While reading my bible a while back I came across a verse that said (paraphrased by me) "knowledge alone puffs you up". Also it separates knowledge and wisdom as two separate things.

After meditating on that I began to see unschooling in a different light for my daughter and I. As a mother I am to raise her up be a wise woman, not cram her head full of data. Wisdom comes from life experience. Making wrong choices and learning etc.. While knowledge is very important it for us, it will not be an idol. By idol I mean knowledge in that cramming facts, regurgitating data type knowledge.

It freed me a great deal.

Oh....I wanted to say how much this email list has encouraged me as well. I am one of the few unschoolers in my area and I get a lot of the comments where the undertones are something along the line of "this is great Cheyenne but when are you going to start school". As a single mom I am finding my insperation to keep going in what I feel is right as far as unschooling.

So Thanks

cheyenne



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[email protected]

In a message dated 10/15/2004 8:26:11 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
cherokeecain@... writes:

I don't know where most of you stand in your faith but I am a Christian.
While reading my bible a while back I came across a verse that said (paraphrased
by me) "knowledge alone puffs you up". Also it separates knowledge and
wisdom as two separate things.

After meditating on that I began to see unschooling in a different light for
my daughter and I. As a mother I am to raise her up be a wise woman, not
cram her head full of data. Wisdom comes from life experience. Making wrong
choices and learning etc.. While knowledge is very important it for us, it will
not be an idol. By idol I mean knowledge in that cramming facts, regurgitating
data type knowledge.



Thanks for sharing this, Cheyenne. Lovely.

I have a thought that maybe knowledge was important for a brief time in
human history when we didn't have a whole world of facts at our fingertips.
Before the information age, we had to put the information in our head, acquire
knowlegde. Now we are freer to think and be (acquire wisdom) and jump on the
computer when we need a fact.

Leslie in SC


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melissazietlow

>>I don't know where most of you stand in your faith but I am a
Christian. While reading my bible a while back I came across a verse
that said (paraphrased by me) "knowledge alone puffs you up". Also
it separates knowledge and wisdom as two separate things. After
meditating on that I began to see unschooling in a different light
for my daughter and I. As a mother I am to raise her up be a wise
woman, not cram her head full of data. Wisdom comes from life
experience.

I am also a Christian, and recently had a "revelation" of the same
sort, that has quieted much of my unschooling anxiety. I was praying
for guidance; to be shown what my children need to know, and what my
role should be as they learn and grow. It came to me that all that
is required by God is what it says in the Bible. I am to raise my
children to know and love the Lord, to walk in His ways, and follow
His will for their lives. It is my responsiblity to lead them down
this path and all else is secondary. So our homeschooling
'curriculum' is church, spending time in the Bible, and sharing
devotions, and anything else the kids are interested in. Our girls
(3 & 5yo) are very independant but are really open to this, and it is
proving to be quite freeing for our family.

Cheyenne Cain

I'm a single mother of a dd 11 yrs. The father has
never been involved, a blessing I assure you. At
anyrate, I want to greatly simplify my life so I can
be home more and do more things I enjoy like growing
animals <g>. Therefore I am considering building an
offgrid self sustaining home on the back 40 (literally
<g>) of my parents porperty in SE Louisiana.
Have any of you been involved is building such a home:
stawbaled, rammed earth, earthships, yurts, etc. If s
could yu please contact me. I'm searching but want to
talk t real people too.

Cheyenne




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> Therefore I am considering building an
> offgrid self sustaining home on the back 40 (literally
> <g>) of my parents porperty in SE Louisiana.
> Have any of you been involved is building such a home:
> stawbaled, rammed earth, earthships, yurts, etc. If s
> could yu please contact me. I'm searching but want to
> talk t real people too.

There is a lesbian camp in Mississippi that has been working on various self-sustaining buildings on their property. http://www.sisterspirit.com (or maybe .org can't remember). Anyway, the owners have an earth-built building (a grotto) that I was in last summer during the highest temps of the day and it was so cool inside! I loved it! (It also had awesome acoustics and I would love to go back there and sing and do music in it!) You might check them out and see what resources they can offer.

Michelle

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In a message dated 10/19/2004 6:50:17 AM Central Standard Time,
[email protected] writes:
Have any of you been involved is building such a home:
stawbaled, rammed earth, earthships, yurts, etc. If s
could yu please contact me. I'm searching but want to
talk t real people too.
........

Hey Cheyenne,

No, not me personally, but I've been interested in this for a while as well
and have collected a few books on the subject. I eventually want to build
something out in our woods off the Trace. I've just started researching what kind
would be best to do in our Louisiana climate...so I'd love to talk w/you more
about this! Are you going to the Learning Garden Park Days in Covington? We
could talk there or you can give me a call!

Warmly,
Denise


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