Re: college and rich environment
Julia Berkley
Thanks for the encouraging words. I am a worrier, and I feel better! My
husband is a librarian and where he worked (at the Boston Public
Library -- he's a curator at a private institution now) you need an MLS
to be considered a "professional." I believe most of the big research
libraries are the same. But I was clueless about smaller libraries. I
guess the trade-off would be salary, as always! But that's often a
worthwhile trade if everything else falls into place, isn't it?
And yes, these guys know all about what's out there to explore -- we're
not far from Boston and the local support groups organize stuff all the
time. We just don't tend to hook up with them much anymore. But we're
certainly not isolated, either. My oldest does volunteer at 2 libraries
so she's getting experience. Joanne got the science thing, alright.
Fear of spiders and bees has kept us out of nature for the last bunch
of years, so the first part of the year was spent trying to work
through curriculum stuff because the kids thought that would be a good
way to "get some science." But it goes against all of our grain and we
just plain dropped it. We're starting to explore (like, this is our
first week!) the many videos and NOVA programs that don't include
arachnids or blood and guts (that takes a little research). And I
think they're actually liking it. I certainly am, so maybe that helps.
So I guess it's okay to ignore all the stuff about your kids needing to
be well-rounded and let them round themselves however they like
(barring requirements from the school dept.)? They are basically
happier, and will be happier and happier the less we feel obligated to
do stuff...
Thanks again for you thoughts --
Julia
p.s. we're working on that physical activity thing, too!
husband is a librarian and where he worked (at the Boston Public
Library -- he's a curator at a private institution now) you need an MLS
to be considered a "professional." I believe most of the big research
libraries are the same. But I was clueless about smaller libraries. I
guess the trade-off would be salary, as always! But that's often a
worthwhile trade if everything else falls into place, isn't it?
And yes, these guys know all about what's out there to explore -- we're
not far from Boston and the local support groups organize stuff all the
time. We just don't tend to hook up with them much anymore. But we're
certainly not isolated, either. My oldest does volunteer at 2 libraries
so she's getting experience. Joanne got the science thing, alright.
Fear of spiders and bees has kept us out of nature for the last bunch
of years, so the first part of the year was spent trying to work
through curriculum stuff because the kids thought that would be a good
way to "get some science." But it goes against all of our grain and we
just plain dropped it. We're starting to explore (like, this is our
first week!) the many videos and NOVA programs that don't include
arachnids or blood and guts (that takes a little research). And I
think they're actually liking it. I certainly am, so maybe that helps.
So I guess it's okay to ignore all the stuff about your kids needing to
be well-rounded and let them round themselves however they like
(barring requirements from the school dept.)? They are basically
happier, and will be happier and happier the less we feel obligated to
do stuff...
Thanks again for you thoughts --
Julia
p.s. we're working on that physical activity thing, too!
[email protected]
In a message dated 2/2/2005 12:14:49 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
juliaberkley@... writes:
So I guess it's okay to ignore all the stuff about your kids needing to
be well-rounded and let them round themselves however they like
(barring requirements from the school dept.)? They are basically
happier, and will be happier and happier the less we feel obligated to
do stuff...
*****
I could be so wrong about this, but I like it so I'll share!
I heard that "well-rounded" came from the days of the leisure upper classes.
They had little else to do with their time except learn to make good social
conversation. Being a well-rounded person, being able to converse on a wide
range of topics, was important (so you weren't bored stiff!).
The middle classes always wanted what the upper had, so when the middle
class started to become "educated", they believed they wanted well-rounded too.
Plus, it is a great time filler in school.
So well-rounded, unless it is a personal goal, is just an intellectual
superiority complex and a keep-up-with-the-jones' mentality.
Leslie in SC, brought up to be well-rounded (and achieved it physically!)
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
juliaberkley@... writes:
So I guess it's okay to ignore all the stuff about your kids needing to
be well-rounded and let them round themselves however they like
(barring requirements from the school dept.)? They are basically
happier, and will be happier and happier the less we feel obligated to
do stuff...
*****
I could be so wrong about this, but I like it so I'll share!
I heard that "well-rounded" came from the days of the leisure upper classes.
They had little else to do with their time except learn to make good social
conversation. Being a well-rounded person, being able to converse on a wide
range of topics, was important (so you weren't bored stiff!).
The middle classes always wanted what the upper had, so when the middle
class started to become "educated", they believed they wanted well-rounded too.
Plus, it is a great time filler in school.
So well-rounded, unless it is a personal goal, is just an intellectual
superiority complex and a keep-up-with-the-jones' mentality.
Leslie in SC, brought up to be well-rounded (and achieved it physically!)
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[email protected]
In a message dated 2/2/2005 11:54:03 AM Eastern Standard Time, Julia Berkley <juliaberkley@...> writes:
Joanne got the science thing, alright.
Just because you have aversions to bugs and blood---well, science isn't just insects and the circulatory system! There's botany and physics and geology and astronomy and chemistry and......and each of those can be broken down into smaller -ologies. Isn't there even LIBRARY SCIENCE?? I'm sure you could find one that would satisfy the school board of you *had* to.
Cooking is commonly used as "science" by homeschoolers.
As an unschooler, though, I can see that making "Stone Soup" isn't *just* "science"----it's chemistry, of course, but it's also full of art, history, literature, sociology, math, biology,----possibly even foreign language/customs, depending on the soup!
I would be a fish out of water at a NASCAR event---and that's OK. It's not part of my world. I'm not well-rounded when it comes to NASCAR. But if I wanted to be (let's say I divorced and married Mario Andretti's grandson---you can tell how out of the loop I AM! <g> OHOH! Jeff Gordon---he's one, right? <g>), I could probably learn myself right into that world in no time.
Each person's world is different. Well-rounded has nothing to do with anything because...well, life (and the world) changes. It used to be important to know how to chop wood properly. Well, lots of folks have no need of wood. Do I still need to know how? Am I not well-rounded if I don't know how? In Montana, maybe!
Start looking at your world with unschooling eyes and you'll be able top see the art and literature and chemistry and biology and physics and history and life and love in a pot of soup!
~Kelly
Joanne got the science thing, alright.
>Fear of spiders and bees has kept us out of nature for the last bunchWell, first of all, dividing the world in to science and not-science just won't work with unschooling. Everything is science. To "not do science" because it's bugs and blood....yikes!
>of years, so the first part of the year was spent trying to work
>through curriculum stuff because the kids thought that would be a good
>way to "get some science." But it goes against all of our grain and we
>just plain dropped it. We're starting to explore (like, this is our
>first week!) the many videos and NOVA programs that don't include
>arachnids or blood and guts (that takes a little research). <<<<<
Just because you have aversions to bugs and blood---well, science isn't just insects and the circulatory system! There's botany and physics and geology and astronomy and chemistry and......and each of those can be broken down into smaller -ologies. Isn't there even LIBRARY SCIENCE?? I'm sure you could find one that would satisfy the school board of you *had* to.
Cooking is commonly used as "science" by homeschoolers.
As an unschooler, though, I can see that making "Stone Soup" isn't *just* "science"----it's chemistry, of course, but it's also full of art, history, literature, sociology, math, biology,----possibly even foreign language/customs, depending on the soup!
>>>>So I guess it's okay to ignore all the stuff about your kids needing to be well-rounded and let them round themselves however they like (barring requirements from the school dept.)? They are basically happier, and will be happier and happier the less we feel obligated to do stuff...<<<<<<<<Do you actually KNOW an adult who is well-rounded? My dad is about the closest to well-rounded that I know---kind of a renaissance man----but he is totally in the dark when I talk about John Holt (or unschooling) or bees or a poodle's pompons! He's NOT well-rounded in *my* world.
I would be a fish out of water at a NASCAR event---and that's OK. It's not part of my world. I'm not well-rounded when it comes to NASCAR. But if I wanted to be (let's say I divorced and married Mario Andretti's grandson---you can tell how out of the loop I AM! <g> OHOH! Jeff Gordon---he's one, right? <g>), I could probably learn myself right into that world in no time.
Each person's world is different. Well-rounded has nothing to do with anything because...well, life (and the world) changes. It used to be important to know how to chop wood properly. Well, lots of folks have no need of wood. Do I still need to know how? Am I not well-rounded if I don't know how? In Montana, maybe!
>>>>>>(barring requirements from the school dept.)? <<<<<Too much school talk! There's NOTHING they can require that you can't provide just by living. Honestly! My kids can cover more in one day than a school can cover in a week. We just look at things in a different way.
Start looking at your world with unschooling eyes and you'll be able top see the art and literature and chemistry and biology and physics and history and life and love in a pot of soup!
~Kelly