[email protected]

I've gone nowhere, but I feel like I've been on a long trip and have just
returned! It's been an odd month or so!

We began this adventure with almost a mini-L&L conference of unschooled
teens. We had a bunch of them from as far as Jacksonville, FL and Chicago, IL
come to frozen Massachusetts. It was wonderful having those loud, eneretic,
joyful, silly bodies all over the place. It was a blast watching Brenna, who said
she hadn't seen snow since she was 6, experience first a cold spell of
weather of 4 degrees, then THIRTY-EIGHT inches of snow, which delayed her
departure for a couple of days. Dagny also joined them, along with Bryanna. Julian
was thrilled.

At the time I was also experiencing some pain, which I discovered was my
gall bladder. Soon after the kids left I went in for surgery, but first there
was another adventure. Remember that snow storm I mentioned? Well, as Beth was
digging out and warming up the car to take me to the hospital, a huge, 9"
diameter icicle fell onto the roof of the car, crushing the roof and smashing
the windshield. They dug out the other car, and we waited to deal with cars
later.

In the meantime, my gall bladder surgery ended up being a tad complicated,
so my recovery time felt long. I was especially bummed because we had to cancel
our vacation, costing us about a thousand bucks. AND we had to replace the
car, unplanned.

Oh, well... On the other hand, I find myself in the last legs of
unschooling, and it's really very cool. Beth and I were talking last night about Julian,
and we agreed that, after pulling him out of school after the third grade
and plunging into unschooling, neither of us would have dreamed how amazing he
would turn out: Kind, knowledgeable, fun and funny, scary smart, mature,
competent....

I could go on, but if you have younger kids and wonder how this could
possibly work, I promise you....it's SO worth it. There aren't any real effective
books about parenting for people who choose this way to live with their
families, and that IS hard sometimes. But you have real live examples. And from the
wonderful teens who spent time with us in January, it's NOT that I
personally lucked into a great kid (although I really did) .... They're around, and
they're going to change the world.

Kathryn


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[email protected]

In a message dated 2/27/2005 2:28:02 PM Mountain Standard Time,
KathrynJB@... writes:

I find myself in the last legs of
unschooling, and it's really very cool. Beth and I were talking last night
about Julian,
and we agreed that, after pulling him out of school after the third grade
and plunging into unschooling, neither of us would have dreamed how amazing
he
would turn out: Kind, knowledgeable, fun and funny, scary smart, mature,
competent....

I could go on, but if you have younger kids and wonder how this could
possibly work, I promise you....it's SO worth it. There aren't any real
effective
books about parenting for people who choose this way to live with their
families, and that IS hard sometimes. But you have real live examples. And
from the
wonderful teens who spent time with us in January, it's NOT that I
personally lucked into a great kid (although I really did) .... They're
around, and
they're going to change the world.

Kathryn




========================================

This is stunning.
I've enshrined it:
_http://sandradodd.com/teen/julian_ (http://sandradodd.com/teen/julian)

and linked it from
_http://sandradodd.com/teens_ (http://sandradodd.com/teens)

Cameron Lovejoy, 17, was here for a week earlier in February. He met other
teens, some of them also unschooled or homeschooled, some schooled kids (and
college students and one college graduate, but he probably didn't know that
because none of that is discussed much) who hang out with Kirby and Marty. He
met their cousins Gina, Elijah and Joshua who are the kids in the "Public
School on your Own Terms" article. Cameron impressed that whole longterm group
very favorably, and he seemed to have fun in the many situations we drug him
into and through during the week.

Holly was on IM to some of the kids at Kathryn's house during their similar
marathon teen time.


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[email protected]

I fumbled and the mail went prematurely.

I meant to say that I'm sorry for your medical and vehicular emergencies
(along with the pain, frustration and expenses), Kathryn, but thank you for
writing something so wonderful.

Sandra


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Rue Kream

>>from the wonderful teens who spent time with us in January, it's NOT that
I
personally lucked into a great kid

**They are an amazing group of people. Dagny had such a great time. In the
car on the ride home she talked and talked and talked. She told me one
night they were all laying around in the dark playing guitar and singing
Beatles' songs, and it just sounded like one of those times that you
remember forever. She was happily amazed to have been a visitor in two homes
where she *felt* at home. I love that the kids are traveling to hang out
with each other. We'd love to have some unschooling visitors any time :0).

Her life is so different than mine was at her age. I wouldn't ever have
considered asking my parents if I could go to a sleepover at a boy's house
with a bunch of older kids - I would have tried to find a way to do it
without them knowing instead. She is so much more grounded and mature and
secure in herself at 12 than I was at 20.

While she was there she watched Spinal Tap and really liked it. I had never
seen it and she thought I'd enjoy it, so she put it on our Netflix queue,
and we all watched it together today. We laughed a lot and had some cool
conversations about how rock developed and how adults reacted to the
sexuality of it. We talked about Elvis and Jim Morrison, and Jon brought up
the Ed Sullivan Show. There's a lot to talk about in that movie - long
hair/fashion, spontaneous combustion, documentaries, Yoko Ono, aging
rockers, funny English words (wonker), chapeaus and haberdashers, amps that
go to 11 <G>. When I lived with my parents I wasn't allowed to see PG
movies, so I would never have told my mom I watched an R rated one, let
alone recommended it to her. I feel so lucky that Rowan and Dagny and Jon
and I really *know* each other.

Dagny asked me today if Spinal Tap was rated R just because they said f____.
It reminded me of something that happened when she was about 4. She asked
me what the movie ratings meant. After we talked about R she said, "What
comes next?" I said X, and that one big difference was they could show a
penis. She said, "Ya, well, there's nothing worse than a naked penis" with
a totally straight face and then cracked up. Not a story I've shared with my
mom <G>. ~Rue


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