andreanachsin

I have three children ages 7, 10 & 12. I have always enjoyed their uniqueness and parented to encourage their individuality. Having spent most of their education in a Monetessori we had a drastic change in finances and we placed them in the public school. Never being much of a believer in the public education we have been there for two years now but I have realized that it is not where my 12 year old belongs. He is very creative, think outside the box child and 6th grade in a traditional school has been rough. I am so excited about taking him out to homeschool him and terrified at the same time. Asking myself many questions like "Am I making a awful mistake? What if it just doesn't work? what if he is not prepared for college? ect." But my heart is telling me that he needs out of the "highly acclaimed" public school. I have never been one to follow the crowd and am use to thinking independently about vaccines and a natural medecine but this is something that will effect my children's future forever. Can anyone offer words to of reassurance? Any reading suggestions are welcomed. Thank you:-) Andrea

lylaw

read “teenage liberation handbook” and “college without high school”

oh and “the big book of unschooling” and “parenting a free child”

you might read the psychology today articles by peter gray too – those are great!

lyla


From: andreanachsin
Sent: Thursday, March 10, 2011 6:22 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [unschoolingbasics] Hello my name is Andrea and we are very new to this


I have three children ages 7, 10 & 12. I have always enjoyed their uniqueness and parented to encourage their individuality. Having spent most of their education in a Monetessori we had a drastic change in finances and we placed them in the public school. Never being much of a believer in the public education we have been there for two years now but I have realized that it is not where my 12 year old belongs. He is very creative, think outside the box child and 6th grade in a traditional school has been rough. I am so excited about taking him out to homeschool him and terrified at the same time. Asking myself many questions like "Am I making a awful mistake? What if it just doesn't work? what if he is not prepared for college? ect." But my heart is telling me that he needs out of the "highly acclaimed" public school. I have never been one to follow the crowd and am use to thinking independently about vaccines and a natural medecine but this is something that will effect my children's future forever. Can anyone offer words to of reassurance? Any reading suggestions are welcomed. Thank you:-) Andrea






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

sharon

Hello Andrea,
Below is an extensive list of books, periodicals, and websites that Kelly Lovejoy sent me a few years ago. I hope it isn't overwhelming to you. I personally found it to be helpful.
The first book I read, which I found to be helpful in becoming a more peaceful parent, was Alfie Kohn's, "Unconditional Parenting." I also enjoyed, "The Unprocessed Child" and "The Teenage Liberation Handbook."
Best,
Sharon

************ BOOKS *************

Learning All the Time
by John Caldwell Holt
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0201550911

How Children Learn
by John Caldwell Holt
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0201484048

How Children Fail
by John Caldwell Holt
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0201484021

Teach Your Own
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0738206946

Instead of Education: Ways to Help People Do Things Better
by John Caldwell Holt
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0525134379

Moving a Puddle and Other Essays
by Sandra Dodd
http://sandradodd.com/puddlebook

Raising Our Children, Raising Ourselves: Transforming Parent-child
Relationships from Reaction And Struggle to Freedom, Power And Joy by
Naomi Aldort
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/1887542329

The Relaxed Home School: A Family Production
by Mary Hood
http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0963974009

The Teenage Liberation Handbook: How To Quit School and Get a Real Life
& Education
by Grace Llewellyn
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0962959170

Real Lives: Eleven Teenagers Who Don't Go To School
by Grace Llewellyn
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0962959138

The Homeschooling Handbook
by Mary Griffith
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0761501924

The Unschooling Handbook: How to Use the Whole World as Your Child's
Classroom
by Mary Griffith
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0761512764

The Art of Education: Reclaiming Your Family, Community and Self
by Linda Dobson
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0913677140

The Homeschooling Book of Answers: The 101 Most Important Questions
Answered by Homeschooling's Most Respected Voices
by Linda Dobson
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0761535705

Homeschooling Our Children; Unschooling Ourselves
by Alison McKee
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0965780627

Deschooling Our Lives
by Matt Hern
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0865713421

Parenting a Free Child: An Unschooled Life
by Rue Kream
http://www.freechild.info/

Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling
by John Taylor Gatto
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0865714487

A Sense of Self: Listening to Homeschooled Adolescent Girls
by Susanna Sheffer
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0867094052

In Their Own Way: Discovering and Encouraging Your Child's Multiple
Intelligences
by Thomas Armstrong
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/1585420514

Seven Kinds of Smart: Identifying and Developing Your Multiple
Intelligences
by Thomas Armstrong
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0452281377

You're Smarter Than You Think: A Kid's Guide to Multiple Intelligences
by Thomas Armstrong
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/1575421135

For the Children's Sake
by Susan Schaeffer MacAulay
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/089107290X

Learning At Home: A Mother's Guide To Homeschooling
by Marty Layne
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0968293824

Have Fun. Learn Stuff. Grow.: Homeschooling and the Curriculum of Love
by David H. Albert
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/1567513700

Homeschooling and the Voyage of Self-Discovery
by David Albert
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/1567512321

Better Late Than Early
by Raymond & Dorothy Moore
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0883490498

School Can Wait
by Raymond & Dorothy Moore
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0842513140

Coloring Outside the Lines
by Roger Schank
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0060930772
(sort of anti-homeschooling, but its message was pro-homeschooling in
my opinion!)

Punished by Rewards: The Trouble With Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, As,
Praise & Other Bribes
by Alfie Kohn
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0618001816

The Unprocessed Child: Living Without School
by Valerie Fitzenreiter
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0972941606

Growing Without Schooling: A Record of a Grassroots Movement
by John Holt, Susannah Sheffer
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0913677108

The Day I Became an Autodidact
by Kendall Hailey
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0440550130

The Book of Learning and Forgetting
by Frank Smith
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/080773750X

Better Than School: One Family's Declaration of Independence
by Nancy Wallace
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0943914051

Child's Work: Taking Children's Choices Seriously
by Nancy Wallace
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/091367706X

And the Children Played
by Patricia Joudry
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0912766166

With Consent: Parenting for All to Win
by Jan Fortune-Wood
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/1900219247

Deschooling Society
by Ivan Illich
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0714508799

************* PERIODICALS *************

Connections E-zine
www.connections.organiclearning.org

Live Free, Learn Free:
http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/

Life Learning: http://www.lifelearningmagazine.com

************* WEBSITES *************

Unschooling Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unschooling

Unschooling.com:
http://www.unschooling.com (See "Library" & "Message Boards")

Car Talk Guys:
Education: The Learning of Skills We Will Never Need?
http://www.cartalk.com/content/features/ATC/
The Education Forum
http://www.cartalk.com/content/features/ATC/Education/
The New Theory of Learning
http://www.cartalk.com/content/features/ATC/Education/r-rlast15.html
The Education Forum II
http://www.cartalk.com/content/features/ATC/Education/index2.html

Autodidactic Press:
http://www.autodidactic.com

Libertarian Unschooling:
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/6529/index1.html

Unschooling Undefined:
http://www.midnightbeach.com/hs/UnschoolingUndefined.html

Home's Cool A to Z:
http://www.gomilpitas.com/homeschooling/methods/Unschooling.htm

Sandra Dodd:
http://sandradodd.com/unschooling.html

Joyce Fetteroll:
www.joyfullyrejoycing.com

Child-led Natural Learning:
http://www.alternative-learning.org

Delight-Driven Learning:
http://home-educate.com/unschooling/index.shtml

Family Unschoolers Network:
http://www.fun-books.com

The Natural Child Project:
http://www.naturalchild.com/guest/earl_stevens.html

AHA Information Page:
http://www.americanhomeschoolassociation.org/info.html

Amy Bell's Natural Learning:
http://home.rmci.net/abell/

Alfie Kohn:
http://www.alfiekohn.org/articles.html

sharon

My words of reassurance would be to say that your questions are all a part of the process of learning and trusting your children and yourself with unschooling. We went through periods of questioning and doubting, sometimes still do, although less so now. Continue to bring your questions and doubts here or to an unschooling conference to get answers and guidance. My questions and doubts helped me to delve deeper into learning more about unschooling and to let go of my fears.
Best wishes,
Sharon

--- In [email protected], "andreanachsin" <acnachsin@...> wrote:
>
> I have three children ages 7, 10 & 12. I have always enjoyed their uniqueness and parented to encourage their individuality. Having spent most of their education in a Monetessori we had a drastic change in finances and we placed them in the public school. Never being much of a believer in the public education we have been there for two years now but I have realized that it is not where my 12 year old belongs. He is very creative, think outside the box child and 6th grade in a traditional school has been rough. I am so excited about taking him out to homeschool him and terrified at the same time. Asking myself many questions like "Am I making a awful mistake? What if it just doesn't work? what if he is not prepared for college? ect." But my heart is telling me that he needs out of the "highly acclaimed" public school. I have never been one to follow the crowd and am use to thinking independently about vaccines and a natural medecine but this is something that will effect my children's future forever. Can anyone offer words to of reassurance? Any reading suggestions are welcomed. Thank you:-) Andrea
>

[email protected]

This is something that will effect your children forever but foregoing modern medicine will not? Never mind. . ..

All of your questions are fairly typical. The links that have been suggested should address them. That is if you are looking for information about unschooling. Which is one way to approach homeschooling, one way to live as a homeschooler.

Nance



--- In [email protected], "andreanachsin" <acnachsin@...> wrote:
>
> I have three children ages 7, 10 & 12. I have always enjoyed their uniqueness and parented to encourage their individuality. Having spent most of their education in a Monetessori we had a drastic change in finances and we placed them in the public school. Never being much of a believer in the public education we have been there for two years now but I have realized that it is not where my 12 year old belongs. He is very creative, think outside the box child and 6th grade in a traditional school has been rough. I am so excited about taking him out to homeschool him and terrified at the same time. Asking myself many questions like "Am I making a awful mistake? What if it just doesn't work? what if he is not prepared for college? ect." But my heart is telling me that he needs out of the "highly acclaimed" public school. I have never been one to follow the crowd and am use to thinking independently about vaccines and a natural medecine but this is something that will effect my children's future forever. Can anyone offer words to of reassurance? Any reading suggestions are welcomed. Thank you:-) Andrea
>

[email protected]

Hi. I did not share my fondness of natural medicine to debate with those that believe in conventional medicine. Rather to illustrate that I have never felt pressure to follow the majority. Andrea
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry



-----Original Message-----
From: "marbleface@..."

This is something that will effect your children forever but foregoing modern medicine will not? Never mind. . ..
Nance

[email protected]

"marbleface@..." <marbleface@...> wrote:
>
> This is something that will effect your children forever but foregoing modern medicine will not? Never mind. . ..

Never mind, indeed! Let's keep the topic on unschooling, please.

I'll take this opportunity to note that people come to unschooling for all sorts of reasons and with all sorts of beliefs and lifestyles - we're not a homogenous group by any stretch of the imagination, which is why the moderators here are sometimes pushy when the subject starts to drift. Sometimes folks do come to unschooling with the assumption that everyone's on the same page about Xyz (politics, health, and "the mainstream" are three biggies) and its not so. Unschooling is what we have in common - and sometimes that's about it!

---Meredith

Rinelle

> "marbleface@..." <marbleface@...> wrote:
>>
>> This is something that will effect your children forever but foregoing
>> modern medicine will not? Never mind. . ..
>
> Never mind, indeed! Let's keep the topic on unschooling, please.

Although reading this a second time I get what you mean about it not being
unschooling, the first time I read it I saw it as pointing out that the two
ideas are not dissimilar. The way you deal with illness (choosing modern
medicine or homeopathics etc, whichever way you believe) can have long term
effects just as much as choosing schooling or unschooling. I wonder why the
original poster sees unschooling as a more difficult choice to make than
what style of medication to choose for her child? I would have seen health
issues are more serious (and thus harder to go against the norm) than
educational issues.

[email protected]

My apologies. That was uncalled for. Back to the topic at hand.

Nance


--- In [email protected], [email protected] wrote:
>
> "marbleface@" <marbleface@> wrote:
> >
> > This is something that will effect your children forever but foregoing modern medicine will not? Never mind. . ..
>
> Never mind, indeed! Let's keep the topic on unschooling, please.
>
> I'll take this opportunity to note that people come to unschooling for all sorts of reasons and with all sorts of beliefs and lifestyles - we're not a homogenous group by any stretch of the imagination, which is why the moderators here are sometimes pushy when the subject starts to drift. Sometimes folks do come to unschooling with the assumption that everyone's on the same page about Xyz (politics, health, and "the mainstream" are three biggies) and its not so. Unschooling is what we have in common - and sometimes that's about it!
>
> ---Meredith
>

[email protected]

Sharon, Thank you for this list of resources. I know that it will be very useful to me. I see that Naomi Aldort's book is on there. I have enjoyed her teachings. Thinking about doing a phone session with her but I am not sure I want to spend the money. I think it would be helpful though.

Thank you, Andrea
----- Original Message -----
From: "sharon" <1drflmthr@...>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Friday, March 11, 2011 10:20:37 AM
Subject: [unschoolingbasics] Re: Hello my name is Andrea and we are very new to this

 




Hello Andrea,
Below is an extensive list of books, periodicals, and websites that Kelly Lovejoy sent me a few years ago. I hope it isn't overwhelming to you. I personally found it to be helpful.
The first book I read, which I found to be helpful in becoming a more peaceful parent, was Alfie Kohn's, "Unconditional Parenting." I also enjoyed, "The Unprocessed Child" and "The Teenage Liberation Handbook."
Best,
Sharon

************ BOOKS *************

Learning All the Time
by John Caldwell Holt
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0201550911

How Children Learn
by John Caldwell Holt
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0201484048

How Children Fail
by John Caldwell Holt
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0201484021

Teach Your Own
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0738206946

Instead of Education: Ways to Help People Do Things Better
by John Caldwell Holt
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0525134379

Moving a Puddle and Other Essays
by Sandra Dodd
http://sandradodd.com/puddlebook

Raising Our Children, Raising Ourselves: Transforming Parent-child
Relationships from Reaction And Struggle to Freedom, Power And Joy by
Naomi Aldort
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/1887542329

The Relaxed Home School: A Family Production
by Mary Hood
http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0963974009

The Teenage Liberation Handbook: How To Quit School and Get a Real Life
& Education
by Grace Llewellyn
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0962959170

Real Lives: Eleven Teenagers Who Don't Go To School
by Grace Llewellyn
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0962959138

The Homeschooling Handbook
by Mary Griffith
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0761501924

The Unschooling Handbook: How to Use the Whole World as Your Child's
Classroom
by Mary Griffith
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0761512764

The Art of Education: Reclaiming Your Family, Community and Self
by Linda Dobson
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0913677140

The Homeschooling Book of Answers: The 101 Most Important Questions
Answered by Homeschooling's Most Respected Voices
by Linda Dobson
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0761535705

Homeschooling Our Children; Unschooling Ourselves
by Alison McKee
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0965780627

Deschooling Our Lives
by Matt Hern
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0865713421

Parenting a Free Child: An Unschooled Life
by Rue Kream
http://www.freechild.info/

Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling
by John Taylor Gatto
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0865714487

A Sense of Self: Listening to Homeschooled Adolescent Girls
by Susanna Sheffer
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0867094052

In Their Own Way: Discovering and Encouraging Your Child's Multiple
Intelligences
by Thomas Armstrong
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/1585420514

Seven Kinds of Smart: Identifying and Developing Your Multiple
Intelligences
by Thomas Armstrong
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0452281377

You're Smarter Than You Think: A Kid's Guide to Multiple Intelligences
by Thomas Armstrong
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/1575421135

For the Children's Sake
by Susan Schaeffer MacAulay
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/089107290X

Learning At Home: A Mother's Guide To Homeschooling
by Marty Layne
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0968293824

Have Fun. Learn Stuff. Grow.: Homeschooling and the Curriculum of Love
by David H. Albert
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/1567513700

Homeschooling and the Voyage of Self-Discovery
by David Albert
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/1567512321

Better Late Than Early
by Raymond & Dorothy Moore
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0883490498

School Can Wait
by Raymond & Dorothy Moore
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0842513140

Coloring Outside the Lines
by Roger Schank
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0060930772
(sort of anti-homeschooling, but its message was pro-homeschooling in
my opinion!)

Punished by Rewards: The Trouble With Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, As,
Praise & Other Bribes
by Alfie Kohn
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0618001816

The Unprocessed Child: Living Without School
by Valerie Fitzenreiter
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0972941606

Growing Without Schooling: A Record of a Grassroots Movement
by John Holt, Susannah Sheffer
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0913677108

The Day I Became an Autodidact
by Kendall Hailey
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0440550130

The Book of Learning and Forgetting
by Frank Smith
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/080773750X

Better Than School: One Family's Declaration of Independence
by Nancy Wallace
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0943914051

Child's Work: Taking Children's Choices Seriously
by Nancy Wallace
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/091367706X

And the Children Played
by Patricia Joudry
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0912766166

With Consent: Parenting for All to Win
by Jan Fortune-Wood
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/1900219247

Deschooling Society
by Ivan Illich
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0714508799

************* PERIODICALS *************

Connections E-zine
www.connections.organiclearning.org

Live Free, Learn Free:
http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/

Life Learning: http://www.lifelearningmagazine.com

************* WEBSITES *************

Unschooling Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unschooling

Unschooling.com:
http://www.unschooling.com (See "Library" & "Message Boards")

Car Talk Guys:
Education: The Learning of Skills We Will Never Need?
http://www.cartalk.com/content/features/ATC/
The Education Forum
http://www.cartalk.com/content/features/ATC/Education/
The New Theory of Learning
http://www.cartalk.com/content/features/ATC/Education/r-rlast15.html
The Education Forum II
http://www.cartalk.com/content/features/ATC/Education/index2.html

Autodidactic Press:
http://www.autodidactic.com

Libertarian Unschooling:
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/6529/index1.html

Unschooling Undefined:
http://www.midnightbeach.com/hs/UnschoolingUndefined.html

Home's Cool A to Z:
http://www.gomilpitas.com/homeschooling/methods/Unschooling.htm

Sandra Dodd:
http://sandradodd.com/unschooling.html

Joyce Fetteroll:
www.joyfullyrejoycing.com

Child-led Natural Learning:
http://www.alternative-learning.org

Delight-Driven Learning:
http://home-educate.com/unschooling/index.shtml

Family Unschoolers Network:
http://www.fun-books.com

The Natural Child Project:
http://www.naturalchild.com/guest/earl_stevens.html

AHA Information Page:
http://www.americanhomeschoolassociation.org/info.html

Amy Bell's Natural Learning:
http://home.rmci.net/abell/

Alfie Kohn:
http://www.alfiekohn.org/articles.html




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

[email protected]

Well, I did see it that way and that's why I snapped.

I also saw it as insulting to ask unschoolers if we think homeschooling (still not sure if the original poster was asking about unschooling) will harm our children. As if we haven't given this careful consideration. Of course, it is possible to give something careful consideration and read all sorts of information supporting the ideas you want to believe and still be wrong.

I suppose it also rubs me the wrong way to be considered on the menu of out-of-the-mainstream choices. We've been doing this so long and it has been going so well, it just doesn't feel like any sort of rebellion. And I don't have to fit into some category of vegetarian, alternative medicine, wanna-be hippie, ________ (fill in the blank with your favorite stereotype on the left) and rebel against everything else that's mainstream in order to unschool.

And, in fact, we don't. I'm off to drop one child at the charter school and take the other to the cardiologist this morning.

But that's no excuse for being snappish at a newbie. That's way too much for her to have considered when posting.

Nance






--- In [email protected], "Rinelle" <rinelle@...> wrote:
>
> > "marbleface@" <marbleface@> wrote:
> >>
> >> This is something that will effect your children forever but foregoing
> >> modern medicine will not? Never mind. . ..
> >
> > Never mind, indeed! Let's keep the topic on unschooling, please.
>
> Although reading this a second time I get what you mean about it not being
> unschooling, the first time I read it I saw it as pointing out that the two
> ideas are not dissimilar. The way you deal with illness (choosing modern
> medicine or homeopathics etc, whichever way you believe) can have long term
> effects just as much as choosing schooling or unschooling. I wonder why the
> original poster sees unschooling as a more difficult choice to make than
> what style of medication to choose for her child? I would have seen health
> issues are more serious (and thus harder to go against the norm) than
> educational issues.
>