sparkly unschoolers
[email protected]
In a message dated 10/22/04 1:09:48 PM, pamsoroosh@... writes:
<< > One of the factors that drew me to homeschooling rather than public
just looking for homeschooling information and discovered that the
message boards where the unschoolers were talking were the ones that
got my heart racing because they were so alive and sparkly with ideas
and energy and fun and love of their children. >>
Some of my favorite memories from those times were when someone who was
careful to identify with the structured side of town, as it were, would come over
to the unschooling board with a really off-the-wall and interesting question of
obscure nature. And each time, the person said something like, "I figured
if anyone knew this it would be one of you." And the questions would be about
history, usually, or a request for how something might be connected to
something else, or how a child might be hooked up with an interesting mentor.
It was as blatant an acknowledgement as could have been, for me, that the
other homeschoolers respected us as more knowledgeable and creative and aware of
kids.
So why wouldn't they then also want to unschool?
Some did.
Some people who started on that end crossed the tracks and loosened up.
But some people don't consider themselves to be knowledgeable or creative,
and (perhaps) have decided that they don't need to start now. They're out of
school and don't have to learn anything else. Their kids can have school fed
into and through them and then *they* won't need to learn anything else.
The shortest distance between two points is a straight line, as is
mathematically stated. Sometimes a straight line isn't possible (thinking of airline
flight paths, for one thing <g>), and my children didn't HAVE two points to
pass one to another.
So...
The complications come from the combination of philosophical elements (as
Julie mentioned) and of the defensiveness of parents who say "I don't have to do
all that" (whatever "that" is for them).
True.
No parent has to do anything. They choose to do things.
So being in that world of choices, where do they decide to stop and why?
There comes the philosophy back.
Through all the innumerable factors, how DO people decide?
By deciding what principles they are following. Each principle one clings to
eliminates about half the choices in the world easily, and in a good way.
Each additional principle eliminates some more options, until the world becomes
manageable.
One of my guiding principles is that I want my children's worlds to be
sparkly.
There goes the dull and the darkness. Easily not chosen, not an option.
Sandra
<< > One of the factors that drew me to homeschooling rather than public
> schooling was that I thought learning should be fun. But only the<<This got me thinking, Joyce. Because I found unschooling the same way,
> unschoolers were focusing on fun and having positive relationships with
> their kids. Much of the other forums were devoted to how to make kids
> do
> their work, what products were best, what to do with younger kids while
> older ones did their work.
just looking for homeschooling information and discovered that the
message boards where the unschoolers were talking were the ones that
got my heart racing because they were so alive and sparkly with ideas
and energy and fun and love of their children. >>
Some of my favorite memories from those times were when someone who was
careful to identify with the structured side of town, as it were, would come over
to the unschooling board with a really off-the-wall and interesting question of
obscure nature. And each time, the person said something like, "I figured
if anyone knew this it would be one of you." And the questions would be about
history, usually, or a request for how something might be connected to
something else, or how a child might be hooked up with an interesting mentor.
It was as blatant an acknowledgement as could have been, for me, that the
other homeschoolers respected us as more knowledgeable and creative and aware of
kids.
So why wouldn't they then also want to unschool?
Some did.
Some people who started on that end crossed the tracks and loosened up.
But some people don't consider themselves to be knowledgeable or creative,
and (perhaps) have decided that they don't need to start now. They're out of
school and don't have to learn anything else. Their kids can have school fed
into and through them and then *they* won't need to learn anything else.
The shortest distance between two points is a straight line, as is
mathematically stated. Sometimes a straight line isn't possible (thinking of airline
flight paths, for one thing <g>), and my children didn't HAVE two points to
pass one to another.
So...
The complications come from the combination of philosophical elements (as
Julie mentioned) and of the defensiveness of parents who say "I don't have to do
all that" (whatever "that" is for them).
True.
No parent has to do anything. They choose to do things.
So being in that world of choices, where do they decide to stop and why?
There comes the philosophy back.
Through all the innumerable factors, how DO people decide?
By deciding what principles they are following. Each principle one clings to
eliminates about half the choices in the world easily, and in a good way.
Each additional principle eliminates some more options, until the world becomes
manageable.
One of my guiding principles is that I want my children's worlds to be
sparkly.
There goes the dull and the darkness. Easily not chosen, not an option.
Sandra
catherine aceto
That was a great post!
But your statement about parental choice really made me think about attitudes toward choosing. As I learned during a noted train-wreck of a discussion on another list, there seem to be some number people in the world who do not believe that they have choices -- instead feeling that there are some number of things that they *have* to do. (And that their children will *have* to do). (The same people seem to me to tend not to think of "joy" as a sufficient goal, either -- maybe the two attitudes are related?).
Maybe until people realize that they CAN choose, they are already constrained and stopped - without even the benefit of having made the conscious choice to stop. I am coming to think that realizing that *one has a choice* a necessary prerequisite to ever "getting it" about radical unschooling.
-Cat
But your statement about parental choice really made me think about attitudes toward choosing. As I learned during a noted train-wreck of a discussion on another list, there seem to be some number people in the world who do not believe that they have choices -- instead feeling that there are some number of things that they *have* to do. (And that their children will *have* to do). (The same people seem to me to tend not to think of "joy" as a sufficient goal, either -- maybe the two attitudes are related?).
Maybe until people realize that they CAN choose, they are already constrained and stopped - without even the benefit of having made the conscious choice to stop. I am coming to think that realizing that *one has a choice* a necessary prerequisite to ever "getting it" about radical unschooling.
-Cat
----- Original Message -----
From: SandraDodd@...
No parent has to do anything. They choose to do things.
So being in that world of choices, where do they decide to stop and why?
There comes the philosophy back.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
soggyboysmom
--- In [email protected], SandraDodd@a... wrote:
> The shortest distance between two points is a straight line, as isUnless you consider a tesser ;-)
> mathematically stated.