simplemom3

Hello to Everyone -

I am so happy to have found this group! Our family has homeschooled
for 5 yrs now. When I first heard about unschooling I ran the gamut of
opinions - from shocked to curious and intrigued. I tried deschooling
last year but went back to "the schedule" when I felt our day was too
unstructured. It's been a slow process, but over the last few months I
have come to realize that the routine of rushing my children (12 yo dd,
7 yo dd, 7 yo ds) to get up, eat breakfast, brush teeth, and do
school.....was no longer working for us. My 7 yo son was the catalyst
in this revelation, as he had become increasingly unhappy and
disinterested in his schoolwork. My girls (especially the 12 yo) are
what you might deem the "studious" type, so they didn't complain much.
Still, I knew in my heart something had to change.

Anyway, the past few months we threw caution (and curricula :) to the
wind and just started living life. We are enjoying and appreciating
one another so much more now....I sure wish I'd started sooner. Though
I am tempted to beat myself up over it (spending all those years re-
creating school at home), I know that doing so won't help us.

I've read John Holt's "How Kids Learn" and "Learning All the Time," and
Thomas Armstrong's "In Their Own Way." Next on my list is Alfie
Cohen's "Punished by Rewards." If anyone has other reading suggestions
that may be helpful to me, I would love to hear them.

Thank you for sticking with this rather long-winded intro :-)

Sharon in MI

April

Welcome!

Were in Michigan are you?

We have a Michigan Unschooling list you might enjoy:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/michigan_unschoolers/



~April
Mom to Kate-19, Lisa-16, Karl-14, & Ben-10.
*REACH Homeschool Grp, an inclusive group in Oakland County
<http://www.reachhomeschool.com> www.reachhomeschool.com

* Michigan Unschoolers
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/michigan_unschoolers/>
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/michigan_unschoolers/
*Check out Chuck's art! <http://www.artkunst23.com/>
http://www.artkunst23.com
"Know where to find the information and how to use it - That's the secret of
success."
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

_____

From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of simplemom3
Sent: Sunday, December 04, 2005 8:23 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [unschoolingbasics] RE: Introducing Myself



Hello to Everyone -

I am so happy to have found this group! Our family has homeschooled
for 5 yrs now. When I first heard about unschooling I ran the gamut of
opinions - from shocked to curious and intrigued. I tried deschooling
last year but went back to "the schedule" when I felt our day was too
unstructured. It's been a slow process, but over the last few months I
have come to realize that the routine of rushing my children (12 yo dd,
7 yo dd, 7 yo ds) to get up, eat breakfast, brush teeth, and do
school.....was no longer working for us. My 7 yo son was the catalyst
in this revelation, as he had become increasingly unhappy and
disinterested in his schoolwork. My girls (especially the 12 yo) are
what you might deem the "studious" type, so they didn't complain much.
Still, I knew in my heart something had to change.

Anyway, the past few months we threw caution (and curricula :) to the
wind and just started living life. We are enjoying and appreciating
one another so much more now....I sure wish I'd started sooner. Though
I am tempted to beat myself up over it (spending all those years re-
creating school at home), I know that doing so won't help us.

I've read John Holt's "How Kids Learn" and "Learning All the Time," and
Thomas Armstrong's "In Their Own Way." Next on my list is Alfie
Cohen's "Punished by Rewards." If anyone has other reading suggestions
that may be helpful to me, I would love to hear them.

Thank you for sticking with this rather long-winded intro :-)

Sharon in MI












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

Anastasia Hall

Hi, Sharon! I'm Anastasia, from MI also. We're deschooling right now, first year home together, having fun and witnessing changes in our lives and relationships. I just got done reading John Holt's, "Teach Your Own." It was as good as the other two of his books you mentioned, and got down to the business of unschooling as a concrete day-to-day thing, not just a bunch of ideas. How was the Thomas Armstrong book? I don't think I have that one on my to-read list yet.

Nice to "meet" you!

Anastasia

simplemom3 <sja3k@...> wrote:
Hello to Everyone -


I've read John Holt's "How Kids Learn" and "Learning All the Time," and
Thomas Armstrong's "In Their Own Way." Next on my list is Alfie
Cohen's "Punished by Rewards." If anyone has other reading suggestions
that may be helpful to me, I would love to hear them.

Thank you for sticking with this rather long-winded intro :-)

Sharon in MI











---------------------------------
YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS


Visit your group "unschoolingbasics" on the web.

To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[email protected]

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.


---------------------------------






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

simplemom3

> Were in Michigan are you?
>
>
April -
Thank you for the link. I will go and check it out. We are in extreme
southeastern lower MI, just a few miles north of the Ohio line.

simplemom3

I just got done reading John Holt's, "Teach Your Own." It was as
good as the other two of his books you mentioned, and got down to the
business of unschooling as a concrete day-to-day thing, not just a
bunch of ideas. How was the Thomas Armstrong book?


I'll check our library for "Teach Your Own." If they don't have it,
I'll hunt it down :)

The Thomas Armstrong book helps you find your child's personal
learning style and work with it. It gets a bit more in depth than
other learning styles books I've read. He describes 7 distinct
styles, and feels that most of us have characteristics from more than
one. Linguistic, spatial, kinesthetic, logical-mathematical,
musical, inter-personal, and intra-personal. Also talks about
turning some of the labels kids get saddled with (refers to them
as "lead") into "gold." Learning disabled/learning different;
agressive/assertive; plodding/thorough; daydreaming/imaginative;
phobic/cautious; irritable/sensitive.

All in all, I thought it was worth reading and I think I gained some
insight into my own kids personal styles.

Thank you for the welcome :)

Sharon

[email protected]

----Original Message-----
From: simplemom3 sja3k@...

I've read John Holt's "How Kids Learn" and "Learning All the Time," and
Thomas Armstrong's "In Their Own Way." Next on my list is Alfie
Cohen's "Punished by Rewards." If anyone has other reading suggestions
that may be helpful to me, I would love to hear them.

-=-=-=-=-

Rue Kream's _Parenting a Free Child. An Unschooled Life_
Sandra Dodd's _Moving a Puddle, and Other Essays_
Valerie Fitzenreiter's _The Unprocessed Child_
John Taylor Gatto's _Dumbing Us Down_ and The Underground History of American Education_
Grace Llewellyn's _The Teenage Liberation Handbook_
Mary Grifith's _The Unschooling Handbook_
Frank Smith's _The Book of Learning and Forgetting_

All "must-reads" for unschoolers!


~Kelly

Kelly Lovejoy
Conference Coordinator
Live and Learn Unschooling Conference
http://liveandlearnconference.org



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

simplemom3

> Rue Kream's _Parenting a Free Child. An Unschooled Life_
> Sandra Dodd's _Moving a Puddle, and Other Essays_
> Valerie Fitzenreiter's _The Unprocessed Child_
> John Taylor Gatto's _Dumbing Us Down_ and The Underground History of
American Education_
> Grace Llewellyn's _The Teenage Liberation Handbook_
> Mary Grifith's _The Unschooling Handbook_
> Frank Smith's _The Book of Learning and Forgetting_
>

I've read the last four....will check our library for the first three.
Sandra Dodd suggestion might even be on her website. It's full of good
stuff :) Thanks for taking the time to list them.

Sharon

[email protected]

HI My name is Sandy and I am in my 5th year of homeschooling. I am a
unschooler want to be and will some how get there.. Yes I have curriculum here but
its hardly being used. I wanted to learn and see what others are doing in a
day.

I am Mom to a Son...17 years old and a Junior this year. He works a lot with
his dad right now. Dad has a tree business and we are hoping one day he will
take over.

I am also Mom to a Daughter..she is 14 years old and will be a High Schooler
next year. She is very involved in Competitive dance.

Both of my kids are very involved in Bowling also.

So off to read a lot of the old messages :)

Sandy
<BR><BR><BR>**************************************<BR> AOL now offers free
email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at
http://www.aol.com


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

Joanne

Hi Sandy...welcome! If you're reading on the web, click the links in
the left sidebar for lots more unschooling information.

~ Joanne ~
Mom to Jacqueline (8), Shawna (11) & Cimion (14)
http://anunschoolinglife.blogspot.com/




--- In [email protected], SandyL2002@... wrote:
>
> HI My name is Sandy and I am in my 5th year of homeschooling. I am
a
> unschooler want to be and will some how get there.. Yes I have
curriculum here but
> its hardly being used. I wanted to learn and see what others are
doing in a
> day.
>
> I am Mom to a Son...17 years old and a Junior this year. He works
a lot with
> his dad right now. Dad has a tree business and we are hoping one
day he will
> take over.
>
> I am also Mom to a Daughter..she is 14 years old and will be a
High Schooler
> next year. She is very involved in Competitive dance.
>
> Both of my kids are very involved in Bowling also.
>
> So off to read a lot of the old messages :)
>
> Sandy
> <BR><BR><BR>**************************************<BR> AOL now
offers free
> email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at
> http://www.aol.com
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

josha.grant

Summerhill: A Radical Approach to Child Rearing

Some of it is dated but the essence is timeless.

[email protected]

In a message dated 2/28/2007 12:39:49 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
grantswelding@... writes:


Summerhill: A Radical Approach to Child Rearing

Some of it is dated but the essence is timeless.


Is this a book or a website?
<BR><BR><BR>**************************************<BR> AOL now offers free
email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at
http://www.aol.com


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

josha.grant

Summerhill: A Radical Approach to Child Rearing by A.S Neill is a book.
It was written in the early 60's. It is about the philosophy and
approach of the man who started the Summerhill School in England
(1921). (It is still going). I highly recommend it!!

josha.grant

>
> Summerhill: A Radical Approach to Child Rearing
>
>
> Is this a book or a website?
>

It's a book. by A.S. Neill About the beginings of Summerhill School
in England and Neill's approach to being with children.