Mary

Not sure how famous she may be but I just heard that Brook Burns was homeschooled all through high school. She was modeling and traveling around in Paris when she should have been studying for SAT's!

Mary B

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Mary

Did you know that George Burns, Andrew Carnegie, George Jones, Sophia Loren, Walt Whitman, Colonel Sanders all left school in elementary school? There are tons more famous and millionaires that "dropped out". It sure makes sense. The lack of tedious mindless duties leaves alot of time for the imagination.

Take care, Mary W

Mary <mummy124@...> wrote:
Not sure how famous she may be but I just heard that Brook Burns was homeschooled all through high school. She was modeling and traveling around in Paris when she should have been studying for SAT's!

Mary B

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"List Posting Policies" are provided in the files area of this group.

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[email protected]

I don't think dropping out and homeschooling should be considered one and
the same, just as a general statement. Nothing about the individuals named,
but I'd prefer not to think of my children as life-long dropouts, as they never
did drop in.

Sandra


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ryutaro1969

Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Edison, and Michael Faraday
could probably be considered unschoolers. Most people think they did
well despite the lack of a formal education. What would have happened
to their intellects if they'd had a compulsory education? In the last
century, how many more Franklins and Edisons did the school system
prevent from reaching their full potential?




--- In [email protected], Mary <maryw80@y...> wrote:
> Did you know that George Burns, Andrew Carnegie, George Jones,
Sophia Loren, Walt Whitman, Colonel Sanders all left school in
elementary school? There are tons more famous and millionaires that
"dropped out". It sure makes sense. The lack of tedious mindless
duties leaves alot of time for the imagination.
>
> Take care, Mary W
>
> Mary <mummy124@b...> wrote:
> Not sure how famous she may be but I just heard that Brook Burns was
homeschooled all through high school. She was modeling and traveling
around in Paris when she should have been studying for SAT's!
>
> Mary B
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
> "List Posting Policies" are provided in the files area of this group.
>
> Visit the Unschooling website and message boards:
http://www.unschooling.com
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
> To visit your group on the web, go to:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/UnschoolingDiscussion/
>
> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> [email protected]
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
>
>
>
>
> Take care, Mary (http://www.geocities.com/maryw80)
>
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Yahoo! Messenger
> Show us what our next emoticon should look like. Join the fun.
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

nellebelle

>>>>>>>>Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Edison, and Michael Faraday
could probably be considered unschoolers. Most people think they did
well despite the lack of a formal education.>>>>>>>>>

How can you consider Franklin an unschooler, let alone a homeschooler? His education was pretty typical for his time and family's income level. He did attend school and then took an aprenticeship.

I don't think it's very meaningful to talk about people being homeschooled or unschooled prior to 1900 or so. Before then, there were all sorts of acceptable approaches to educating one's children. Many never attended school or had only a few years of formal education.

Mary Ellen

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

ryutaro1969

Ben Franklin did not learn to read in school, and much of what he did
learn was done on his own. I would consider any child who spends all
his money on books that interest him to be an unschooler:

"I was put to the grammar-school at eight years of age, my father
intending to devote me, as the tithe of his sons, to the service of
the Church. My early readiness in learning to read (which must have
been very early, as I do not remember when I could not read), and the
opinion of all his friends, that I should certainly make a good
scholar, encouraged him in this purpose of his."

"From a child I was fond of reading, and all the little money that
came into my hands was ever laid out in books. Pleased with the
Pilgrim's Progress, my first collection was of John Bunyan's works in
separate little volumes. I afterward sold them to enable me to buy R.
Burton's Historical Collections; they were small
chapmen's books, and cheap, 40 or 50 in all. My father's little
library consisted chiefly of books in polemic divinity, most of which
I read, and have since often regretted that, at a time when I had such
a thirst for knowledge, more proper books had not fallen in my way
since it was now resolved I should not be a clergyman. Plutarch's
Lives there was in which I read abundantly, and I still
think that time spent to great advantage. There was also a book of De
Foe's, called an Essay on Projects, and another of Dr. Mather's,
called Essays to do Good, which perhaps gave me a turn of thinking
that had an influence on some of the principal future events of my life."

-Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin


--- In [email protected], "nellebelle"
<nellebelle@c...> wrote:
> >>>>>>>>Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Edison, and
Michael Faraday
> could probably be considered unschoolers. Most people think they did
> well despite the lack of a formal education.>>>>>>>>>
>
> How can you consider Franklin an unschooler, let alone a
homeschooler? His education was pretty typical for his time and
family's income level. He did attend school and then took an
aprenticeship.
>
> I don't think it's very meaningful to talk about people being
homeschooled or unschooled prior to 1900 or so. Before then, there
were all sorts of acceptable approaches to educating one's children.
Many never attended school or had only a few years of formal education.
>
> Mary Ellen
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

ryutaro1969

That was basically my point-there were all sorts of acceptable methods
before we 'fixed' that. I just wanted you to imagine Franklin or
Lincoln sitting in a modern school and what that type of education
would have meant to the future of our country. Just because they
lived before 1900 doesn't mean we can't draw ideas about what does and
doesn't work in education.

--- In [email protected], "nellebelle"
<nellebelle@c...> wrote:
> >>>>>>>>Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Edison, and
Michael Faraday
> could probably be considered unschoolers. Most people think they did
> well despite the lack of a formal education.>>>>>>>>>
>
> How can you consider Franklin an unschooler, let alone a
homeschooler? His education was pretty typical for his time and
family's income level. He did attend school and then took an
aprenticeship.
>
> I don't think it's very meaningful to talk about people being
homeschooled or unschooled prior to 1900 or so. Before then, there
were all sorts of acceptable approaches to educating one's children.
Many never attended school or had only a few years of formal education.
>
> Mary Ellen
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[email protected]

In a message dated 4/6/2005 1:49:34 PM Mountain Daylight Time,
ryutaro1969@... writes:

I would consider any child who spends all
his money on books that interest him to be an unschooler:



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

What if they buy books that don't interest them?
Hypothetical question, so don't really answer it, but it might be worth
thinking about.

When I was a child I spent all my money on books. I talked my parents into
"book clubs" for me--Week Reader Children's Bookclub which sent a hardbound
book ever few weeks (I wish I had saved them all, but I donated many to the
public library after I'd read them several times). Mystery Book club. The
Happy Hollisters (I did save those). I had to save allowance for two weeks
to buy a paperback at the department store nearest my house. I always ordered
books from Scholastic books (still have some of those old paperbacks) and I
bought a dictionary with my own money in 4th grade.

I was not an unschooler.

There are unschoolers who are exemplary, amazing unschoolers who have rarely
ever bought a single book.

I don't think book buying is a good criterion.

Sandra


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

ryutaro1969

I was replying to an earlier post. When I said any kid, I was
actually referring to this particular kid, a pre-teen holding down a
job and using books as his primary means of learning. I was trying to
explain why I considered him to be an unschooler—I never meant it to
be an all inclusive list that absolutely defined what is or is not an
unschooled or home schooled kid. Sorry for any confusion this may
have caused.

Although I was enrolled in school for ten years, I would consider
myself an unschooler of sorts. I started at a private school, and
attended K-3 there before being expelled for not turning in school
work. I went to four schools for fourth grade, and cut more than half
the school days between the seventh and tenth grades. I learned
almost nothing in school after second grade. I learned much more from
older friends who had jobs (electricians, auto mechanics, Grocers,
etc.), and spent a lot of time exploring Los Angeles while my friends
were in school. I had no problem passing the California Proficiency
Test and starting college at 16.

-John


> What if they buy books that don't interest them?
> Hypothetical question, so don't really answer it, but it might be
worth
> thinking about.
>
> When I was a child I spent all my money on books. I talked my
parents into
> "book clubs" for me--Week Reader Children's Bookclub which sent a
hardbound
> book ever few weeks (I wish I had saved them all, but I donated many
to the
> public library after I'd read them several times). Mystery Book
club. The
> Happy Hollisters (I did save those). I had to save allowance for
two weeks
> to buy a paperback at the department store nearest my house. I
always ordered
> books from Scholastic books (still have some of those old
paperbacks) and I
> bought a dictionary with my own money in 4th grade.
>
> I was not an unschooler.





>
> There are unschoolers who are exemplary, amazing unschoolers who
have rarely
> ever bought a single book.
>
> I don't think book buying is a good criterion.
>
> Sandra
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[email protected]

In a message dated 4/6/2005 7:27:42 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
[email protected] writes:
I would consider any child who spends all
his money on books that interest him to be an unschooler:
*********************************

I also spent my available money on books as a child AND learned to read
outside of school. Like Mr. Franklin, I "don't remember a time when I couldn't
read".
I wasn't an unschooler either. (Unfortunately)

Elissa Jill
Mystik Hill Farm
Kearneysville, WV


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