[email protected]

Hi everyone I just wanted to share how things were going for myself and my
son since we began to unschool.

We are coming to the end of my third week "unschooling".  Although I am still
maybe not a pure unschooler, (i am sometimes just nudging him with a
suggestion - if he says no I drop it, i am trying though!)  I have been
allowing my son to lead the way and it has been wonderful!

Not only am I more relaxed, (no more, oh no he doesnt want to do "school") he
has been doing more than I ever imagined.  We went to a learning store
together on Tuesday (not even for him but for his brother) and at his
suggestion came home with way more stuff than I imagined!  (and spent more $$
too lol)

My dining room now has posters with the Periodic Table of Elements (which
even though I haven't seen him studying he already has more than half down),
the human skeleton, and the solar system.  Also a huge wall map of the US
that he has been laying on the floor and using while playing Carmen SanDiego!

Right now, as I check my e-mails and finish a much needed cup of coffee, he
is watching the National Geographic channel.

Since removing him from ps and beginning homeschool on Nov 1st, I was amazed
at how happy and relaxed he was!  Now he has amazed me again because - he is
even MORE relaxed and happy!  And so am I!  

I don't know if I will be able to 100% unschool, by never nudging him in any
direction, but what I am doing right now is working, we have banned the word
school, there is no "start" or "stop" to the learning and he is choosing the
direction and how deep.  He has even worked on some of the workbooks on his
own.  It has been a liberating experience.  I am providing the materials and
stepping back and watching, when he wants to relax and play - ok - that's
great too!

I would like to thank you all for your opinions on unschooling and eclectic
styles, and I hope I havent bored you all with my long e-mail but I needed to
share this with other moms who are in this same boat.

Thank you - Dawn
ds - 8

Sandi & Scott Spaeth

>We are coming to the end of my third week "unschooling". Although I am still
>maybe not a pure unschooler, (i am sometimes just nudging him with a
>suggestion - if he says no I drop it, i am trying though!) I have been
>allowing my son to lead the way and it has been wonderful!

Hi Dawn!

It is mighty hard to not suggest things to the kids. I do that myself. I
do not feel like I am pushing them as much as exposing them. For example,
last summer I signed our son up for tennis with the National Junior Tennis
League. The classes were dead cheap ($15 per session each session was
three weeks long two hours a day m-w-f). Ian was a bit apprehensive at
first, but I really just asked him to go to the first class. Up until the
time he hit the court he balked! But you know what, after that first
class, he LOVED it. He ended up taking all three summer sessions (nine
weeks of tennis for $45 is a GREAT price, if you have this program in your
area, check it out!). If he had not loved it, I would not have made him
stay. Exposing is one thing (even if you have to nudge), forcing it upon
them against their will is really bad!

Now, he really enjoys tennis. He will probably never play competitively
(nor do I want him to), but now he has something he enjoys, and may never
have known if I had not nudged him. Now, I did give him full freedom of
going or not going to the classes.
I really wanted him to enjoy it, not feel forced into it.

On the opposite side, he had wanted to take Tae Kwon Do, so we arranged to
go with a homeschooling friend to one of her TKD classes. He got in there
and HATED it. He did the same with soccer. He wanted to play soccer, so
I signed him up, paid the $70 to have him go to one 45 minute practice and
one game a week for 6 weeks. By the third week he was HATING it. I did
not force him to stay with it. He was really feeling badly about it and
himself, and the worst thing in the world I could have done is force him to
stay just because I was out some money.

The same can be applied to academics too. Nudging them or exposing them to
new ideas and concepts can be great as long as they are not force
fed. Many times resistance to things has to do with just not being ready
for a concept. My eight year old son is still not reading (thanks public
school system). He spent a full three months thinking about a job he could
one day do that did not require him to read, hahahahaha! That led us to
all kinds of discussions about jobs, what people do, why people do them,
etc. Granted, I wish he had put all of that energy into reading, but I
will take what I can get. I expose him to books, read to him, point out
words, spell things out, etc. I want him to get comfortable with letters
and words so he will read, so I expose him to them.

Also, as far as 'leading' goes, I figure that they have led me into many
new areas of learning MYSELF. Their questions and ideas have led me on my
on quest for new knowledge in my own life. Exposing them to new ideas and
concepts is just my way to repay the favor.

Just my opinion!
Sandi

--------------------------------------------------------------
"What we want to see is the child in pursuit of knowledge, not knowledge in
pursuit of the child."
-- George Bernard Shaw

Piston Ported Vespas:
http://members.nbci.com/piston_ported/index.html
words
http://www.geocities.com/vespass/words.html
ST Louis Secular Homeschooler's Co-Op
http://www.stlsecularhomeschool.org
-------------------------------------------------------------

uebinger robyn

Hi Sandi! My 7 year old son reminds me of your 8 year old son. He loves to
tell me he is going to wait till he is 14 to read. I just smile. It is
amazing to me how much reading type activities actually take place during
the day. My son checked out all 4 unabridged audio books of the Harry Potter
series and sat through them several times. My older son, 11 who is almost an
obsessive reader (I have to tell him not to take books when we go on bike
rides.) got the harry Potter trivia game for Christmas. My 7 year old wins
the game almost every time. This really helped me relax about my son not
reading. Have a great Day!


>From: Sandi & Scott Spaeth <vespass@...>
>Reply-To: [email protected]
>To: [email protected]
>Subject: Re: [Unschooling-dotcom] Just needed to share with like-minded
>moms
>Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2001 10:07:16 -0600
>
>
> >We are coming to the end of my third week "unschooling". Although I am
>still
> >maybe not a pure unschooler, (i am sometimes just nudging him with a
> >suggestion - if he says no I drop it, i am trying though!) I have been
> >allowing my son to lead the way and it has been wonderful!
>
>Hi Dawn!
>
>It is mighty hard to not suggest things to the kids. I do that myself. I
>do not feel like I am pushing them as much as exposing them. For example,
>last summer I signed our son up for tennis with the National Junior Tennis
>League. The classes were dead cheap ($15 per session each session was
>three weeks long two hours a day m-w-f). Ian was a bit apprehensive at
>first, but I really just asked him to go to the first class. Up until the
>time he hit the court he balked! But you know what, after that first
>class, he LOVED it. He ended up taking all three summer sessions (nine
>weeks of tennis for $45 is a GREAT price, if you have this program in your
>area, check it out!). If he had not loved it, I would not have made him
>stay. Exposing is one thing (even if you have to nudge), forcing it upon
>them against their will is really bad!
>
>Now, he really enjoys tennis. He will probably never play competitively
>(nor do I want him to), but now he has something he enjoys, and may never
>have known if I had not nudged him. Now, I did give him full freedom of
>going or not going to the classes.
>I really wanted him to enjoy it, not feel forced into it.
>
>On the opposite side, he had wanted to take Tae Kwon Do, so we arranged to
>go with a homeschooling friend to one of her TKD classes. He got in there
>and HATED it. He did the same with soccer. He wanted to play soccer, so
>I signed him up, paid the $70 to have him go to one 45 minute practice and
>one game a week for 6 weeks. By the third week he was HATING it. I did
>not force him to stay with it. He was really feeling badly about it and
>himself, and the worst thing in the world I could have done is force him to
>stay just because I was out some money.
>
>The same can be applied to academics too. Nudging them or exposing them to
>new ideas and concepts can be great as long as they are not force
>fed. Many times resistance to things has to do with just not being ready
>for a concept. My eight year old son is still not reading (thanks public
>school system). He spent a full three months thinking about a job he could
>one day do that did not require him to read, hahahahaha! That led us to
>all kinds of discussions about jobs, what people do, why people do them,
>etc. Granted, I wish he had put all of that energy into reading, but I
>will take what I can get. I expose him to books, read to him, point out
>words, spell things out, etc. I want him to get comfortable with letters
>and words so he will read, so I expose him to them.
>
>Also, as far as 'leading' goes, I figure that they have led me into many
>new areas of learning MYSELF. Their questions and ideas have led me on my
>on quest for new knowledge in my own life. Exposing them to new ideas and
>concepts is just my way to repay the favor.
>
>Just my opinion!
>Sandi
>
>--------------------------------------------------------------
>"What we want to see is the child in pursuit of knowledge, not knowledge in
>pursuit of the child."
>-- George Bernard Shaw
>
>Piston Ported Vespas:
>http://members.nbci.com/piston_ported/index.html
>words
>http://www.geocities.com/vespass/words.html
>ST Louis Secular Homeschooler's Co-Op
>http://www.stlsecularhomeschool.org
>-------------------------------------------------------------
>
>

_________________________________________________________________
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Sandi & Scott Spaeth

Hello everyone!

First, let me say I am really enjoying this list. A lot of lists are very
cliquish and hard to come into, but this one has not been that way, so
thank you!

Secondly, today while surfing around looking up some info I came across
Grace Llewellyn's (the Teen Lib Handbook and Real Lives author) camp for
unschooled teens. Since I am new I have no idea if the info has been
posted before or not, so I am going to post it and hope maybe someone out
there can use it. It does have a link to her personal homepage where you
can email her directly if you wish.

This is the page of the camp (the Not Back To School
Camp) http://www.nbtsc.org/ I kind of wish mine were old enough to send
to it, but they have quite a few years.

Hope someone finds it useful! The camp really is run by Grace herself, and
I thought that was very cool. If you have older kids, check it out. It is
$450 for the week long camp, plus they do have some financial aid available
too.

Sandi
--------------------------------------------------------------
"What we want to see is the child in pursuit of knowledge, not knowledge in
pursuit of the child."
-- George Bernard Shaw

Piston Ported Vespas:
http://members.nbci.com/piston_ported/index.html
words
http://www.geocities.com/vespass/words.html
ST Louis Secular Homeschooler's Co-Op
http://www.stlsecularhomeschool.org
-------------------------------------------------------------