Re: [Unschooling-dotcom] how we 'morphed' to unschooling
Cathie _
Eiraul, I knew I liked you! Now I know why-your story sounds so much like
mine!
My oldest boy was much the same-in the 5th grade at ps, my first parent
teacher conference had 2 teachers and the principal present to confront me
about how Rick was getting no score lower than a 95 from tests and classroom
work, but when they averaged in the homework that never seemed to make it to
class (although I was wasting all of our evenings making him do it) he was
getting D's. One teacher actually cried and said "I'm just afraid he's not
getting the practice he needs". Excuse me, but if you can get a 98 without
homework, why do you need it?
Public school took up our entire lives, it seemed. If they weren't at
school, then they were doing homework or getting ready for school. Not to
mention all the times I had to race 20 miles to town to get something that
they just had to have for school tomorrow. Absentee policy was also a
problem for me, as the school and I disagreed on the importance of just
taking a day off to have some quality time alone with your mom. Now, where I
live, parents are even being taken to court and fined for school
absences-its a good thing we got out when we did!
Your younger son sounds alot like mine-I call him an unschoolers dream
child! He only went to ps for k and 1st grade, not enough to rob him of his
innate capacity to learn naturally-just because he wants to know. He also
was late to ride a bike! He reads alot, has fun with numbers, remembers how
to spell words easily, and is happy and free to be himself.
I still worry that they are not doing enough actual school work sometimes,
that they will never learn to write, as it is something that the boys never
seem to want to do. I still hold out hope that when they get a bit older and
want to meet more kids on the net they will need to communicate in writing
and will then learn it-as everything else, when they decide they need to
know, they will learn.
We do quite a bit of running around, there are alot of hsers in our area,
and many opportunities for classes and group activities. I also work 4 days
a week, so although I certainly do not envy your illness, I would like more
time to just talk as it seems to be our best learning time also. The years
when they were little and I stayed home were so full of joy for us all. Then
we may have only gone to town once a week-now it seems I am driving all the
time. I am trying to wean us all off of the constant running so that I can
drop at least one more day of work. But as soon as I think that, I get an
email about gym day and think, Oh, wouldn't that be fun! (I am still trying
to decide on that one)
I love hearing about your oldest son. It is so reassuring to know that it
pays off and I think about these kids often when I have my doubtful days.
Cathie
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mine!
My oldest boy was much the same-in the 5th grade at ps, my first parent
teacher conference had 2 teachers and the principal present to confront me
about how Rick was getting no score lower than a 95 from tests and classroom
work, but when they averaged in the homework that never seemed to make it to
class (although I was wasting all of our evenings making him do it) he was
getting D's. One teacher actually cried and said "I'm just afraid he's not
getting the practice he needs". Excuse me, but if you can get a 98 without
homework, why do you need it?
Public school took up our entire lives, it seemed. If they weren't at
school, then they were doing homework or getting ready for school. Not to
mention all the times I had to race 20 miles to town to get something that
they just had to have for school tomorrow. Absentee policy was also a
problem for me, as the school and I disagreed on the importance of just
taking a day off to have some quality time alone with your mom. Now, where I
live, parents are even being taken to court and fined for school
absences-its a good thing we got out when we did!
Your younger son sounds alot like mine-I call him an unschoolers dream
child! He only went to ps for k and 1st grade, not enough to rob him of his
innate capacity to learn naturally-just because he wants to know. He also
was late to ride a bike! He reads alot, has fun with numbers, remembers how
to spell words easily, and is happy and free to be himself.
I still worry that they are not doing enough actual school work sometimes,
that they will never learn to write, as it is something that the boys never
seem to want to do. I still hold out hope that when they get a bit older and
want to meet more kids on the net they will need to communicate in writing
and will then learn it-as everything else, when they decide they need to
know, they will learn.
We do quite a bit of running around, there are alot of hsers in our area,
and many opportunities for classes and group activities. I also work 4 days
a week, so although I certainly do not envy your illness, I would like more
time to just talk as it seems to be our best learning time also. The years
when they were little and I stayed home were so full of joy for us all. Then
we may have only gone to town once a week-now it seems I am driving all the
time. I am trying to wean us all off of the constant running so that I can
drop at least one more day of work. But as soon as I think that, I get an
email about gym day and think, Oh, wouldn't that be fun! (I am still trying
to decide on that one)
I love hearing about your oldest son. It is so reassuring to know that it
pays off and I think about these kids often when I have my doubtful days.
Cathie
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Cathy Henderson
Eiarul, thank you so much for sharing your experiences. There is alot of
hope and encouragement for those of us who are starting after years in ps.
Cathy
hope and encouragement for those of us who are starting after years in ps.
Cathy
----- Original Message -----
From: <braunville@...>
>
> Relaxing enough to trust that we will learn 'enough'! I'm figuring out
that
> "IT" doesn't all have to be learned in 8 years or 12 years or 20 years.
> Whatever we don't cover while my children are in my care, they will learn
on
> their own in years to come. I'm still learning about the world around me
and
> have every reason to expect they will do the same.
>
> BTW, my unschooling experiences started with a stubborn teenager who
refused
> to cooperate with any formal schooling...at home or in a ps setting. At
that
> point I figured my choices were to protect our relationship and wait for
him
[email protected]
In a message dated 7/20/2000 2:31:58 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
cathie_98@... writes:
worst we've ever seen about this. Other places had no problem with our
taking a day off as long as I let them know our son would be absent.
Problems in that school district started with our keeping him out of school
the day we moved (we had been living with his g'parents in Puyallup, finally
found a home of our own and had to go across the mountains (2 hours one way)
to retrieve our belongings. We planned to do it on Saturday, but the pass
was closed, so we had to take care of it on Monday. The school district
SECRETARY had a cow. We went round and round and round with that secretary.
If DS was absent and we sent a note, she insisted she needed a phone call
instead. So the next time we would call and she would insist she needed a
note. Always declaring that she only needed one or the other. At one point
she refused to allow DS into his classes until he called me and I verified
the note he had presented to her. At a later date she claimed that she NEVER
kept ANY child from attending class for this issue. In fact, it went so far
as a letter from the school principal chewing ME out and telling me I was to
quit harrassing their school secretary!!! I couldn't get away fast enough.)
Eiraul
cathie_98@... writes:
> Absentee policy was also aI
> problem for me, as the school and I disagreed on the importance of just
> taking a day off to have some quality time alone with your mom. Now, where
>Gee, you don't live in the Puyallup, WA school district, do you?! It was the
> live, parents are even being taken to court and fined for school
> absences-its a good thing we got out when we did!
worst we've ever seen about this. Other places had no problem with our
taking a day off as long as I let them know our son would be absent.
Problems in that school district started with our keeping him out of school
the day we moved (we had been living with his g'parents in Puyallup, finally
found a home of our own and had to go across the mountains (2 hours one way)
to retrieve our belongings. We planned to do it on Saturday, but the pass
was closed, so we had to take care of it on Monday. The school district
SECRETARY had a cow. We went round and round and round with that secretary.
If DS was absent and we sent a note, she insisted she needed a phone call
instead. So the next time we would call and she would insist she needed a
note. Always declaring that she only needed one or the other. At one point
she refused to allow DS into his classes until he called me and I verified
the note he had presented to her. At a later date she claimed that she NEVER
kept ANY child from attending class for this issue. In fact, it went so far
as a letter from the school principal chewing ME out and telling me I was to
quit harrassing their school secretary!!! I couldn't get away fast enough.)
Eiraul
[email protected]
My child last year had a med reaction that resulted in a severly lowered
white blood count, so couldn't go to school until we got it up. It took 3
weeks. I got harrassed even though I had a doctors note, one for each day he
was out, because we went daily for a blood test. His teacher refused to give
me his work to keep up, and I am a certified teacher. I am going to
homeschool this year.
Evelyn
white blood count, so couldn't go to school until we got it up. It took 3
weeks. I got harrassed even though I had a doctors note, one for each day he
was out, because we went daily for a blood test. His teacher refused to give
me his work to keep up, and I am a certified teacher. I am going to
homeschool this year.
Evelyn
Cathie _
> > live, parents are even being taken to court and fined for schoolNope, we are in Ohio. When we first started into school, I would call and
> > absences-its a good thing we got out when we did!
>
>Gee, you don't live in the Puyallup, WA school district, do you?! It was
>the
>worst we've ever seen about this. Other places had no problem with our
>taking a day off as long as I let them know our son would be absent.
say that we are taking a personal day-I didn't want the kids to think it was
okay to lie-and they didn't say a word. Now though, I don't think that would
cut it!
Cathie
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