two questions...
Johanna SanInocencio
Before I ask these questions, please understand I do not ask to judge anyone and I hope everyone else keeps it so. Are any of you who have been unschooling wholeheartedly for a long time, say at least five years, Christian? If so have you ever studied it out in the Bible? Can you share any scriptures that have encouraged you in your walk? We "tried" unschooling in the spring this year. My younger ones can be very inventive. I love the idea of unschooling but my husband is skeptical. He wants the children doing bookwork. My oldest daughter(17) thinks unschooling is foolish and does not understand. She want work assigned to her and puts a bee in my husband's ear about it. I won't directly disobey my husband. I want to help him to understand so he will consent.
A lot of the comments Sandra hs made lately involve trusting your children. What if your child has betrayed trust? I have a son (14) who loves to experiment with electronic things.a few weeks ago he tried to boobytrap his room by running a wire off the electric fence, through his bedroom window, and attaching it to his doorknob. He was angry and surly for two days because I stopped this experiment. He has dissassembled several of his own things like calculators and portable tape decks. I told him I did not mind, they were his things, my only restriction was to not experiment with anything plugged into the wall, only with battery power. Less than a half hour later, I walked into his room (the door was open) and he had a plug in the wall and about to attach a small wire (20 gauge) to the open end or it. A few years back same child zapped his butt across a room with a similar experiment involving a lightbulb, solder and an open plug. Blew out wiring in the house. Thankfully the circuit breaker went off before he was killed. I have suggested books he could use to learn safely. I try to help him. Sometimes he accepts my guidance, other times he digs in his heels and does whatever he wants.
Johanna
Life is the ultimate learning experience!
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
A lot of the comments Sandra hs made lately involve trusting your children. What if your child has betrayed trust? I have a son (14) who loves to experiment with electronic things.a few weeks ago he tried to boobytrap his room by running a wire off the electric fence, through his bedroom window, and attaching it to his doorknob. He was angry and surly for two days because I stopped this experiment. He has dissassembled several of his own things like calculators and portable tape decks. I told him I did not mind, they were his things, my only restriction was to not experiment with anything plugged into the wall, only with battery power. Less than a half hour later, I walked into his room (the door was open) and he had a plug in the wall and about to attach a small wire (20 gauge) to the open end or it. A few years back same child zapped his butt across a room with a similar experiment involving a lightbulb, solder and an open plug. Blew out wiring in the house. Thankfully the circuit breaker went off before he was killed. I have suggested books he could use to learn safely. I try to help him. Sometimes he accepts my guidance, other times he digs in his heels and does whatever he wants.
Johanna
Life is the ultimate learning experience!
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Rachel Wolfe Ravenhart
Johanna,
I'm not Christian and not overly familiar with the Christian Bible, but
I do find myslef muttering "This too shall pass" under my breath a lot.
IT sounds as if you're making reasonable safety requests for you son.
After all, ALL of you have to live in the house. Is there anywhere
nearby where he could learn and do such experiments? A local community
college, maybe?
Rachel
Warrior bitch, kitchen witch, Celtic mommy type person with an attitude
Johanna SanInocencio wrote:
I'm not Christian and not overly familiar with the Christian Bible, but
I do find myslef muttering "This too shall pass" under my breath a lot.
IT sounds as if you're making reasonable safety requests for you son.
After all, ALL of you have to live in the house. Is there anywhere
nearby where he could learn and do such experiments? A local community
college, maybe?
Rachel
Warrior bitch, kitchen witch, Celtic mommy type person with an attitude
Johanna SanInocencio wrote:
> Before I ask these questions, please understand I do not ask to judge[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> anyone and I hope everyone else keeps it so. Are any of you who have
> been unschooling wholeheartedly for a long time, say at least five
> years, Christian? If so have you ever studied it out in the Bible? Can
> you share any scriptures that have encouraged you in your walk? We
> "tried" unschooling in the spring this year. My younger ones can be
> very inventive. I love the idea of unschooling but my husband is
> skeptical. He wants the children doing bookwork. My oldest
> daughter(17) thinks unschooling is foolish and does not understand.
> She want work assigned to her and puts a bee in my husband's ear about
> it. I won't directly disobey my husband. I want to help him to
> understand so he will consent.
Bonni Sollars
Johanna, I understand your desire for your son's safety. But maybe your
son jimmy rigged his bedroom to express a point, and his surliness is
over his point not being received? Sometimes in our creativity we are
able to say things we can't articulate.
Also, when my brother was little, my step mom would let him touch
everything and explore everything. I thought she was spoiling him,
because he would take apart my record player, etc. and not get in trouble
for it. One time he adapted the flashlight to plug into the wall (age
3). By four, he knew how a motor runs. He rigged a board so he could
drive the truck in the barn! In first grade, once he learned what the
alphabet was for, he subscribed to popular mechanics. He almost failed
high school because he would not do his English assignments. When he was
fourteen, he was fixing appliances in an appliance store. In high
school, he got a job in a computer store fixing computers. Today he
works for Bill Gates. He makes more money than I do, with my controlling
mom who wouldn't give me freedom to get into trouble. And he is a very
affectionate, loving person.
I don't think your son broke your trust. He's just a genius.
My brother's room was never clean. He had electrical parts all over his
floor,so you dared not vacuum or walk there without shoes on. He also
loved to play all sorts of music and make commercials on the tape
recorder for fun. He also loved sarcastic humor, and has an incredible
wit. I brag about my brother to everyone I know.
Forgive your son, and let him grow.
Oh, and as for your question about unschooling and scripture. Here are
some scriptures, I'm sorry that I don't write the reference, but it's in
there somewhere. The first is to raise up a child in the way he should
go and when he is grown he will not depart from it. That means, in the
way he is bent. That involves according to their unique,god-given
tendencies.
The other one is the one where Moses says to teach your children the law
when your sitting, and walking and going along. In other words, teach
them in the context of life. I should also point out what I've been
considering lately. The law was a controlling thing, but there is
freedom in the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus. We should obey
God because we know he loves us and wants our best, not because we fear
him. Because there is no love in fearful obedience, only slavery. But
in a free, loving relationship, we can do good as it flows out of us from
relating and interacting with our living God. In the same way, I can
teach just by being myself and by having a relationship with my kids.
Oh, and here's another, Jesus said the servant is greatest in his
kingdom. Not the one who is controlling, but the one who serves. So, I
can serve my children well by offering them a context in which to grow
and learn, rather than by forcing them to learn what I want them to
learn.
I'm sure everything will work out, with a lot of patience and prayer?
Oh, I should say I have not done this for five years, I am only just
learning about it. But I felt that God was the one who directed me to it
right when I was considering what curriculum to use. Also, when my
children were young and I homeschooled my oldest, I remember noticing how
much they learn even when not doing their studies.
Bonni
son jimmy rigged his bedroom to express a point, and his surliness is
over his point not being received? Sometimes in our creativity we are
able to say things we can't articulate.
Also, when my brother was little, my step mom would let him touch
everything and explore everything. I thought she was spoiling him,
because he would take apart my record player, etc. and not get in trouble
for it. One time he adapted the flashlight to plug into the wall (age
3). By four, he knew how a motor runs. He rigged a board so he could
drive the truck in the barn! In first grade, once he learned what the
alphabet was for, he subscribed to popular mechanics. He almost failed
high school because he would not do his English assignments. When he was
fourteen, he was fixing appliances in an appliance store. In high
school, he got a job in a computer store fixing computers. Today he
works for Bill Gates. He makes more money than I do, with my controlling
mom who wouldn't give me freedom to get into trouble. And he is a very
affectionate, loving person.
I don't think your son broke your trust. He's just a genius.
My brother's room was never clean. He had electrical parts all over his
floor,so you dared not vacuum or walk there without shoes on. He also
loved to play all sorts of music and make commercials on the tape
recorder for fun. He also loved sarcastic humor, and has an incredible
wit. I brag about my brother to everyone I know.
Forgive your son, and let him grow.
Oh, and as for your question about unschooling and scripture. Here are
some scriptures, I'm sorry that I don't write the reference, but it's in
there somewhere. The first is to raise up a child in the way he should
go and when he is grown he will not depart from it. That means, in the
way he is bent. That involves according to their unique,god-given
tendencies.
The other one is the one where Moses says to teach your children the law
when your sitting, and walking and going along. In other words, teach
them in the context of life. I should also point out what I've been
considering lately. The law was a controlling thing, but there is
freedom in the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus. We should obey
God because we know he loves us and wants our best, not because we fear
him. Because there is no love in fearful obedience, only slavery. But
in a free, loving relationship, we can do good as it flows out of us from
relating and interacting with our living God. In the same way, I can
teach just by being myself and by having a relationship with my kids.
Oh, and here's another, Jesus said the servant is greatest in his
kingdom. Not the one who is controlling, but the one who serves. So, I
can serve my children well by offering them a context in which to grow
and learn, rather than by forcing them to learn what I want them to
learn.
I'm sure everything will work out, with a lot of patience and prayer?
Oh, I should say I have not done this for five years, I am only just
learning about it. But I felt that God was the one who directed me to it
right when I was considering what curriculum to use. Also, when my
children were young and I homeschooled my oldest, I remember noticing how
much they learn even when not doing their studies.
Bonni
Sharon Rudd
Dear Johanna
I don't necessarily think your son has betrayed your
trust....
BUT I do think he needs a mentor or guide in his field
of interest. if you cannot find someone whose judgment
you trust, you must insist that you son does. Then he
can reassure you through this person who is
knowledgeable in the field. We had a similar
situation with motorcycles. I had told my sons they
could ride when they could build and maintain the
bikes (go carts, cars, etc).....but ds1 and ds2
rebuilt motorcycles at ages 13 and 11. Whoops!! The
boys didn't think I had enough know how in their
fields of interest to say what was safe and what
wasn't. However as I WAS and still am their MOTHER I
could say what worried me and what didn't and that
they were not allowed to do certain things. Like ride
on public roads without a license. Had to have good
helmets. As for learning to ride I told them they had
to "get checked out" and have the bike "checked out"
by person whose expertise in the field we both
respected. I fortunately knew just such a person.
Any innovative mechanical stuff they wanted to do, I
would tell them that if Jon B. would tell me it was
OK, then I would allow it. If they couldn't convince
Jon, then do something else. It worked. At different
times they worked for their mentor for pay.
In this case he was an old friend. But if it happened
to be in the area of electronics then the person they
had to go through was G'pa....an electrical engineer,
or, well, I could hunt up someone for just about
anything that came along, if it was something they
didn't feel I was qualified to pass judgment on.
Kids seem to feel that we Mama's never did anything
when we were younger, that we don't know what's going
on in the world. DS1 recently told me (he is in his
late 20s) that I didn't understand why he liked to
race because I had never even driven a car fast! I had
to hide the internal smirk.
BUT...was your DS TRYING to hurt you? That is a whole
different arena.
or was he just trying to see if his idea would work?
One thing I had to do was to buy thrift store things
for the boys to dismantle....'cause they were going to
do that regardless of where anything came from or what
it cost. I bought lots of telephones, stereos,
radios, etc....all of the butter knives were used as
screwdrivers...wires were always strung all over the
place, all of the little cars and trucks had hobby
motors attached.....Roy does this stuff too...remote
control things are dismantled the quickest....One PHD
physics researcher told me he dismantled his mother's
sewing machine as a young child. Apparently the
punishment was severe....he asked me, when DS was a
toddler, to "please not get mad if he took apart my
sewing machine." That was my first intro to
unschooling!!!
I wonder if there is a way for an
unschooler/homeschooler to enter a science fair?
Probably he would do something safer than a kite in an
electrical storm with a key on the string!! He may
just make the BEST electric car yet!
Good luck with your DS....let us know what he is up
to, OK? And if he gets too wild...there is the breaker
box. Just unplug him.
Sharon
--- Johanna SanInocencio <saninocencio@...>
wrote:
What if your child
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I don't necessarily think your son has betrayed your
trust....
BUT I do think he needs a mentor or guide in his field
of interest. if you cannot find someone whose judgment
you trust, you must insist that you son does. Then he
can reassure you through this person who is
knowledgeable in the field. We had a similar
situation with motorcycles. I had told my sons they
could ride when they could build and maintain the
bikes (go carts, cars, etc).....but ds1 and ds2
rebuilt motorcycles at ages 13 and 11. Whoops!! The
boys didn't think I had enough know how in their
fields of interest to say what was safe and what
wasn't. However as I WAS and still am their MOTHER I
could say what worried me and what didn't and that
they were not allowed to do certain things. Like ride
on public roads without a license. Had to have good
helmets. As for learning to ride I told them they had
to "get checked out" and have the bike "checked out"
by person whose expertise in the field we both
respected. I fortunately knew just such a person.
Any innovative mechanical stuff they wanted to do, I
would tell them that if Jon B. would tell me it was
OK, then I would allow it. If they couldn't convince
Jon, then do something else. It worked. At different
times they worked for their mentor for pay.
In this case he was an old friend. But if it happened
to be in the area of electronics then the person they
had to go through was G'pa....an electrical engineer,
or, well, I could hunt up someone for just about
anything that came along, if it was something they
didn't feel I was qualified to pass judgment on.
Kids seem to feel that we Mama's never did anything
when we were younger, that we don't know what's going
on in the world. DS1 recently told me (he is in his
late 20s) that I didn't understand why he liked to
race because I had never even driven a car fast! I had
to hide the internal smirk.
BUT...was your DS TRYING to hurt you? That is a whole
different arena.
or was he just trying to see if his idea would work?
One thing I had to do was to buy thrift store things
for the boys to dismantle....'cause they were going to
do that regardless of where anything came from or what
it cost. I bought lots of telephones, stereos,
radios, etc....all of the butter knives were used as
screwdrivers...wires were always strung all over the
place, all of the little cars and trucks had hobby
motors attached.....Roy does this stuff too...remote
control things are dismantled the quickest....One PHD
physics researcher told me he dismantled his mother's
sewing machine as a young child. Apparently the
punishment was severe....he asked me, when DS was a
toddler, to "please not get mad if he took apart my
sewing machine." That was my first intro to
unschooling!!!
I wonder if there is a way for an
unschooler/homeschooler to enter a science fair?
Probably he would do something safer than a kite in an
electrical storm with a key on the string!! He may
just make the BEST electric car yet!
Good luck with your DS....let us know what he is up
to, OK? And if he gets too wild...there is the breaker
box. Just unplug him.
Sharon
--- Johanna SanInocencio <saninocencio@...>
wrote:
What if your child
> has betrayed trust? I have a son (14) who loves to__________________________________________________
> experiment with electronic things.a few weeks ago he
> tried to boobytrap his room by running a wire off
> the electric fence, through his bedroom window, and
> attaching it to his doorknob. He was angry and surly
> for two days because I stopped this experiment. He
> has dissassembled several of his own things like
> calculators and portable tape decks. I told him I
> did not mind, they were his things, my only
> restriction was to not experiment with anything
> plugged into the wall, only with battery power. Less
> than a half hour later, I walked into his room (the
> door was open) and he had a plug in the wall and
> about to attach a small wire (20 gauge) to the open
> end or it. A few years back same child zapped his
> butt across a room with a similar experiment
> involving a lightbulb, solder and an open plug. Blew
> out wiring in the house. Thankfully the circuit
> breaker went off before he was killed. I have
> suggested books he could use to learn safely. I try
> to help him. Sometimes he accepts my guidance, other
> times he digs in his heels and does whatever he
> wants.
>
>
> Johanna
> Life is the ultimate learning experience!
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been
> removed]
>
>
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