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In a message dated 10/25/00 10:08:48 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
yet_will_i_trust.him@... writes:

<< Just that he has never seen it done sucessful. I am a hands on learner so
I want to teach that way. At least until I see my chilren wanting to learn
in another way. He just doesnt see why try something that has "failed." I
can see how to make it succeed because it is basicly the way I learn. >>

Well, I agree with the people who suggest that you sit down with your
husband, and eventually your child to determine your goals and decide what
you consider success.

I think my 10yo daughter is a success story as are the children of many
others on this list. Try David's book And the Skylark Sings with Me. In it he
tells the story of homeschooling his daughters using the community as their
greatest resource. It's a very interesting story with lots of good
suggestions for resources in many different areas.

Here's our story. When my daughter was starting 2nd grade, we carefully
researched all the schools in the area to which we were moving and purchased
a house based on the school we thought would be best for her. There were lots
of positive aspects to the school and she enjoyed herself and was a
"successful" student.

I began to have doubts about the school as I volunteered in her classroom of
second and third graders each week. It seemed that the teachers spent a lot
of time on regaining order and trying to convince some of the children to
learn. I could also see clear favoritism and an inability on the teachers'
parts to get to everyone's questions. Often Melina would come home with
questions which she said the teacher wouldn't answer because she would learn
it next year as a third grader.

The final straw came for me when her teacher corrected her homework stating
that her classification of peppers and cucumbers as fruits may have been
technically true, but was not the way they were learning it in class. The
message I got from that was "The teacher is the final authority in all
things."

At that point I started researching private schools, but was unimpressed with
what I saw. We had friends in a far away state who homeschooled their
daughters, so I decided to consider the option. I set about doing lots of
research on the Internet, and at libraries and bookstores. After discussing
it with my husband, who had reservations but trusted my judgment I decided to
do it. Melina was thrilled with the idea of being home with her baby sister
and me each day.

We started out with a couple of hours of school at home every day and she did
very well. She was perfectly happy with this method and my husband and I both
liked the results we saw. Then the holidays came and we took a Christmas
break. We were amazed at what we saw. She spent the whole time reading,
writing, making and creating things, and just laying around coming up with
great ideas. She was learning without any incentive from me.

At that point I did more research about unschooling and decided to give it a
shot. Melina has gone from reading on a 4th or 5th grade level to reading
adult books, including many classics. She has dabbled in geometry and
informal studies of physics. She has taught me things that I should have
known about U.S. history. She is fast becoming an expert on African-American
history. She has learned to read Spanish, which she already knew how to
speak. She is looking for an opportunity to volunteer with Spanish-speaking
children when she returns from her visit back East. She is learning to read
music and play the recorder. She knows much more than I about local plant and
animal life.

I could go on and on about the things she has learned but that's not the
point. the point is that she has learned them because she wanted to and has
enjoyed most of the journey. She is absolutely passionate about learning and
knows how to go about finding answers to questions. Sounds like a success to
me.

candice