N CONFER

The people you have been meeting are homeschoolers, not unschoolers. Of course, they can call themselves whatever they like but, just to clarify for you, they are not unschooling. 
If you are dividing the world into "educational activities" and the rest of the world, you haven't made it to unschooling yet.
If you "do educational activities," you aren't unschooling. You are homeschooling.
Which is fine. If that is what you want, there is no reason to change a thing. But you won't get the information here that it seems you are looking for -- how to be a happy unschooler.
One story, then you can delete and forget what I've said, if you want. :) 
I run a private/umbrella school for hsers in FL. Not all of them are unschoolers but many are. I just handle the paperwork side of things but sometimes a Mom will ask me what I think about what they are doing.
A new Mom asked me recently about this curriculum and that activity and fighting with her son to get him to write, etc. The usual things. 
She asked for my advice and I gave her the following thought:
"STOOOOOOOOOOOPPPPPPPPPP."
It is 90 here in FL. It is summer. They just left school a few months ago. The rest of my advice was along the lines of:  Stop tryingto do school, put all that stuff away and enjoy life. Read about all the different approaches to hsing. Go to the beach. Discuss options with son. Go to beach. Ease into doing any formal activities, if you decide that's the way to go. Go to beach. Relax. Enjoy! 
And I say the same thing to you. Stop comparing yourself to your "unschooling" friends. Stop trying to do school at home some of the time and unschool the rest of the time. Just live. Do what you enjoy. Do what the children enjoy. Go to the beach. :)
Really.  Learning will sort itself out if you give it a chance but if you are still on the school treadmill, it will never have a chance.
Do less school. Enjoy more life. 
Nance


Well, everyone I meet locally who says they unschool actually spend a great deal of time doing educational activities and they buy TONS of educational stuff - some to have around in case their kids want it but a lot of it because the parents hope their kids will do it. They tell me they're unschooling and I think "Wow, am I being lazy? I mostly let the kids play and do things they want to do". We do a lot together, too, but it's stuff they want to do.
So on the spectrum for unschoolers, do you think this group represents the far extreme of unschooling or the typical unschooler, and maybe I've only been meeting unschoolers who are on the "schooling" side of the spectrum? (I do live in a high-achieving area.)

Or did I maybe just confuse the group because I talked about the things I WAS doing educationally- wise rather than all the unschooling stuff we do?

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

Ren Allen

~~Go to the beach. Discuss options with son. Go to beach. Ease into doing any formal activities, if you decide that's the way to go. Go to beach. Relax. Enjoy! ~~


I think that should be the standard unschooling response to parent fears; "go to the beach" or if they're more conservative do it in a manly voice "thou shalt go to the beach". ;)

There should definitely be some Jimmy Buffet playing softly in the background too...."wasting away again in Margaritaville....."

Ren
radicalunschooling.blogspot.com

[email protected]

I'll work on my manly voice. :)

It really is soothing. We went yesterday. :)

Nance


--- In [email protected], "Ren Allen" <starsuncloud@...> wrote:
>
> ~~Go to the beach. Discuss options with son. Go to beach. Ease into doing any formal activities, if you decide that's the way to go. Go to beach. Relax. Enjoy! ~~
>
>
> I think that should be the standard unschooling response to parent fears; "go to the beach" or if they're more conservative do it in a manly voice "thou shalt go to the beach". ;)
>
> There should definitely be some Jimmy Buffet playing softly in the background too...."wasting away again in Margaritaville....."
>
> Ren
> radicalunschooling.blogspot.com
>