Donald and Sandra Winn

"She is just not learning
what pubic school says she "needs" to learn." ~Heidi

This one sentence that Heidi wrote really stood out in
my head last night, so much so that I didn't sleep
well because of it! LOL...Thanks Heidi

I hated science, math (advanced, geometry, etc.),
english; but yet I can speak well, write well enough
to get a point across, read (although it may take me
awhile to "get it" sometimes), I can cook, maintain a
garden unless it's 100 degrees humidity then forget
it! HAHA In 5th grade I was held back in reading
class so I didn't enjoy reading, I loathed history as
well, there wasn't much after the 8th grade that I
actually enjoyed. I don't remember ever having math,
history, grammar and such discussions with my peers.
I mean, the last thing any of us wanted to talk about
was "schoolish" things and at those illegal get
togethers on weekend's we did not talk about
scientific theories! I graduated a "C" student.

During my school years I worked at the local grocery
store as a bagger, stock clerk and finally cashier.
I was always great at basic math no more than was
needed in order to play board games! I guess
"science" was sort of used in the stock area and of
course you do not want to bag chemicals with food
products. I joined the military as a seaman and went
to a secretary school. I was a Yeoman. Everything I
typed came to me in draft form and I never once had to
make something up, everything came from the top down.


None of that schooling helped in my adult life at all.
What is it really all about? What is so important
about all that school knowledge? So one can sound
like a "know-it-all" to impress others? Really,
unless you have a passion to be a scientist,
mathematician, etc....what is the point of knowing all
those formulas? And, if a child loved science or math
that much and they are in a nurturing environment that
provides those needs, could anything stop them from
learning what it took to make that passion their
chosen way to make it through life? No (unless the
parent does nothing). Even schooled children who love
that stuff go above and beyond what the school
requires but it is because they LOVE IT. An "A"
science student will not go to college as a science
major if they don't have a passion for science.
Chances are that once "A" science student doesn't know
or remember anymore science than me.

Unless one is to be a historian or political advisor,
is it really necessary for a child to be made to feel
stupid, if they can't memorize all of those dates,
presidents, wars, parts of our judicial system etc.?
No. I'm not saying that a child INTERESTED in that
sort of thing should be prevented from learning those
things because a parent deems it unimportant. The
thing is, is it important to the learner?

Children when provided a rich environment will hear
about, see, read, etc. about some of those things
regardless of learning not being forced, but should a
parent be concerned if they don't remember or enjoy
those things....no. Really, it is pointless for a
homeschooler to force learning on their kids too,
isn't it? If they are given the opportunities to
explore what they like and enjoy, they'll do what it
takes to learn it. People who actually "love" what
they do for a living are not common, many are
miserable and sad. It's not always about money
either, if one is making a living doing what they love
to do, they can (as a person living paycheck to
paycheck) be happier than a millionaire who hates what
they do, never sees their family, etc. etc.

If all dd wants to do is learn about animals then I
shouldn't be concerned. Has anyone ever seen those
individual dog and/or cat books? They are huge, lots
of science, history, etc. in those books alone and to
paraphrase Heidi "She will learn what she wants, not
what the schools tell us or deams necessary that she
should be learning."

Sorry that this is so long, but I just feel so good
today!

Ps....we had a tiny breakthrough on bedtimes but I'm
not sharing unless I'm sure that dh understands it ;-)



Happy Learning,
~Sandy
www.360.yahoo.com/aplan4life






__________________________________
Yahoo! FareChase: Search multiple travel sites in one click.
http://farechase.yahoo.com

ANNIE HOOD

>None of that schooling helped in my adult life at all.

Oh so true! I remember memorizing states and countries in school just long
enough to ace the tests and the very next week, I couldn't tell you half of
what the answers were. We spent maybe 2 weeks every year learning Roman
numerals but aside from the basics (I, V, and X), I have trouble remembering
what the rest are. I can usually guesstimate the year on movies fairly
accurately as I know that it would either be 19xx or 20xx. So, I can deduce
that the first numbers are either 20 or 20-1. If the movie is black and
white, I can figure that it probably dates back 50+ years.

But, what I was really moved to share is that (not that this should be the
judge of acquired knowledge) one day while playing Trivial Pursuit, my dh
asked me a question. I knew the answer so quickly and it was something that
he had never heard of that he thought I'd looked at the back of the card.
Well, the reason I knew the answer so fast was because the university I
attended had a yurt. I thought it was amazing. I can still remember the
day (in fact it was only an hour at the most) I spent visiting it.

Just one last aside ... I was a straight A student from start to finish. I
graduated high school at 16 and college at 19. Many people assumed it was
because I was advanced and just innately intelligent. That wasn't it at all
-- getting As was not easy for me, it took a LOT of studying and memorizing.
But, getting out of school as fast as possible so I could start living my
life was imperative. My parents would accept nothing less than As from me
even though I could clearly see that the grade demonstrated nothing more
than my ability to memorize but not retain information.

Annie
--
www.naturallynhkids.com
Great parenting is a great career! Ask me how ...
Keep informed ... sign up for our parenting & natural living newsletter

Pamela Sorooshian

On Nov 2, 2005, at 4:56 AM, Donald and Sandra Winn wrote:

>
> None of that schooling helped in my adult life at all.
> What is it really all about? What is so important
> about all that school knowledge? So one can sound
> like a "know-it-all" to impress others?


The entire school system is all a big giant sieve. It filters kids
into their respective adult "places in life."

-pam




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

jlh44music

> None of that schooling helped in my adult life at all. What is it
really all about? What is so important about all that school
knowledge? So one can sound like a "know-it-all" to impress others?
Really, unless you have a passion to be a scientist, mathematician,
etc....what is the point of knowing all those formulas?..... Chances
are that once "A" science student doesn't know
or remember anymore science than me.

>Children when provided a rich environment will hear about, see, read,
etc. about some of those things regardless of learning not being
forced, but should a parent be concerned if they don't remember or
enjoy those things....no. Really, it is pointless for a homeschooler
to force learning on their kids too, isn't it? If they are given the
opportunities to explore what they like and enjoy, they'll do what it
takes to learn it.>>>>>>

Thanks for writing this Sandy. I haven't been able to check my groups
for over a week (just moved my MIL into an Alzheimer's facility, had to
clean out her assisted living apt, my first piano teacher passed away
last weekend (age 96) and the family has asked me to play at her
memorial service this Sat, dd has been having a rough few weeks (I've
been wanting to post about it, but haven't been able to put it together
yet)).

In the middle of all this I've been having trouble with our transition
to unschooling (just a reminder of where we're at: dd finished 6th
grade in June, been deschooling ever since). I FULLY get it, but have
been going through one of those periods that I'm sure others have had,
where I have my doubts, and I know not being able to check in here for
a boost, or have time to read my other inspirational unschooling
sources, hasn't helped.

So, thanks for the reminder!
Jann

amy_voltz

You are so right about learning something when we need to do it,
this is what we do as adults isn't it? I'm sure I learned Roman
Numerals in school too, and didn't remember anything about the
basics. However, in my recent new career as a re-seller of toys,
I've had to learn to figure them out because for some reason there
was a trend to put dates on toys as Roman Numerals in the 1960's and
70s!! If I wanted to know what the date was on a toy, I'd just have
to figure it out myself.
Thanks for all the great posts!
Amy


--- In [email protected], "ANNIE HOOD"
<naturallynhkids@m...> wrote:
>
> >None of that schooling helped in my adult life at all.
>
> Oh so true! I remember memorizing states and countries in school
just long
> enough to ace the tests and the very next week, I couldn't tell
you half of
> what the answers were. We spent maybe 2 weeks every year learning
Roman
> numerals but aside from the basics (I, V, and X), I have trouble
remembering
> what the rest are. I can usually guesstimate the year on movies
fairly
> accurately as I know that it would either be 19xx or 20xx. So, I
can deduce
> that the first numbers are either 20 or 20-1. If the movie is
black and
> white, I can figure that it probably dates back 50+ years.
>
> But, what I was really moved to share is that (not that this
should be the
> judge of acquired knowledge) one day while playing Trivial
Pursuit, my dh
> asked me a question. I knew the answer so quickly and it was
something that
> he had never heard of that he thought I'd looked at the back of
the card.
> Well, the reason I knew the answer so fast was because the
university I
> attended had a yurt. I thought it was amazing. I can still
remember the
> day (in fact it was only an hour at the most) I spent visiting it.
>
> Just one last aside ... I was a straight A student from start to
finish. I
> graduated high school at 16 and college at 19. Many people
assumed it was
> because I was advanced and just innately intelligent. That wasn't
it at all
> -- getting As was not easy for me, it took a LOT of studying and
memorizing.
> But, getting out of school as fast as possible so I could start
living my
> life was imperative. My parents would accept nothing less than As
from me
> even though I could clearly see that the grade demonstrated
nothing more
> than my ability to memorize but not retain information.
>
> Annie
> --
> www.naturallynhkids.com
> Great parenting is a great career! Ask me how ...
> Keep informed ... sign up for our parenting & natural living
newsletter
>