back in the loop
spicesuccess
Hi all, my name is Kama and our family lives in Lillooet, BC. I
thought I would introduce myself and share a moment. We have been
learning outside of Public School for three years. We have a son
(13) and a daughter (11 on Monday). Last fall the kids decided that
they wanted to return to PS. That was a difficult time in our
journey. Although it was scary (re-entering the tyrranic system - my
thoughts of course) we dicided to support them in their path toward
exploring
options and choices. About the end of November, our son started to
share some of his thoughts and feelings about this new direction. "I
can't believe we are there for seven hours", "I am tired of waiting
for everyone and everything", "They keep us in ONE place and they
even have a fence around it to keep us in", and "I am so bored". I
have
to admit it was music to my ears. Not that he was following what I
valued but that he was coming to this place all on his own. Over the
next month I observed him weighing out the choices, the options, and
the results. He finally made a decision at the end of December. He
told us that he had realized that he was loosing his "self" and that
his own level of self-expectations were dropping. He chose to return
home and re-enter the "world" of learning. I am very proud and
excited for our family and for my son. His own sense of self, self-
confidence, and trust empowered him to acknowledge his own needs,
find a way to honour them, and meet them. I know this was a
difficult
process for him. Over the time I watched him struggle, formulate,
and choose a choice even in the midst of peer and adult pressure from
the world. All this at the age of 13. My daughter has made the
decision to stay in PS for the remainder of the year and then return
to the world to learn. This is her current choice although I do see
her struggling with some of the same experiences as my son. We'll
see how the process unfolds for her. I know that we have once again
entered a new path on the same journey and my hope is that we
continue to examine and learn what is best for each of us. I hope to
learn, teach, share, and post with everyone as we continue our
journey. I know for me that life is about a process and this is no
different. When our kids first came home to learn we developed our
own experiences to fit Ministry of Education goals and objectives
(mostly theme unit oriented stuff), then we tried distance Ed stuff,
then back to our own identified goals and put together our own
curriculum. Towards
then end of the first three years we had moved through the process
and developed our own understanding, value, and philosophy, of
unschooling. We now are "unschooling" ( quotations are loosly used
to reflect that obviously there is a large encompassing understanding
of what this may mean to different people)and we are constantly
learning, developing, and formulating our own process and definition
of what that is. This is our
path for now, our understanding as of today, and the place that fits
with our world and our perception of it at this moment. I guess that
this was a pretty long intro but I wanted to share our "family"
moment, to say that I am glad to be back in the loop, and to share a
little about where we are and where we've been.
Kama
thought I would introduce myself and share a moment. We have been
learning outside of Public School for three years. We have a son
(13) and a daughter (11 on Monday). Last fall the kids decided that
they wanted to return to PS. That was a difficult time in our
journey. Although it was scary (re-entering the tyrranic system - my
thoughts of course) we dicided to support them in their path toward
exploring
options and choices. About the end of November, our son started to
share some of his thoughts and feelings about this new direction. "I
can't believe we are there for seven hours", "I am tired of waiting
for everyone and everything", "They keep us in ONE place and they
even have a fence around it to keep us in", and "I am so bored". I
have
to admit it was music to my ears. Not that he was following what I
valued but that he was coming to this place all on his own. Over the
next month I observed him weighing out the choices, the options, and
the results. He finally made a decision at the end of December. He
told us that he had realized that he was loosing his "self" and that
his own level of self-expectations were dropping. He chose to return
home and re-enter the "world" of learning. I am very proud and
excited for our family and for my son. His own sense of self, self-
confidence, and trust empowered him to acknowledge his own needs,
find a way to honour them, and meet them. I know this was a
difficult
process for him. Over the time I watched him struggle, formulate,
and choose a choice even in the midst of peer and adult pressure from
the world. All this at the age of 13. My daughter has made the
decision to stay in PS for the remainder of the year and then return
to the world to learn. This is her current choice although I do see
her struggling with some of the same experiences as my son. We'll
see how the process unfolds for her. I know that we have once again
entered a new path on the same journey and my hope is that we
continue to examine and learn what is best for each of us. I hope to
learn, teach, share, and post with everyone as we continue our
journey. I know for me that life is about a process and this is no
different. When our kids first came home to learn we developed our
own experiences to fit Ministry of Education goals and objectives
(mostly theme unit oriented stuff), then we tried distance Ed stuff,
then back to our own identified goals and put together our own
curriculum. Towards
then end of the first three years we had moved through the process
and developed our own understanding, value, and philosophy, of
unschooling. We now are "unschooling" ( quotations are loosly used
to reflect that obviously there is a large encompassing understanding
of what this may mean to different people)and we are constantly
learning, developing, and formulating our own process and definition
of what that is. This is our
path for now, our understanding as of today, and the place that fits
with our world and our perception of it at this moment. I guess that
this was a pretty long intro but I wanted to share our "family"
moment, to say that I am glad to be back in the loop, and to share a
little about where we are and where we've been.
Kama
[email protected]
In a message dated 2/2/2002 3:28:25 PM Eastern Standard Time,
steliga@... writes:
to school a couple of years ago and made the decision to not do so again.
What a great experience it was though in that she was able to fully come to
unschooling of her own choice. It was a challenge to have to stick to my "it
is always your choice whether to homeschool or not". . . yikes!! But now she
is so committed to it and understands how she loses part of her soul in the
school system (even though it was Montessori). As with everything, it was a
great learning adventure and opportunity.
living in abundance
lovemary
There are no victims in this world. . . only opportunities
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
steliga@... writes:
> . I guess thatWelcome Kama. . . and welcome back to the loop. My daughter also chose to go
> this was a pretty long intro but I wanted to share our "family"
> moment, to say that I am glad to be back in the loop, and to share a
> little about where we are and where we've been.
> Kama
>
to school a couple of years ago and made the decision to not do so again.
What a great experience it was though in that she was able to fully come to
unschooling of her own choice. It was a challenge to have to stick to my "it
is always your choice whether to homeschool or not". . . yikes!! But now she
is so committed to it and understands how she loses part of her soul in the
school system (even though it was Montessori). As with everything, it was a
great learning adventure and opportunity.
living in abundance
lovemary
There are no victims in this world. . . only opportunities
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]