intro. and questionll
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"Any thoughts about how we might make unschooling work without feeling
overwhelmed (or, somehow, negligent)?"
WElllll....I think if you told me more details about the "overwhelmed" part I might be able to give better advice.
Is it the fact that your children would be with you most of the time? Or something about the lifestyle unschooling presents?
I'm going to assume, that because you're both working, it has to do with trying to be with two children that aren't in school at all....
There are many different ways that other families have dealt with that issue. Some have hired aupairs or nannies that understand natural learning and help out, or a really cool part time Mom/Dad's helper..maybe a college student or a teen.
Just a while ago, there was a young person at unschooling.com that really wanted to assist an unschooling family. She was a total radical in regards to her views, and just wanted to work in that environment it sounded like. So you might get lucky and find somebody like that in your area.
Could you flex your schedules around each other, with only a minimal amount of outside help? That would be ideal in my opinion....
I work very part time, but when I have an event, it's long hours and sometimes I'm a fairly long drive away from home, so I'm gone over 12 hours for four days in a row. It's a tough week when that happens, but the rest of the time I'm working from home (with only a very fews days of 3-4 hours away in any given month) and have a lot of freedom but still make good money.
So, dh and I work around each other for those rare four day stints, I have friends help out, and our 14 year old babysits some too.
There are a lot of ways to handle unique challenges and still unschool.
I should bring in the John Holt quote I found the other day, something to the effect that even children left alone would be better off, because at least they'd have time to think their own thoughts and figure some things out for themselves. If they're very young, that's not going to work, but you'd be surprised what these unschoolers come up with all on their own.
If there's some other aspect of unschooling that seems negligent or overwhelming, could you be more specific? I think this might be an opportunity for creative solutions.:)
Ren
Learn about unschooling at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/unschoolingbasics/
overwhelmed (or, somehow, negligent)?"
WElllll....I think if you told me more details about the "overwhelmed" part I might be able to give better advice.
Is it the fact that your children would be with you most of the time? Or something about the lifestyle unschooling presents?
I'm going to assume, that because you're both working, it has to do with trying to be with two children that aren't in school at all....
There are many different ways that other families have dealt with that issue. Some have hired aupairs or nannies that understand natural learning and help out, or a really cool part time Mom/Dad's helper..maybe a college student or a teen.
Just a while ago, there was a young person at unschooling.com that really wanted to assist an unschooling family. She was a total radical in regards to her views, and just wanted to work in that environment it sounded like. So you might get lucky and find somebody like that in your area.
Could you flex your schedules around each other, with only a minimal amount of outside help? That would be ideal in my opinion....
I work very part time, but when I have an event, it's long hours and sometimes I'm a fairly long drive away from home, so I'm gone over 12 hours for four days in a row. It's a tough week when that happens, but the rest of the time I'm working from home (with only a very fews days of 3-4 hours away in any given month) and have a lot of freedom but still make good money.
So, dh and I work around each other for those rare four day stints, I have friends help out, and our 14 year old babysits some too.
There are a lot of ways to handle unique challenges and still unschool.
I should bring in the John Holt quote I found the other day, something to the effect that even children left alone would be better off, because at least they'd have time to think their own thoughts and figure some things out for themselves. If they're very young, that's not going to work, but you'd be surprised what these unschoolers come up with all on their own.
If there's some other aspect of unschooling that seems negligent or overwhelming, could you be more specific? I think this might be an opportunity for creative solutions.:)
Ren
Learn about unschooling at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/unschoolingbasics/