Dealing with anxiety about unschooling
jennifercroce37
Hi, I am new to this group and am considering unschooling my daughter next year, she will be in 2nd grade. I have been doing a lot of research on homeschooling and feel unschooling will be the best approach for us. I am very excited about doing this next year and have already started to unschool her when she is home. I don't feel ready to take it on full time yet so she is finishing 1st grade at school.
My question is, are there times, especially when you are first starting out, that you question if this is the right thing to do and if your child will learn what they need to? Most of the time I feel very confident that this is the right choice, but then out of no where I'll get this terrible feeling that I can't do it and that I should send her to school again next year.
Any advice would be appreciated!
Thanks,
Jen
My question is, are there times, especially when you are first starting out, that you question if this is the right thing to do and if your child will learn what they need to? Most of the time I feel very confident that this is the right choice, but then out of no where I'll get this terrible feeling that I can't do it and that I should send her to school again next year.
Any advice would be appreciated!
Thanks,
Jen
DJ250
Hi, Jen,
You are getting that "terrible feeling " from out of nowhere because you are considering doing something out of the norm and something for which you feel you and your family will be judged. It will pass (or gradually become alleviated!) as soon as you meet other unschoolers in real life, read some great books about unschooling, look at a couple of great sites (www.joyfullyrejoycing.com and www.sandradodd.com/unschooling), and see the joy with which your child greets life once she is free!!
Where do you live?
~Melissa, in MD :)
You are getting that "terrible feeling " from out of nowhere because you are considering doing something out of the norm and something for which you feel you and your family will be judged. It will pass (or gradually become alleviated!) as soon as you meet other unschoolers in real life, read some great books about unschooling, look at a couple of great sites (www.joyfullyrejoycing.com and www.sandradodd.com/unschooling), and see the joy with which your child greets life once she is free!!
Where do you live?
~Melissa, in MD :)
----- Original Message -----
From: jennifercroce37
To: [email protected]
Sent: Monday, March 16, 2009 9:38 PM
Subject: [unschoolingbasics] Dealing with anxiety about unschooling
Hi, I am new to this group and am considering unschooling my daughter next year, she will be in 2nd grade. I have been doing a lot of research on homeschooling and feel unschooling will be the best approach for us. I am very excited about doing this next year and have already started to unschool her when she is home. I don't feel ready to take it on full time yet so she is finishing 1st grade at school.
My question is, are there times, especially when you are first starting out, that you question if this is the right thing to do and if your child will learn what they need to? Most of the time I feel very confident that this is the right choice, but then out of no where I'll get this terrible feeling that I can't do it and that I should send her to school again next year.
Any advice would be appreciated!
Thanks,
Jen
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Meredith
--- In [email protected], "jennifercroce37" <jennifercroce37@...> wrote:
Of course! You've been bombarded with propaganda your whole life saying that school is where people learn what they need to know - those tapes are going to keep playing in your head for awhile.
One of the things that helped me, early on, to combat those messages, was to think about what sorts of things kids really Need to know, given that I can't possibly know what my kids will want to do as adults. Problem solving, communication, to know their own strengths, to know that they are wonderful, worthwhile people... nope, school doesn't teach any of those.
---Meredith (Mo 7, Ray 15)
>> My question is, are there times, especially when you are first starting out, that you question if this is the right thing to do and if your child will learn what they need to?**************************
Of course! You've been bombarded with propaganda your whole life saying that school is where people learn what they need to know - those tapes are going to keep playing in your head for awhile.
One of the things that helped me, early on, to combat those messages, was to think about what sorts of things kids really Need to know, given that I can't possibly know what my kids will want to do as adults. Problem solving, communication, to know their own strengths, to know that they are wonderful, worthwhile people... nope, school doesn't teach any of those.
---Meredith (Mo 7, Ray 15)
Rala Brubaker
Hi Jen,
I am new to the group and unschooling also. I didn't feel ready to jump right in either but my kids did so off we went. We are on week 2 now and it is already getting better. The first week was really tough! Both kids melted down off and on, the dh constantly threatened to send them back to school whenever they didn't comply immediately with either one of us and I was a total wreck. Exhausted, rushing around to cancel every appointment I already had set up for the next several weeks and petrified I was going to totally screw them up.
Lucky me, week 2 has calmed down a lot, we have met a homeschooling family that both of my kids really like and we are headed off to Hawaii to relax and play. Today my daughter (7) just started reciting her times tables that she clearly learned cause we play a "how many more kisses" game at bedtime and I happen to use math language when asking how many more kisses I can get...Its all getting better and easier and whenever I am freaking out I just remind myself that it is so much better and easier if i step back and do what they need in the moment...then i can get what i need.
Good Luck, have fun and L'Chaim ( or "To Life")
Rala
I am new to the group and unschooling also. I didn't feel ready to jump right in either but my kids did so off we went. We are on week 2 now and it is already getting better. The first week was really tough! Both kids melted down off and on, the dh constantly threatened to send them back to school whenever they didn't comply immediately with either one of us and I was a total wreck. Exhausted, rushing around to cancel every appointment I already had set up for the next several weeks and petrified I was going to totally screw them up.
Lucky me, week 2 has calmed down a lot, we have met a homeschooling family that both of my kids really like and we are headed off to Hawaii to relax and play. Today my daughter (7) just started reciting her times tables that she clearly learned cause we play a "how many more kisses" game at bedtime and I happen to use math language when asking how many more kisses I can get...Its all getting better and easier and whenever I am freaking out I just remind myself that it is so much better and easier if i step back and do what they need in the moment...then i can get what i need.
Good Luck, have fun and L'Chaim ( or "To Life")
Rala
--- On Tue, 3/17/09, DJ250 <dj250@...> wrote:
From: DJ250 <dj250@...>
Subject: Re: [unschoolingbasics] Dealing with anxiety about unschooling
To: [email protected]
Date: Tuesday, March 17, 2009, 7:25 PM
Hi, Jen,
You are getting that "terrible feeling " from out of nowhere because you are considering doing something out of the norm and something for which you feel you and your family will be judged. It will pass (or gradually become alleviated!) as soon as you meet other unschoolers in real life, read some great books about unschooling, look at a couple of great sites (www.joyfullyrejoyc ing.com and www.sandradodd. com/unschooling) , and see the joy with which your child greets life once she is free!!
Where do you live?
~Melissa, in MD :)
----- Original Message -----
From: jennifercroce37
To: unschoolingbasics@ yahoogroups. com
Sent: Monday, March 16, 2009 9:38 PM
Subject: [unschoolingbasics] Dealing with anxiety about unschooling
Hi, I am new to this group and am considering unschooling my daughter next year, she will be in 2nd grade. I have been doing a lot of research on homeschooling and feel unschooling will be the best approach for us. I am very excited about doing this next year and have already started to unschool her when she is home. I don't feel ready to take it on full time yet so she is finishing 1st grade at school.
My question is, are there times, especially when you are first starting out, that you question if this is the right thing to do and if your child will learn what they need to? Most of the time I feel very confident that this is the right choice, but then out of no where I'll get this terrible feeling that I can't do it and that I should send her to school again next year.
Any advice would be appreciated!
Thanks,
Jen
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Schuyler
Last night David, Linnaea and I cuddled up and watched a documentary program on education in the UK (it's here, although I don't know if you can watch it from the U.S., http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00jbppp/Horizon_20082009_Who_Do_You_Want_Your_Child_to_Be/). The very first thing said in the program was: "Every year millions of children are subjected to the ultimate experiment: we send them to school." Maybe if you think about the fact that school itself is an experiment, it will help to calm the fears you may have about the unschooling experiment you are about to take your daughter down.
Choosing how to take a child from infancy to adulthood is a scary thing when you decide to opt out of the mainstream choice. It feels like you are gambling. But everybody is gambling, some just aren't examining their choices as much as others. I would recommend keeping a diary, a blog, a scrapbook anything filled with the engaging moments that make up your days and that help you to see how it is working. And when you feel fear or nervousness growing about this grand experiment you are on, flip through the pages of this journal and really see how your life with your daughter is being woven into a rich and glorious tapestry.
Schuyler
________________________________
From: jennifercroce37 <jennifercroce37@...>
Hi, I am new to this group and am considering unschooling my daughter next year, she will be in 2nd grade. I have been doing a lot of research on homeschooling and feel unschooling will be the best approach for us. I am very excited about doing this next year and have already started to unschool her when she is home. I don't feel ready to take it on full time yet so she is finishing 1st grade at school.
My question is, are there times, especially when you are first starting out, that you question if this is the right thing to do and if your child will learn what they need to? Most of the time I feel very confident that this is the right choice, but then out of no where I'll get this terrible feeling that I can't do it and that I should send her to school again next year.
Any advice would be appreciated!
Thanks,
Jen
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Yahoo! Groups Links
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Choosing how to take a child from infancy to adulthood is a scary thing when you decide to opt out of the mainstream choice. It feels like you are gambling. But everybody is gambling, some just aren't examining their choices as much as others. I would recommend keeping a diary, a blog, a scrapbook anything filled with the engaging moments that make up your days and that help you to see how it is working. And when you feel fear or nervousness growing about this grand experiment you are on, flip through the pages of this journal and really see how your life with your daughter is being woven into a rich and glorious tapestry.
Schuyler
________________________________
From: jennifercroce37 <jennifercroce37@...>
Hi, I am new to this group and am considering unschooling my daughter next year, she will be in 2nd grade. I have been doing a lot of research on homeschooling and feel unschooling will be the best approach for us. I am very excited about doing this next year and have already started to unschool her when she is home. I don't feel ready to take it on full time yet so she is finishing 1st grade at school.
My question is, are there times, especially when you are first starting out, that you question if this is the right thing to do and if your child will learn what they need to? Most of the time I feel very confident that this is the right choice, but then out of no where I'll get this terrible feeling that I can't do it and that I should send her to school again next year.
Any advice would be appreciated!
Thanks,
Jen
------------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]