Re: [Unschooling-dotcom] young unschoolers
[email protected]
Hi all,
Okay I have a question for everyone with children over three. If you
remember, what was a typical day in your house with children around this age?
While we have not yet done an intent to homeschool, (we still have a little
while, yet) some days I get concerned we are just not doing enough (other
than everyday living). Ali does knows her ABC, counts to 10 or so, knows
color and basic shapes, is starting to recognize some letters of the alphabet
(like A for her name, D for Daddy and M for Mommy). While I am wanting to
"trust the process", I also want to make sure she is learning something while
we are not emphasizing anything.......any thoughts would be
appreciated.....thanks,
Julie
Okay I have a question for everyone with children over three. If you
remember, what was a typical day in your house with children around this age?
While we have not yet done an intent to homeschool, (we still have a little
while, yet) some days I get concerned we are just not doing enough (other
than everyday living). Ali does knows her ABC, counts to 10 or so, knows
color and basic shapes, is starting to recognize some letters of the alphabet
(like A for her name, D for Daddy and M for Mommy). While I am wanting to
"trust the process", I also want to make sure she is learning something while
we are not emphasizing anything.......any thoughts would be
appreciated.....thanks,
Julie
[email protected]
In a message dated 08/09/2000 11:49:44 AM !!!First Boot!!!, Jaam1224@...
writes:
<< any thoughts would be
appreciated.....thanks,
Julie >>
You're doing fine. Go play in the park.
Nance (mom to 5 1/2 yo daughter and 7 yo son -- older than 3 but some days it
doesn't seem like it!)
writes:
<< any thoughts would be
appreciated.....thanks,
Julie >>
You're doing fine. Go play in the park.
Nance (mom to 5 1/2 yo daughter and 7 yo son -- older than 3 but some days it
doesn't seem like it!)
LisaKK
3 is just barely not a baby. 3 is for talking and running and playing and
singing and dancing and kissing and hugging and eating and squealing and
crying and sleeping and drumming and going and coming. All lof those are
*doing verbs*. How could you not learn when you are so busy doing things?
I'm not going to do a good job of this, as yesterday was a very long day and
my husband's stupid alarm clock woke me up....not him, but me. He's still
asleep over there. So forgive me if I make little sense.
3 year olds are absolutely stunning in the learning department. They are
watching the entire world, storing away bits and pieces of information.
Things like when it rains the gutters down my Mrs. B's house fill up and are
so much fun to splah in.. now why won't our gutters fill up??? And when we
have to go shopping mom spends an inordinate amount of time getting ready?
Why? and what is this stuff called money? and what can't I have that toy
in the window, I want it for goodness sakes. The TV being too loud makes
Daddy cranky. These people seem to always want me to be picking stuff up.
What's wrong with letting it stay right where it is??
She's making all of these kinds of connections, and you want her to be able
to parrot back the ABC's? Which by the way make no logical sense .. they
are just squiggly lines with names.- Instead she spends her time thinking
about the entire world and her place in it. She needs to know how things
work and she's going to ask you a million questions. It's "inside" those
million questions where you can see learning is taking place. And true
learning has nothing to do with parroting back factoids.
That's not to say you don't sing the ABC song or talk about which letter
starts mommy. One of my fondest memories is going to the drug store in VA.
Sara was not quite 3 at the time, and potty trained. She kept saying P ...
P... P... and I kept saying okay, we'll find a potty.... she kept saying
No... P..... FINALLY, I realized we were in People's Drug store and she was
calling out every 'P' she was seeing, which was quite a few. <VBG>
If you spend time living a full and wonderful life, then the experiences
given your children will be the canvas from which they learn. You will be
able to trust the process of learning, because you will trust the process of
living your own life and of sharing it with your children.
And Julie, she's 3.
LisaKK
----Original Message-----
From: Jaam1224@... <Jaam1224@...>
To: [email protected] <[email protected]>
Date: Wednesday, August 09, 2000 6:49 AM
Subject: Re: [Unschooling-dotcom] young unschoolers
singing and dancing and kissing and hugging and eating and squealing and
crying and sleeping and drumming and going and coming. All lof those are
*doing verbs*. How could you not learn when you are so busy doing things?
I'm not going to do a good job of this, as yesterday was a very long day and
my husband's stupid alarm clock woke me up....not him, but me. He's still
asleep over there. So forgive me if I make little sense.
3 year olds are absolutely stunning in the learning department. They are
watching the entire world, storing away bits and pieces of information.
Things like when it rains the gutters down my Mrs. B's house fill up and are
so much fun to splah in.. now why won't our gutters fill up??? And when we
have to go shopping mom spends an inordinate amount of time getting ready?
Why? and what is this stuff called money? and what can't I have that toy
in the window, I want it for goodness sakes. The TV being too loud makes
Daddy cranky. These people seem to always want me to be picking stuff up.
What's wrong with letting it stay right where it is??
She's making all of these kinds of connections, and you want her to be able
to parrot back the ABC's? Which by the way make no logical sense .. they
are just squiggly lines with names.- Instead she spends her time thinking
about the entire world and her place in it. She needs to know how things
work and she's going to ask you a million questions. It's "inside" those
million questions where you can see learning is taking place. And true
learning has nothing to do with parroting back factoids.
That's not to say you don't sing the ABC song or talk about which letter
starts mommy. One of my fondest memories is going to the drug store in VA.
Sara was not quite 3 at the time, and potty trained. She kept saying P ...
P... P... and I kept saying okay, we'll find a potty.... she kept saying
No... P..... FINALLY, I realized we were in People's Drug store and she was
calling out every 'P' she was seeing, which was quite a few. <VBG>
If you spend time living a full and wonderful life, then the experiences
given your children will be the canvas from which they learn. You will be
able to trust the process of learning, because you will trust the process of
living your own life and of sharing it with your children.
And Julie, she's 3.
LisaKK
----Original Message-----
From: Jaam1224@... <Jaam1224@...>
To: [email protected] <[email protected]>
Date: Wednesday, August 09, 2000 6:49 AM
Subject: Re: [Unschooling-dotcom] young unschoolers
>Hi all,age?
>Okay I have a question for everyone with children over three. If you
>remember, what was a typical day in your house with children around this
>alphabet
>While we have not yet done an intent to homeschool, (we still have a little
>while, yet) some days I get concerned we are just not doing enough (other
>than everyday living). Ali does knows her ABC, counts to 10 or so, knows
>color and basic shapes, is starting to recognize some letters of the
>(like A for her name, D for Daddy and M for Mommy). While I am wanting towhile
>"trust the process", I also want to make sure she is learning something
>we are not emphasizing anything.......any thoughts would be
>appreciated.....thanks,
>
>Julie
>
>
>
>Message boards, timely articles, a free newsletter and more!
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>
>
>
[email protected]
LOL! Thanks
Julie
Julie
[email protected]
In a message dated 8/9/00 10:54:03 AM MST, crma@... writes:
English (or native language):
Verbal: Talk to your child. Ask questions. Discuss things. Allow child to
tell you what he or she built/made/is being.
Written: Allow your child to draw and color with a variety of things:
crayon, marker, pen, pencil, paintbrush, etc.
Science:
Physics: Bounce things. Throw things. Build tall towers. Mix stuff together
and see what happens. Let it dry and see what happens.
Nature: Go for walks. Go to forest/nature preserve nearby. Discuss small
animals including domestic animals and how they like/need to be treated.
Discuss local dangerous animals and proper precautions.
Biology: If you know any pregnant, talk about that. If you know any baby
humans or animals, talk about that. Care for pets if you have any.
Art: Allow your child to draw and color with a variety of things: crayon,
marker, pen, pencil, paintbrush, etc. Try water painting on sidewalk. Chalk
on sidewalk. Watercolors allow exploration of color mixing as they're painted
over each other.
The point? If you label the stuff your child is already doing with
educational labels, you see there's a LOT there!
:-) Diane
> > While we have not yet done an intent to homeschool, (we still have alittle
> > while, yet) some days I get concerned we are just not doing enough(other
> > than everyday living).Preschool curriculum:
English (or native language):
Verbal: Talk to your child. Ask questions. Discuss things. Allow child to
tell you what he or she built/made/is being.
Written: Allow your child to draw and color with a variety of things:
crayon, marker, pen, pencil, paintbrush, etc.
Science:
Physics: Bounce things. Throw things. Build tall towers. Mix stuff together
and see what happens. Let it dry and see what happens.
Nature: Go for walks. Go to forest/nature preserve nearby. Discuss small
animals including domestic animals and how they like/need to be treated.
Discuss local dangerous animals and proper precautions.
Biology: If you know any pregnant, talk about that. If you know any baby
humans or animals, talk about that. Care for pets if you have any.
Art: Allow your child to draw and color with a variety of things: crayon,
marker, pen, pencil, paintbrush, etc. Try water painting on sidewalk. Chalk
on sidewalk. Watercolors allow exploration of color mixing as they're painted
over each other.
The point? If you label the stuff your child is already doing with
educational labels, you see there's a LOT there!
:-) Diane
[email protected]
Thanks all,
This is just what I need to hear!
Julie
This is just what I need to hear!
Julie
Cathie _
>From: Jaam1224@...I do have one 3 year old-my bonus baby. My others are way past it. I can
>
>Hi all,
>Okay I have a question for everyone with children over three. If you
>remember, what was a typical day in your house with children around >this
>age?
tell you that when they were all little was the best time of my life. I
remember Mikey jumping off the counter when he was 3-over and over and over.
I think that would be learning about gravity. I remember making
cookies-isn't that chemistry? Lets see, we planted flowers-earth science,
found worms-biology. We read books and talked-language arts. We watched
Sesame Street on satelite from Canada so all my kids thought the last letter
of the alphabet was zed-foreign language. They counted plates around the
dinner table-math, once when there were 3 of us around the table someone
pointed out that we were a C of people-creative thinking. We went to the
grocery store and learned to push little carts without running in to
people-force, and social skills. Learning to operate the VCR and the TV-life
skills?! Oh, the crayons and the scissors-art and fine motor skills. Large
motor skills too-guess that takes me back to jumping off the counter! And
none of that even hints on health and nutrition and budgets-I'm sure they've
all heard some about that when they want to go to McDonalds!
Relax, okay? These little people are learning more and learning faster than
they ever will again. If you want to make sure anyone is learning now, let
it be living joyously. The kids usually have that one down from birth-its us
who need the lessons from them. My last one is a great joy teacher. I learn
from her all the time. Remember that this is a wondrous and precious time in
the life of your family. Cherish it and enjoy it, don't sweat the ABC's or
the counting. They will come in their own time. Just have fun with your
kids.
Love
Cathie
________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com
aworthen
Cathie,
Do I have your premission to show this post to others? I got into a very
heated discussion with two school at home moms yesterday. They were
practically rolling there eyes when I said that we unschool. I could almost
hear them thinking "so you do nothing all day and your kids don't learn
anything". It was soooo frustrating. I was trying to explain that things
like discussing the great depression during lunch or doing math fact in the
car is not doing nothing, but they didn't get it. I said point blank "My
child learns better when I don't shove stuff down her throat". I mean she
would not have been interested in learning about the great depression if I
told her to read about it in some bok. She was interested in it, because we
were stuffing our faces full of French Fries at Wendy's and we got talking
about the movie Annie, which of course, takes place during the depression.
Sorry to spout off here. I'm still very upset. How dare they imply my kid
doesn't learn anything. I bet my kid is smarter than her kid :) (just
teasing.)
Amy
Mom to Samantha, Dana, and Casey
Do I have your premission to show this post to others? I got into a very
heated discussion with two school at home moms yesterday. They were
practically rolling there eyes when I said that we unschool. I could almost
hear them thinking "so you do nothing all day and your kids don't learn
anything". It was soooo frustrating. I was trying to explain that things
like discussing the great depression during lunch or doing math fact in the
car is not doing nothing, but they didn't get it. I said point blank "My
child learns better when I don't shove stuff down her throat". I mean she
would not have been interested in learning about the great depression if I
told her to read about it in some bok. She was interested in it, because we
were stuffing our faces full of French Fries at Wendy's and we got talking
about the movie Annie, which of course, takes place during the depression.
Sorry to spout off here. I'm still very upset. How dare they imply my kid
doesn't learn anything. I bet my kid is smarter than her kid :) (just
teasing.)
Amy
Mom to Samantha, Dana, and Casey
[email protected]
Thanks Cathie, your post was great!
Julie
Julie
Bonnie Painter
Oh Amy, I know how you feel. My il's aren't too sure about this hsing thing
and keep asking my kids what they did today...
Bonnie
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com
and keep asking my kids what they did today...
Bonnie
>From: "aworthen" <aworthen@...>________________________________________________________________________
>Reply-To: [email protected]
>To: <[email protected]>
>Subject: Re: [Unschooling-dotcom] young unschoolers
>Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2000 07:36:44 -0400
>
>Cathie,
>Do I have your premission to show this post to others? I got into a very
>heated discussion with two school at home moms yesterday. They were
>practically rolling there eyes when I said that we unschool. I could almost
>hear them thinking "so you do nothing all day and your kids don't learn
>anything". It was soooo frustrating. I was trying to explain that things
>like discussing the great depression during lunch or doing math fact in the
>car is not doing nothing, but they didn't get it. I said point blank "My
>child learns better when I don't shove stuff down her throat". I mean she
>would not have been interested in learning about the great depression if I
>told her to read about it in some bok. She was interested in it, because we
>were stuffing our faces full of French Fries at Wendy's and we got talking
>about the movie Annie, which of course, takes place during the depression.
>Sorry to spout off here. I'm still very upset. How dare they imply my kid
>doesn't learn anything. I bet my kid is smarter than her kid :) (just
>teasing.)
>Amy
>Mom to Samantha, Dana, and Casey
>
>
>
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com
Cathie _
Amy, of course you can use one of my posts-but which one are you talking
about?! The 3 year old thing?
I don't know that that one would convince anyone of anything-we were only
talking about babies-that one about Daves daughter was really impressive to
me. Actually I don't know that you can convince anyone of anything anyway,
unless they spend some time with your kids and see how interesting and
intelligent they are.
But of course we know just what you are talking about. Those conversations
are gold. When you can see something on TV, or a song, or a story, and it
starts those 'lessons'. We have called ourselves carschoolers for a long
time! Our favorite for the car is trivia-we have had lots of trivia cards
that we keep in the van, and we found a great Asimov book at Half Price
Books full of interesting facts that has sparked alot of learning. We read
stories in the van, sometimes we play spelling games or math facts. When the
things come up so naturally from your activities and your real life, the
lessons have so much more meaning than if they are just facts to memorize
for a while and then forget.
I will have to admit that my boys do not have very good handwriting-but they
didn't write neatly when they went to school either, so maybe that is just
genetic-they can type pretty well, though! Diagramming sentences doesn't
come up to often in my real life either, so maybe a ps-er or a
school-at-homer would be better at that than we are, but guess what-I don't
care!!
Doesn't the whole thing just crack you up? I find it pretty funny that
people really take these things so seriously. Is it really worth all the
grief to make sure your kid knows all the things that some mysterious
experts have decided that they must learn by the time they are 6 or 10 or
16? My Nick-11-hates to do anything remotely schooly, but today he took the
door apart on the van and fixed the window that was off the track, and
figured out how to put on new wiper blades and did that. Isn't that
something that you do in high school? So, I guess hes ahead of grade level
there! And I am really proud of him for his ability to see how things work
and his courage to just jump in there and fix the things that are broken.
Sorry for going on and on and on-I really love talking to you all about
unschooling. Its so good to have others who understand how we do things, and
don't look down at you because you see education a little differently than
most.
Love,
Cathie
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com
about?! The 3 year old thing?
I don't know that that one would convince anyone of anything-we were only
talking about babies-that one about Daves daughter was really impressive to
me. Actually I don't know that you can convince anyone of anything anyway,
unless they spend some time with your kids and see how interesting and
intelligent they are.
But of course we know just what you are talking about. Those conversations
are gold. When you can see something on TV, or a song, or a story, and it
starts those 'lessons'. We have called ourselves carschoolers for a long
time! Our favorite for the car is trivia-we have had lots of trivia cards
that we keep in the van, and we found a great Asimov book at Half Price
Books full of interesting facts that has sparked alot of learning. We read
stories in the van, sometimes we play spelling games or math facts. When the
things come up so naturally from your activities and your real life, the
lessons have so much more meaning than if they are just facts to memorize
for a while and then forget.
I will have to admit that my boys do not have very good handwriting-but they
didn't write neatly when they went to school either, so maybe that is just
genetic-they can type pretty well, though! Diagramming sentences doesn't
come up to often in my real life either, so maybe a ps-er or a
school-at-homer would be better at that than we are, but guess what-I don't
care!!
Doesn't the whole thing just crack you up? I find it pretty funny that
people really take these things so seriously. Is it really worth all the
grief to make sure your kid knows all the things that some mysterious
experts have decided that they must learn by the time they are 6 or 10 or
16? My Nick-11-hates to do anything remotely schooly, but today he took the
door apart on the van and fixed the window that was off the track, and
figured out how to put on new wiper blades and did that. Isn't that
something that you do in high school? So, I guess hes ahead of grade level
there! And I am really proud of him for his ability to see how things work
and his courage to just jump in there and fix the things that are broken.
Sorry for going on and on and on-I really love talking to you all about
unschooling. Its so good to have others who understand how we do things, and
don't look down at you because you see education a little differently than
most.
Love,
Cathie
>From: "aworthen" <aworthen@...>________________________________________________________________________
>Cathie,
>Do I have your premission to show this post to others? I got into a very
>heated discussion with two school at home moms yesterday. They were
>practically rolling there eyes when I said that we unschool. I could almost
>hear them thinking "so you do nothing all day and your kids don't learn
>anything". It was soooo frustrating. I was trying to explain that things
>like discussing the great depression during lunch or doing math fact in the
>car is not doing nothing, but they didn't get it. I said point blank "My
>child learns better when I don't shove stuff down her throat". I mean she
>would not have been interested in learning about the great depression if I
>told her to read about it in some bok. She was interested in it, because we
>were stuffing our faces full of French Fries at Wendy's and we got talking
>about the movie Annie, which of course, takes place during the depression.
>Sorry to spout off here. I'm still very upset. How dare they imply my kid
>doesn't learn anything. I bet my kid is smarter than her kid :) (just
>teasing.)
>Amy
>Mom to Samantha, Dana, and Casey
>
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com
Nanci and Thomas Kuykendall
what was a typical day in your house with children around this age?
.......>some days I get concerned we are just not doing enough ......While I am wanting to >"trust the process", I also want to make sure she is learning something
Their main "lessons" are coming from observation and they spend most of their time playing, etc. When they begin to show an interest in scholastic subjects, I will make them more available than they already are. Barring that, we have no worries in that dept.
Nanci K.
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Sign up at http://www.idahopagan.com/
.......>some days I get concerned we are just not doing enough ......While I am wanting to >"trust the process", I also want to make sure she is learning something
>JulieWell, this may not be the kind of reassurance you are looking for, but I do not feel that I am processing my children and feel no need to validate my parenting skills, nor their learning abilities. My boys are two and three and are bright, happy, funny, sassy little guys. I enjoy them (when they are not driving me crazy) and am focusing on teaching them social skills and graces at the moment, like the elusive use of siverware and toilets.
Their main "lessons" are coming from observation and they spend most of their time playing, etc. When they begin to show an interest in scholastic subjects, I will make them more available than they already are. Barring that, we have no worries in that dept.
Nanci K.
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Lainie Duro
> She's making all of these kinds of connections, and you want her to be ableThat said, my son (Monk, age 3.5) taught himself the alphabet when he was under
> to parrot back the ABC's? Which by the way make no logical sense .. they
> are just squiggly lines with names.
2. He just seemed to really enjoy learning what those shapes meant. He only
learned the alphabet song 6 month ago or so, though...during a music class. He
also forced me to count to ten for him over and over again when he was just over
2, so he could learn the numbers. What I'm saying here is even though it's
abstract knowledge, if the child is interested in it, go for it! Just make sure
there's a lot of playing and running and yelling and playing as well...
livelifelove
Lainie
Cathie _
>That said, my son (Monk, age 3.5) taught himself the alphabet when he wasMy Jenny did this too. We think it came from Sesame Street! She knew capital
>under
>2. He just seemed to really enjoy learning what those shapes meant.
letters and would make us write them for her all the time. We got bored with
making O's, so we would start writing names and words for her and she
remembered them too. We didn't know she knew numbers til one day at the
grocery when she started pointing them out on the credit card machine and
saying them! Same with lower case letters-all of a sudden she was just
pointing them out and saying them too.
Of course at 2 she didn't have the fine motor skills to write the letters,
so we just put her at the computer to type them. Now, at 3, she has finally
figured out how the mouse works, so she can play the regular toddler games.
She likes the Living Books-we have a Dr Suess ABC and an Arthur, and one
called Leap Ahead Preschool that she enjoys.
See, this is why I don't worry too much about teaching-it just happens from
the things we do every day. And even though she has learned the letters and
numbers with such ease, it may be late before she rides a bike or reads a
book on her own, but I know it will come in its time. It is so peaceful to
allow it all to unfold naturally. And believe me when I say that in this
house of the 7 crazies we can use all the peace we can find!!
Cathie
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