Unschooling ...
[email protected]
In a message dated 08/25/2001 8:52:56 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
[email protected] writes:
suggested that I thought he'd like it. It awakened a passion for Utopian
novels I don't think he would have gotten otherwise at age nine. If he'd
started the book and hated it, or just said that it sounded awful, I
certainly wouldn't have MADE him read it. But he did, and he loved it.
Adults have certain advantages in the world. We've experienced more of it,
and we often have cars and money. We also are sometimes good at finding
resources that kids might not otherwise have. My vision of unschooling is to
use my knowledge of the world, and my own curiosity, to learn myself and to
support my son in learning. Just like if I read a book I thought a friend
would love, I share these things with Julian. Why deprive him of meaningful
experiences because he just hasn't stumbled across something? He also finds
things in the world that he shares with my partner and me. We don't alway
love the same things, but our relationship open the world more to all of us.
The concept of whether your kids "need elderly contact" is a bizarre one. You
want to bring them to a place where they can possibly meet some cool people.
Your kids might find a great friend. If not, it's not that big a deal. If
they hate it because that particular place has only grumpy people, but you
still want to do it, maybe you'll get a sitter next time. I think sitting
around and waiting for your kids to become divinely inspired will drive all
of you nuts. See the world! Try things! Meet people! Get dirty! I personally
think "exposure" is a Very Good Thing.
I think these people have too much time on their hands.
Kathryn
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[email protected] writes:
>My son's favorite book in the whole world is The Giver. He read it because I
> I've gotten this from several unschoolers at one of my local homeschool
> groups. I spoke to them about bringing my children with me when I volunteer
> at our local elderly home and how I was hoping to expose my children to
> people of different generations as we dont' have elderly family members in
> our lives. I was told that if my children needed the elderly contact they
> would let me know. They way I saw it my children wouldn't feel the want for
> contact with elderly people if they haven't been around them. There are
> other
> examples, but that is the one that stood out in my mind of unschoolers
> feeling children will let parents know when they need something and that
> the
> children don't need exposure.
>
>
suggested that I thought he'd like it. It awakened a passion for Utopian
novels I don't think he would have gotten otherwise at age nine. If he'd
started the book and hated it, or just said that it sounded awful, I
certainly wouldn't have MADE him read it. But he did, and he loved it.
Adults have certain advantages in the world. We've experienced more of it,
and we often have cars and money. We also are sometimes good at finding
resources that kids might not otherwise have. My vision of unschooling is to
use my knowledge of the world, and my own curiosity, to learn myself and to
support my son in learning. Just like if I read a book I thought a friend
would love, I share these things with Julian. Why deprive him of meaningful
experiences because he just hasn't stumbled across something? He also finds
things in the world that he shares with my partner and me. We don't alway
love the same things, but our relationship open the world more to all of us.
The concept of whether your kids "need elderly contact" is a bizarre one. You
want to bring them to a place where they can possibly meet some cool people.
Your kids might find a great friend. If not, it's not that big a deal. If
they hate it because that particular place has only grumpy people, but you
still want to do it, maybe you'll get a sitter next time. I think sitting
around and waiting for your kids to become divinely inspired will drive all
of you nuts. See the world! Try things! Meet people! Get dirty! I personally
think "exposure" is a Very Good Thing.
I think these people have too much time on their hands.
Kathryn
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]