marianne

My second son was NOT unschooled - he went to ps and hated every
moment of it - but that is a long time ago, before i had heard of
unschooling. However - *IF* he had been unschooled he would have
spent every minute of every day taking motors to bits and putting
them back together again. He would have been in his element - a
perfect candidate for home schooling. And i would have had nothing to
do with motovating this interest.................
I wish I could say the same about my youngest daughter who i am
unschooling - this is our first year she is 12yrs old and has no
interests and little motivaton!!!!
Is it *THE* age or have they just spent tooooo long at ps!!
marianne

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In a message dated 10/30/00 10:42:26 AM Pacific Standard Time,
tonitoni@... writes:

<< I wish I could say the same about my youngest daughter who i am
unschooling - this is our first year she is 12yrs old and has no
interests and little motivaton!!!!
Is it *THE* age or have they just spent tooooo long at ps!! >>


It is *not* the age, and it is *not* your kids. They are acting perfectly
normally for kids who have spent years in a setting where they are given very
little freedom to make their own decisions. Give her time. It will pass.
Continue to provide her with a variety of opportunities and things to play
around with (art supplies, tools, the kitchen, the computer, nature, etc.)
and she will find her interests. Everyone has interests, she just may not
know what they are or how to articulate them yet.

Let her see you following your interests and really enjoying it. My daughter
has jumped into a lot of things that she wouldn't have thought to try,
because she saw me having such a good time. Your daughter's been in school
for seven years? That equates to about 7 months of deschooling. It may seem
like wasted time, but it really is a chance for the child to get to know
herself again.

candice
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
-Langston Hughes