[email protected]

Hello. I'm Beth and my DS is almost 16 months. I also have a 6 1/2 yo
stepson who I do some supplemental homeschooling with. He's in PS and was not
ready for academics which start so early in PS (Kindergarten). So my DH and I
have had to do some things to help him get caught up and stay caught up. I'm
planning to unschool my DS, although I'm just now becoming more comfortable with
the idea of completely unschooling. I may lean more towards relaxed
homeschooling until I build my confidence (please don't feel you need to convince me -
I know it works. I just need to get the "school" out of my head! <g> It's
amazing how ingrained it is).

I just wanted to pipe in (no pun intended) and say I was glad to see the post
about teens and pot. I'm a long way from that stage, but I really like the
way you handle it, Kelly. It's so nice to hear about how other parents handle
situations like this. My own opinions on pot are very liberal although I knew
I didn't want to make it seem to my kids that it was ok to do everyday or
even in the house. So, thanks for posting how it works in your family!

Beth
Minnesota


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

[email protected]

Hi I just joined this list! I have been UN schooling my two kids Michelle
age 12 and Henry age 15 since 2000. we live in Mass. I just joined HSLDA too
for the first time. Since we may be changing towns i think i may need them,
the new town insists on TESTING yearly and my children havent tested since
I took them out of public school. I am going to try to keep them under the
school theyre under now , after all theyre monitored but aren't taking any
taxpayer resources for their education in the town.

Thanks for letting me join! I have already found sources of information I
didnt even know were available to me

Lin


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

[email protected]

In a message dated 7/7/2004 10:56:12 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
shellby@... writes:

we live in Mass. I just joined HSLDA too
for the first time. Since we may be changing towns i think i may need
them,
the new town insists on TESTING yearly and my children havent tested since

I took them out of public school.


<<<<<

If you haven't sent your money in already, you might want to reconsider this!

H$LDA will NOT support unschoolers. You will waste your money. They have an
agenda, and it doesn't include us weird, liberal unschoolers!

MA is a hotbed of unschooling----talk with folks who are unschooling. Go to
the Live and Learn Unschooling Conference in Peabody in August. Do a little
research before signing up.

~Kelly


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

TreeGoddess

On Jul 7, 2004, at 10:45 AM, shellby@... wrote:

> I just joined HSLDA too for the first time.

Eeeep! Lin, check out the web site
http://www.homeschoolingislegal.info to see why you don't need to waste
your money on them.

> Since we may be changing towns i think i may need them,
> the new town insists on TESTING yearly and my children havent tested
> since
> I took them out of public school.

Your individual city, school system and county MUST abide by the
state's laws regarding homeschooling. They can't just make up their
own or they're not within their legal 'rights'.

You're in luck being in MA! There's an unschooling conference in
Peabody that I've heard will be wonderful. :) I just wish we could
swing it this year. <sigh>
http://www.liveandlearnconference.org

-Tracy-

Jon and Rue Kream

Hi Lin - I'm in MA too. The town cannot insist on testing. They have to
come to an agreement with you regarding what form of assessment you will
use. Have you talked to any homeschoolers in the new town? ~Rue


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

erikad428

Hi Lin,

If you have homeschool legal questions of any kind - hassles from
local school administration, questions about what's within your
rights as a homeschooler, etc, please feel free to contact Deborah
Stevenson, the executive director of National Home Education Legal
Defense (NHELD). The goal of NHELD is to have a network of local
attorneys who specialize in educational law and are licensed to
practice in their home states(many members of HSLDA would not have
access to a lawyer who is knowledgable in educational law and/or is
licensed to practice law in their state if there is a problem).

The website is www.nheld.com and here is other contact information:
National Home Education Legal Defense

Attorney Deborah G. Stevenson

Executive Director-NHELD

P.O. Box 704

Southbury, CT 06488

Telephone: (860) 354-3590

Email: info@...

And here is a brief Bio on NHELD:

NHELD was founded by Attorney Deborah G. Stevenson. She has a
private practice in Southbury, Connecticut, handling cases in all
aspects of education and appellate law. In addition to her legal
practice, Attorney Stevenson is also a veteran homeschool Mom and
founder of Connecticut's Citizens to Uphold the Right to Educate
(CT's C.U.R.E.) and Executive Director of Home Education Legal
Defense of Connecticut, newly reorganized as National Home Education
Legal Defense or NHELD. CT's C.U.R.E. has operated continuously
since 1989 as a grassroots citizens group dedicated to assisting
parents who wish to maintain the freedom they currently have to
educate their own children in the best manner possible. NHELD also
assists local public school districts in providing accurate
information about education law and in mediating any disputes with
parents, and additionally assists in providing information to state
Department of Education officials and legislators on the subject of
home education and parental rights.

Take Care,
Erika
"I am learning all the time, the tombstone will be my diploma"-
Eartha Kitt

--- In [email protected], shellby@a... wrote:
> Hi I just joined this list! I have been UN schooling my two kids
Michelle
> age 12 and Henry age 15 since 2000. we live in Mass. I just
joined HSLDA...

Stephanie DeBruhl

Hello, my name is Stephanie, I'm a SAHM to Corbin (3) and Daniel (18 months) with our third coming in June. We are AP parents and always knew we wanted to homeschool (I was homeschooled for 4 years). It wasn't until the last year when Corbin started to show his learning style that I thought about UnSchooling. He'll absorb anything very quickly from a book or video, but you put a textbook or worksheet in front of him and he freezes. I have a lot of questions about Unschooling, mostly just the typical newbie ones. Does anyone have any websites or books to share that would be good for a beginner? Thanks!

Stephanie DeBruhl
SAHM to Corbin 2/06/04 and Daniel 08/03/05, with ? coming 06/07!!

---------------------------------
Any questions? Get answers on any topic at Yahoo! Answers. Try it now.

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

[email protected]

-----Original Message-----
From: catpurplestar@...

I have a lot of questions about Unschooling, mostly just the typical
newbie ones. Does anyone
have any websites or books to share that would be good for a beginner?
Thanks!

-=-=-=-=--

Websites:

http://www.sandradodd.com/unschooling
http://home.earthlink.net/~fetteroll/rejoycing/
http://www.borntoexplore.com
http://homepage.mac.com/pamsoroosh/iblog/math/index.html

Magazines:

Live Free Learn Free
Life Learning
***Connections e-zine

Books:

All books by John Holt. Read then in order and watch him evolve.
John Taylor Gatto: Dumbing Us Down & The Underground History of
American Education
Alfie Kohn: Punished by Rewards
Frank Smith: The Book of Learning and Forgetting
****Rue Kream's Parenting a Free Child, An Unschooled Life---the
bestseller! <g>
Valerie Fitzenreiter's The Unprocessed Child
Mary Griffith's The Unschooling Handbook
Grace Llewellyn's The Teenage Liberation handbook

That should get you started. <g>

~Kelly











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