ladyslinky

Though I am pretty sure we are not ready to claim Radical Unschooling
I think we are finally to the point I am comfortable saying we
unschool. We do have some workbooks that dd6 does but she likes them
except the coloring part as she has never been into coloring so we
skip that or do it different like circling what is suppose to be
colored or making a mark through it and its her choice to do them or
not. I will sometimes suggest them when she is bored but thats because
she seems to like them better then most the other "usual" suggestions
like coloring or painting and such.

Dd13 has discovered teen second life. She has gotten so good at making
stuff. I tried second life a couple years ago and was so frustrated by
the building and such that I had to give it up as it was NOT FUN. She
has had all sorts of different in world jobs and I am so impressed
with all the cool things she has been making. She has been making
vendors for a shop she works for so she can sell the stuff she is
making and everything. Its so cool and since I just did not get it
there is no way for me to ruin it by trying to teach her or show her.
I do have to be careful and rein in the marketing degree and my father
the marketing profs little voice who wants to lecture about all sorts
of market strategy and other such stuff that will suck the joy right
out of it.

DD13 and I got the twilight series for the holidays. She has already
consumed 2 of the books and I am not sure how far through 3 she is.

DD6 is discovering the world of mabinogi which is a bit of a
frustration as there is a ton of reading involved and she does not
like to read that sort of thing yet. Too many words and takes too long
and is too frustrating. It would be less of a problem if I didn't have
an almost constant sour throat this winter. I think she mostly wants
to play because mom does and for a while DD13 did too.

The other day she made a set of stairs with the encyclopedias and
after walking up and down that a few times she actually started look
IN them and then would have me read to her what some things were!

Krisula Moyer

I think the point at which you can look at your kids and enjoy all the
cool things you see them doing (instead of seeing all the things you
think they should be doing) is an important milestone in the path of
unschooling. I enjoyed hearing about all the fun things they are up to.

Make sure you don't miss out on your part, that is, figure out what's
fun and enjoyable to them about what they are doing and join them or
offer things that you know they would enjoy based on what you've
observed. Just to take an example, The dd building a staircase with
the encyclopedias might enjoy some BIG building blocks, or a set of
dominoes to set up and knock down? It would be a mistake to look at
that and think the part where she was reading the books was more
valuable than the part where she was stacking them.

If dd13 is half way through book 3 of the twilight series she might
enjoy making Bella's bracelet from items at the craft store or online
- Maybe she would enjoy carving her own Jacob's wolf, or <gasp>
learning to ride a motorcycle? Actually, we have had a number of
really enjoyable conversations while reading the Twilight books.
While I got all swept away by the romance the self possessed
homeschoolers I know said they would never put up with Edward's
controlling behavior! I was so thrilled to hear their thoughts on the
matter - so different from what I hear from the schooled teens of my
acquaintance.

Krisula

Kelly Lovejoy

-----Original Message-----
From: ladyslinky <lady_slinky@...>

The other day she made a set of stairs with the encyclopedias and
after walking up and down that a few times she actually started look
IN them and then would have me read to her what some things were!

-=-=-=-=-

That's one of those weird things that happens when you let children use things in a way they weren't intended.



Had you insisted that she *read* the books, she may never have opened them with interest. But being able to explore them how *she* saw fit enabled her to come to them in her own time.




Can you imagine how many parents/teachers would have insisted that she NOT walk on books?! As we all know: books are for reading, *not* enjoying! <g>


~Kelly













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da Slinky

lol It reminded me of when I was a kid and would make race tracks for my brothers cars using the encyclopedias. and would sit and read about the flags and things in them. I had 2 brothers so we mostly had boy toys. I also liked to read textbooks and sometimes bought them from used book sales but then dad was a professor.




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