Re: [Unschooling-dotcom] why unschooling
Wendy Silver
Hello,
I think a variety of educational approaches are nice to know about and
one can gain useful information from them, but I don't like to impose any
particular method on my kids, but rather take ideas from different
approaches for reference and materials. Also, I think it is limiting when a
teacher, parent, etc. does all of the initiation.
I have even attempted to follow some formulas, but I would see what cool
things my kids would do without my input and interference. Months would go
by with no math instruction, and my daughter would know more math concepts
than before.The same goes for all subjects, and now I try not to even think
in terms of subjects.
At our house, asking nicely goes much further than demanding and following
with a threat-NOT that I don't catch myself doing that.
No one has a specific job, if something is in my way, I will ask if they
would mind moving it, and sometimes they say, "yes!". If they do say yes, I
move it myself-not usually a big deal anyway, and my alternative would be to
make a threat-"move it or we are not going here, doing this, etc." The
"you'd better do it or else" stuff seems comparable to "this will go on your
permanent record!" The threats start to seem meaningless . Kids begin to
think, "so!" and are then labeled rebellious.
My kids want to help me around the house, yard, etc more often than not
without demands. Sometimes they get such a thrill by having everything look
great, other times they could care less, so I pick up the slack. I never had
chores when I was little, but I still managed to catch on how to clean. As a
matter of fact, when I got to be 11 or 12, I really wanted to do laundry and
dishes, and it was then that I started fulfilling my great desires.
Wendy
I think a variety of educational approaches are nice to know about and
one can gain useful information from them, but I don't like to impose any
particular method on my kids, but rather take ideas from different
approaches for reference and materials. Also, I think it is limiting when a
teacher, parent, etc. does all of the initiation.
I have even attempted to follow some formulas, but I would see what cool
things my kids would do without my input and interference. Months would go
by with no math instruction, and my daughter would know more math concepts
than before.The same goes for all subjects, and now I try not to even think
in terms of subjects.
At our house, asking nicely goes much further than demanding and following
with a threat-NOT that I don't catch myself doing that.
No one has a specific job, if something is in my way, I will ask if they
would mind moving it, and sometimes they say, "yes!". If they do say yes, I
move it myself-not usually a big deal anyway, and my alternative would be to
make a threat-"move it or we are not going here, doing this, etc." The
"you'd better do it or else" stuff seems comparable to "this will go on your
permanent record!" The threats start to seem meaningless . Kids begin to
think, "so!" and are then labeled rebellious.
My kids want to help me around the house, yard, etc more often than not
without demands. Sometimes they get such a thrill by having everything look
great, other times they could care less, so I pick up the slack. I never had
chores when I was little, but I still managed to catch on how to clean. As a
matter of fact, when I got to be 11 or 12, I really wanted to do laundry and
dishes, and it was then that I started fulfilling my great desires.
Wendy
Sarah Carothers
Wendy wrote:
<Also, I think it is limiting when a
teacher, parent, etc. does all of the initiation.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.
Absolutely. IMO the child needs to feel ownership of his education and where it leads him/her. To constantly be led to this or that and expect to drink it up sorta defeats the purpose of unschooling. (IMO of course.) While I think there's a role that the parent needs to fulfill in exposing the kids to various things, there's a fine line in exposure and insisting that the child respond in any way to that exposure.
Sarah
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
<Also, I think it is limiting when a
teacher, parent, etc. does all of the initiation.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.
Absolutely. IMO the child needs to feel ownership of his education and where it leads him/her. To constantly be led to this or that and expect to drink it up sorta defeats the purpose of unschooling. (IMO of course.) While I think there's a role that the parent needs to fulfill in exposing the kids to various things, there's a fine line in exposure and insisting that the child respond in any way to that exposure.
Sarah
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]