Jennifer Kubenka

I don't post hardly at all, but I just wanted to share with y'all this
little event. My daughter is almost 3 (will be in mid-May), and I took her
to my sister's public school, where my sister teaches 2nd grade. Just the
very thought of going in this school didn't thrill me, as I had decided
several months ago that I wanted to let my daughter learn at home, but since
I love my sister, and the Scholastic Book Fair was going on (got a nice
discount through my sister!), I decided to drive 50 miles across the
Metroplex (Dallas/Ft. Worth) to visit.

Ripley (my daughter) did very well with all the children in my sister's 2nd
grade classroom, ate lunch with them just fine, and played on the playground
with them just fine. My sister, who arranged to have playground duty so
that we could stay through recess, finally told me that she was very much in
favor of schooling your children at home, whether you home or un-school.
This is coming from a public school teacher! I had plenty of opportunity to
watch these kids in my sister's class, and most of them were able to deal
very well with a 3yo interrupting their daily schedule, and one of them even
let Ripley sit in her lap during reading time (the 2nd grader was, however,
a little taken aback when Ripley starting asking questions about the book
the 2nd grader was reading, some Berenstain's Bears book, I think).

It was just a nice point in an otherwise hairy visit; I'm sure you all know
the rigamarole you have to go through to even visit a public school anymore.
Plus, my child likes to eat the stupid stickers they want you to wear!

It was both sad (the whole ps atmosphere) and encouraging (my sister's
acceptance and support of me to educate Ripley at home).

Jennifer, in Ft. Worth, glad she's going to keep her daughter at home!

[email protected]

That is really neat.  My sister was also an elementary school teacher,
although she worked in private schools.  But when my eldest was 2 years she
told me about home schooling, and that I should do this for him.  We traveled
several roads from that initial thought, but over the next few years, she
continued to urge me to hs.  When we moved to South Florida, I did take the
plunge, and here we are, ending our 7th year.  So I guess sometimes sisters
do give some good advice! LOL


Teresa

Angela

I also took a trip to a classroom.  Last year when thinking about homeschooling my kids, I decided to tell my friend from high school/ kindergarten teacher, that I was going to homeschool(not an easy thing to do at the time).  She invited me to her class, I think hoping for me to see how great it can be.  She is very proud of her class and a great teacher.  When I left the class I was more sure than ever I would home school.  My friend understood and though she thinks it isn't for everyone, does think it is for me.  The biggest problem is, there just isn't enough time nor people to even get to know the kids or what level they are working at.  There wan't enough time to address the children's need to be heard.  I found the whole day more depressing than I imagined I would.  I felt really bad for the kids with no other choice.  And this was in a class with a *very* caring teacher who was trying to do her best within the system.  The teachers that care are often caught between a rock and a hard place.
 
There was this one little boy who was craving attention so bad.  He climbed into my lap during the circle time story.  He just had such a need to be loved, it broke my heart.  And my kids are looking at me like, "who the heck is that kid who just climbed into my spot!"  He was disruptive throughout the whole class and the teachers aid spent the whole day just keeping him from being more disruptive.  She had no time for anything else.
 
It is great when  the teachers we know support us, though this isn't always the case.
 

Angela
Unschooling mother in Maine to two beautiful daughters.
"Play is our brain's favorite way to learn."
Unknown
Check out my themestream articles.
www.themestream.com/gspd_browse/author/view_author_info.gsp?auth_id=152256
Angela's Home School
www.geocities.com/autonomousangela

[email protected]

In a message dated 04/05/2001 1:23:03 AM !!!First Boot!!!,
unschooling@... writes:


It is great when  the teachers we know support us,



I have gotten nothing but support from my Mom since she started volunteering
one day a week in a 1st grade class (in the elementary school I went to eons
ago) -- and the teacher in that class is all for hsing too!  

PS can work but I think the teachers are being asked to perform daily
miracles in a lot of places.

Nance

[email protected]

My sister is a ps teacher, too. Also my good friend (with her master's in
education), whose son is my son's buddy.

I have found lots of "schooly people" who are supportive of homeschooling "if
it's done right". But I'm pretty convinced that if they knew what we do (and
don't do) as unschoolers, they wouldn't be supportive at all.

Any experience with school teachers who even know what unschooling is?

Laura

Angela

My friend who is a PS kindergarten teacher knows about unschooling.  She is going to be my portfolio reviewer when the time comes so I had to enlighten her.  I photocopied a section from Holt's "Teach Your Own."  It was the section where a family wrote a letter the superintendant with all their reasons to home school their daughter along with all the reasons they were not going to use a curriculum.  It was  a great piece.  After my teacher friend read it she replied that the conditions that this family spoke of were the best conditions to learn under. (when one is interested it is real learning, when they are ready to learn not a specific age, and on and on)  She said that they do try to emulate natural learning in her class but that is just isn't possible to follow all the children's leads, timetables, etc.  But from her point of view, it was the best way to learn.  In this letter unschooling wasn't mentioned so therefore it wouldn't scare off the uninitiated.  I think any open minded teacher would agree that the conditions that children learn the best at are the same, esp. if they didn't know they were talking about unschooling, but just the conditions.   The topic of home schooling puts a lot of teachers on guard.
 

Angela
Unschooling mother in Maine to two beautiful daughters.
"Play is our brain's favorite way to learn."
Unknown
Check out my themestream articles.
www.themestream.com/gspd_browse/author/view_author_info.gsp?auth_id=152256
Angela's Home School
www.geocities.com/autonomousangela

 

[email protected]

-=-I have found lots of "schooly people" who are supportive of homeschooling
"if
it's done right". But I'm pretty convinced that if they knew what we do (and
don't do) as unschoolers, they wouldn't be supportive at all.-=-

I used to be a teacher.  Lots of unschoolers were.

There are some teachers who aren't so analytical about how learning takes
place as others.   Some were trained in statistics and methods much more than
in philosophy and cognition.  Some are just the sort of people who believe
that they can control things around them if they're organized enough, and so
they organize their own lives and others' meticulously and perpetually.  

Same as the differences among moms, and homeschoolers, and husbands, and all
kinds of humans. <g>

Sandra

Johanna

boy can I identify with that. My grandmother was a hyper organized and disciplined woman. It was her way or no way. She drove us nuts. My mom went the opposit extreme and is a compulsive pack rat who constantly struggles with organizational skills and never taught me any. I have had to learn to be balanced and it can be really difficult at times.
Johanna
 
 
--- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, April 05, 2001 9:17 AM
Subject: Re: [Unschooling-dotcom] Something I would like to share

-=-I have found lots of "schooly people" who are supportive of homeschooling
"if
it's done right". But I'm pretty convinced that if they knew what we do (and
don't do) as unschoolers, they wouldn't be supportive at all.-=-

I used to be a teacher.  Lots of unschoolers were.

There are some teachers who aren't so analytical about how learning takes
place as others.   Some were trained in statistics and methods much more than
in philosophy and cognition.  Some are just the sort of people who believe
that they can control things around them if they're organized enough, and so
they organize their own lives and others' meticulously and perpetually.  

Same as the differences among moms, and homeschoolers, and husbands, and all
kinds of humans. <g>

Sandra


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Vaughnde Edwards

-----Original Message-----
From: Johanna <saninocencio1@...>
To: [email protected] <[email protected]>
Date: Friday, April 06, 2001 11:04 AM
Subject: Re: [Unschooling-dotcom] Something I would like to share

boy can I identify with that. My grandmother was a hyper organized and disciplined woman. It was her way or no way. She drove us nuts. My mom went the opposit extreme and is a compulsive pack rat who constantly struggles with organizational skills and never taught me any. I have had to learn to be balanced and it can be really difficult at times.
Johanna
 
My own grandma is not exactly hyper organized but she is a person of high energy. She has slowed down over the years because of age. She is over 85 now. (I cannot remember the exact age). My mom is 60 and like me is a pack rat, but a lot more organized than I am. I am learning how to organize MY way. I'm a stamper and so consequently alot of my clutter has to do with my creativity. My daughter on the other hand....(shakes head) needs to learn to put her garbage into the garbage can and her dishes into the kitchen. She makes worse messes in the livingroom than I do! She's 10, but I'm still trying to get her to do even those basic responsibilities...I'm hoping time will tell as she gets older and gets disgusted with her own messes that she will clean up after herself. Nagging doesn't work, it produces the opposite extreme...that of a very angry, moody child. So usually I don't say anything except like once a week, I will say...today we need to get this room cleaned up...so lets have at it and she will help out. But lately the Dr has been telling her she needs to take over the heavier work that I cannot do anymore and she's sorta getting the idea. I think it will take time however.
Jessica