Deirdre Aycock

> From: nancy sebastian <squirlygirl1970@...>

>Question. what about math or
> english. He hates reading. what do you suggest on
> that.
..............
What are your overall goals for "reading?" Being able to read something and
get the information he wants from the material? He will eventually want to
know something about his current video game and will need to read to figure
out how to get past something hard--you've heard of "walk-throughs?" Also,
he may be reading while he plays his video game. My kids are playing Animal
Crossing right now--that requires constant reading. Is being able to
communicate in writing one of your goals for him? Does he email or instant
message other kids? If he does, he gets instant feedback on his writing.
We enjoy the yahoo email list unschooling_gamers. My kids are getting a
little tired of Runescape, but for a while they played that for hours
everyday. (www.runescape.com --it's free) They had to type to be able to
communicate with the other players on line. In fact, my kids learned so
much cool stuff playing that game!! And I had fun hanging out with them or
talking to them about Runescape. If we had had another computer, I would
have had my own character!

he wants to make video games later in life and
> that requires alot of math. any suggestions.
.............................
He doesn't have to learn the math that he might need later right now--it can
wait. The school system has convinced people that math must be taught a
little bit at a time and in a particular order. That's rubish--it's just
not based on good science! Also, my kids aren't interested in making their
video games, but there are resources out there that will help him create his
own video games--now, not "when he grows up."

A lot of published authors have said that if you want to be a great writer,
then read a lot. I think the same logic could be applied here: If your son
wants to make video games, he should experience ("play") lots of video
games. And my kids loved flipping through this book: The Ultimate History
of Video Games: From Pong to Pokemon--The Story Behind the Craze That
Touched Our Lives and Changed the World by Steven L. Kent I just found the
exact title by going to Amazon.com and searching for "video game history."
But we checked it out of the library when we read it. There were several
other books that came up from my search--check it out!

im really
> new at this. and i really am going to work on this.
........................

Besides this list, I really enjoy reading the yahoo group, unschooling
basics. You might want to check that one out, too.

Deirdre in Alabama

nancy sebastian

thankyou. i wrote the book down and i will check it
out from the library today.
--- Deirdre Aycock <aycock@...> wrote:


God Bless You
Nancy