Re: Re: Summer of deschooling and still not there, (long)
[email protected]
Teresa wrote:
<< You know, I read this, and the rest of your response, and I think that is
so
great. But I don't understand it. The bones of it. Do you just get up in
the morning and say, "what do you want to do today?" Or do you just get up
in
the morning? >>
Teresa;
I wasn't the original poster here, but I want to respond. First of all, I
truly understand your frustration because I've been in a similar spot...and
not that long ago. I just couldn't figure out "how to make it work." It all
sounded so good, and theoretically I believed unschooling could work...but
how to implement it with my own kids stymied me.
And I've had many days where I just let them play Legos or whatever and they
would end up fighting a lot and being bored, and I would think...how in
tarnation can this possibly work?
Here are some things that are helping me at this point in the process. I
finally came to the realization that I always felt like we had to be "doing
something." Like I had to define every activity as being worthwhile or not.
And I realized that because of this thinking, I was actually blocking some of
the natural learning that might have come out of these activities from
happening.
But, I felt I needed something concrete...something tangible.
So, this is what I'm doing...
When I was in college, I dated a musician and one of the things that he
always did was to carry a small notebook in his pocket, so that whenever he
would think of something, or read a neat quote or hear something he didn't
want to forget, or just be inspired by nature, he would immediately jot it
down. This really helped him write lyrics later on.
I went on to become a journalist and I copied this technique.
Well, it struck me one day that this would really help us with our
unschooling. Because so much of the time my kids would say something during
lunch or Lego play or they'd ask a question and we would just forget it or
not get around to it.
So, now, I carry my little pocket notebook around and write these things down
and then when we get to a lull, I will pull out this notebook and we'll start
talking about whatever it was that we wrote down. If the kids are
enthusiastic about it, we pursue it, but if they aren't we pretty much just
drop it.
This might sound simplistic, but it has really helped me, because I felt like
my kids were really struggling with "what to do" as much as I was. I
consider this a tool of "deschooling," and hope that eventually, these
activities will just naturally flow. But, for now, this has really helped us.
I'll give you a for example situation, in case this isn't concrete enough.
My 10 yo son came home from his friend's house last weekend and they had put
together and launched a model rocket. My son wanted to do that, too. So, I
didn't have time right then, but I wrote it in the book. Later on that week,
when they were struggling looking for something to do, I brought up the
rocket and he was immediately excited. He took his lawn mowing money and
went to the store and bought a kit with his Dad and put it together that
night. The next a.m., he went onto the NASA site on the computer and went to
the library and read and checked out a ton of books about rocketry. We
pulled out my older daughter's old physical science book and talked about
acceleration/distance formulas and figured some of them out. This didn't
turn him off at all. He even struggled to do some of the Math himself. That
night, the kids wanted to watch Apollo 13 on video that they got at the
library, so my dh and I watched with them. Yesterday, my brother came over
and talked about how he built rockets as a kid and used a car battery to
launch them. So now Michael wants to try using different power sources to
launch his rocket. I wrote that down in the notebook and we'll get to it the
next time we have a chance.
Sometimes the notebook entries are duds. I bring up the subject and the kids
just drop it. But a lot of times, they seem like just the starter the kids
and I both need.
Hope this helps some. I didn't share this so you would necessarily feel
like you had to do it yourselves, but just to show you that there are many
ways to help ourselves get through the process.
Most of all, be patient with yourself. It doesn't take shape overnight!
After all, most of us were raised with the school mentality ourselves. And
all of us are learning as we go and doing, as David said, whatever works that
day!
Take care...glad you're asking questions!
Carol from WI
<< You know, I read this, and the rest of your response, and I think that is
so
great. But I don't understand it. The bones of it. Do you just get up in
the morning and say, "what do you want to do today?" Or do you just get up
in
the morning? >>
Teresa;
I wasn't the original poster here, but I want to respond. First of all, I
truly understand your frustration because I've been in a similar spot...and
not that long ago. I just couldn't figure out "how to make it work." It all
sounded so good, and theoretically I believed unschooling could work...but
how to implement it with my own kids stymied me.
And I've had many days where I just let them play Legos or whatever and they
would end up fighting a lot and being bored, and I would think...how in
tarnation can this possibly work?
Here are some things that are helping me at this point in the process. I
finally came to the realization that I always felt like we had to be "doing
something." Like I had to define every activity as being worthwhile or not.
And I realized that because of this thinking, I was actually blocking some of
the natural learning that might have come out of these activities from
happening.
But, I felt I needed something concrete...something tangible.
So, this is what I'm doing...
When I was in college, I dated a musician and one of the things that he
always did was to carry a small notebook in his pocket, so that whenever he
would think of something, or read a neat quote or hear something he didn't
want to forget, or just be inspired by nature, he would immediately jot it
down. This really helped him write lyrics later on.
I went on to become a journalist and I copied this technique.
Well, it struck me one day that this would really help us with our
unschooling. Because so much of the time my kids would say something during
lunch or Lego play or they'd ask a question and we would just forget it or
not get around to it.
So, now, I carry my little pocket notebook around and write these things down
and then when we get to a lull, I will pull out this notebook and we'll start
talking about whatever it was that we wrote down. If the kids are
enthusiastic about it, we pursue it, but if they aren't we pretty much just
drop it.
This might sound simplistic, but it has really helped me, because I felt like
my kids were really struggling with "what to do" as much as I was. I
consider this a tool of "deschooling," and hope that eventually, these
activities will just naturally flow. But, for now, this has really helped us.
I'll give you a for example situation, in case this isn't concrete enough.
My 10 yo son came home from his friend's house last weekend and they had put
together and launched a model rocket. My son wanted to do that, too. So, I
didn't have time right then, but I wrote it in the book. Later on that week,
when they were struggling looking for something to do, I brought up the
rocket and he was immediately excited. He took his lawn mowing money and
went to the store and bought a kit with his Dad and put it together that
night. The next a.m., he went onto the NASA site on the computer and went to
the library and read and checked out a ton of books about rocketry. We
pulled out my older daughter's old physical science book and talked about
acceleration/distance formulas and figured some of them out. This didn't
turn him off at all. He even struggled to do some of the Math himself. That
night, the kids wanted to watch Apollo 13 on video that they got at the
library, so my dh and I watched with them. Yesterday, my brother came over
and talked about how he built rockets as a kid and used a car battery to
launch them. So now Michael wants to try using different power sources to
launch his rocket. I wrote that down in the notebook and we'll get to it the
next time we have a chance.
Sometimes the notebook entries are duds. I bring up the subject and the kids
just drop it. But a lot of times, they seem like just the starter the kids
and I both need.
Hope this helps some. I didn't share this so you would necessarily feel
like you had to do it yourselves, but just to show you that there are many
ways to help ourselves get through the process.
Most of all, be patient with yourself. It doesn't take shape overnight!
After all, most of us were raised with the school mentality ourselves. And
all of us are learning as we go and doing, as David said, whatever works that
day!
Take care...glad you're asking questions!
Carol from WI
[email protected]
In a message dated 9/6/99 11:57:06 AM EST, Burkfamily@... writes:
<< Hope this helps some. I didn't share this so you would necessarily feel
like you had to do it yourselves, but just to show you that there are many
ways to help ourselves get through the process. >>
Carol,
Thanks so much for sharing, I am keeping everyone's' responses, and am going
to make a little note book to help me! I just happen to have an empty little
note book right now to put in my pocket! thanks
Teresa
<< Hope this helps some. I didn't share this so you would necessarily feel
like you had to do it yourselves, but just to show you that there are many
ways to help ourselves get through the process. >>
Carol,
Thanks so much for sharing, I am keeping everyone's' responses, and am going
to make a little note book to help me! I just happen to have an empty little
note book right now to put in my pocket! thanks
Teresa