Unschooling groups
Ren Allen
"We are all in agreement that we will rotate from house to house
each week. I
would like your input before we meet this Friday so that I can make
sure that we
have some things to think about to make this a success on the front
end."
It sounds like you have the core idea layed out, I'm sure it will
build from there. I can only tell you what worked really well for
me, each group operates in a unique way, but here's what we did:
Initiallly, when we had a few unschooling families interested in
getting together regularly, we would meet at the park. We decided
something weekly would be nice, so I looked around for a rec center
and fortunately, the park we'd been meeting at was happy to have us
use their rec center each week.
This opened up all sorts of possibilities, because we now had a
building. There was a large gym, and a couple of side rooms for
gaming or crafts or??
We labeled the group clearly as NON-religious. We had quite a
diverse group over the years, religiously speaking...christians,
pagans, atheists, jews, catholic etc... It was really nice.
Not everyone was unschoolers, but most everyone was very relaxed and
leaned towards AP parenting styles. Anyone really uptight and
religious did not fit in well at all, and usually did not come back
for a second visit.
If you want to check out the group I started in P'cola, you can read
about them at the yahoo group Pensacolaunschoolers. We had a lot of
fun over the years. Activities were sometimes planned, but anyone
could choose to get involved or not...there was always a basketball
and the park for anyone not wanting to do whatever was going on.
We had a medieval themed day, a huge "Fun-fest" with all sorts of
vendors (not selling, just sharing a passion) from beekeepers, to
pigeon racers, museums etc..., we baked bread in a bag and made ice
cream, we painted ceramics and for the most part, we hung out and
made new friends.
It drove the schoolish types crazy that we didn't have any schedule
or "structure" other than the day we met....they wanted us to offer
classes and such. It was amusing. Starting that group was one of
the best things I ever did, we made lifelong friends there.
Best wishes on your adventure. Just get a clear vision of the type
of group you want it to be, write that up and then there won't be
any confusion when folks want to participate.
Ren
each week. I
would like your input before we meet this Friday so that I can make
sure that we
have some things to think about to make this a success on the front
end."
It sounds like you have the core idea layed out, I'm sure it will
build from there. I can only tell you what worked really well for
me, each group operates in a unique way, but here's what we did:
Initiallly, when we had a few unschooling families interested in
getting together regularly, we would meet at the park. We decided
something weekly would be nice, so I looked around for a rec center
and fortunately, the park we'd been meeting at was happy to have us
use their rec center each week.
This opened up all sorts of possibilities, because we now had a
building. There was a large gym, and a couple of side rooms for
gaming or crafts or??
We labeled the group clearly as NON-religious. We had quite a
diverse group over the years, religiously speaking...christians,
pagans, atheists, jews, catholic etc... It was really nice.
Not everyone was unschoolers, but most everyone was very relaxed and
leaned towards AP parenting styles. Anyone really uptight and
religious did not fit in well at all, and usually did not come back
for a second visit.
If you want to check out the group I started in P'cola, you can read
about them at the yahoo group Pensacolaunschoolers. We had a lot of
fun over the years. Activities were sometimes planned, but anyone
could choose to get involved or not...there was always a basketball
and the park for anyone not wanting to do whatever was going on.
We had a medieval themed day, a huge "Fun-fest" with all sorts of
vendors (not selling, just sharing a passion) from beekeepers, to
pigeon racers, museums etc..., we baked bread in a bag and made ice
cream, we painted ceramics and for the most part, we hung out and
made new friends.
It drove the schoolish types crazy that we didn't have any schedule
or "structure" other than the day we met....they wanted us to offer
classes and such. It was amusing. Starting that group was one of
the best things I ever did, we made lifelong friends there.
Best wishes on your adventure. Just get a clear vision of the type
of group you want it to be, write that up and then there won't be
any confusion when folks want to participate.
Ren
Mother Earth (Tyra)
Thank you for the info, Ren. It is very helpful!
Peace
Tyra
Peace
Tyra
----- Original Message -----
From: Ren Allen
To: [email protected]
Sent: Wednesday, December 28, 2005 4:58 PM
Subject: [unschoolingbasics] Unschooling groups
It sounds like you have the core idea layed out, I'm sure it will
build from there. I can only tell you what worked really well for
me, each group operates in a unique way, but here's what we did:
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]