how to answer
abby987_sask
My 14yo dd is dealing with the issue of friends & family questioning our choice to unschool, we're fairly new to this lifestyle & loving it (I just pulled her out of school last fall)... we've been tossing ideas around, thought I'd see what you all have to say. She wants to be able to answer for herself (this often happens when she's out & about without me), in a way that gives her confidence and will get people off her back, but she doesn't have the words. She's been talking about taking some classes just so she can tell people she is, but to me that isn't coming from a good place & I don't want her to take classes unless SHE really wants to. I'm going to teach her what "eclectic" means & how to use it in a sentence, that should impress people lol! Any ideas for her?
plaidpanties666
--- In [email protected], "abby987_sask" <evelyn.c@...> wrote:
If you want a word with "wow factor" go all the way: autodidact and all its variations. Somewhere there's a list of self-taught well edcuated folks you can also mine for the purpose of name recognition. Oh, here's something:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autodidact
What does she like to do? It can help to talk in those sorts of terms. People are looking for a way to connect and don't have the skills to talk with kids who aren't in school, so they grill them about subjects and how homeschool works. Starting with a "wow factor" word might help shift the focus, but to keep it shifted, its important to tell stories, make the conversation about her and her interests, rather than trying to answer the fumbling questions of someone who just doesn't get it.
Ray, being who he is, actually tells people he does whatever he wants to do. If they give him flak, he plays them for all their worth, but if they're actually interested he tells them what "whatever I want" really means - that he's working in a cabinet shop and helping build infrastructure on a local farm and learning wood sculpture and blacksmithing, going to concerts and community events.
If your friends and family read blogs or are on facebook, those are good ways to offer them things to actually talk about. You or your dd could write blog entries, make periodic status updates, or post pix to help the people who care about y'all can connect a little better.
---Meredith (Mo 8, Ray 16)
>I'm going to teach her what "eclectic" means & how to use it in a sentence, that should impress people lol!**************
If you want a word with "wow factor" go all the way: autodidact and all its variations. Somewhere there's a list of self-taught well edcuated folks you can also mine for the purpose of name recognition. Oh, here's something:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autodidact
>>She wants to be able to answer for herself (this often happens when she's out & about without me), in a way that gives her confidence and will get people off her back, but she doesn't have the words.****************
What does she like to do? It can help to talk in those sorts of terms. People are looking for a way to connect and don't have the skills to talk with kids who aren't in school, so they grill them about subjects and how homeschool works. Starting with a "wow factor" word might help shift the focus, but to keep it shifted, its important to tell stories, make the conversation about her and her interests, rather than trying to answer the fumbling questions of someone who just doesn't get it.
Ray, being who he is, actually tells people he does whatever he wants to do. If they give him flak, he plays them for all their worth, but if they're actually interested he tells them what "whatever I want" really means - that he's working in a cabinet shop and helping build infrastructure on a local farm and learning wood sculpture and blacksmithing, going to concerts and community events.
If your friends and family read blogs or are on facebook, those are good ways to offer them things to actually talk about. You or your dd could write blog entries, make periodic status updates, or post pix to help the people who care about y'all can connect a little better.
---Meredith (Mo 8, Ray 16)