Re: Good writing!
Joseph A. & Susan D. Fuerst
Wow! Joel, I hope you're saving this stuff to compile into a book! Your writing is great...You really know how to put it all in perspective!
Susan
If one does in fact not have faith that eventually these kids will be interested in something more than lego it could be a challenge to one's world view. The world is infinitely rich and if we as adults show a vital interest in it our children will pick up on it. One cannot usefully be forced to be interested in things. You can force children to expand their horizons but to me it is at the expense of the most important values. Self-determination, self-direction, and the validation of one's own feelings about the world. Children in my opinion grow best in a rich environment, with "interested in the world" parents, a varied community of adults, a varied community of children of different ages, with maximum freedom of choice within the real confines of their particular families.
Sitting at one thing for a long time is in fact the road to mastery. The ability to be absorbed in one thing completely bodes well for whatever interests these children will have in the future. The fact of the matter is that different people have very different learning styles. Some flit from thing to thing. Some sit zen- like for what seems like ages on a little corner of the world which fascinates them. Some are orderly, sequential, logical. Others are given to wild enthusiasms which bring chaos with them. A loving supportive environment allows each flower to blossom as best befits its nature. No one escapes the nurturing cauldron of their family. It shapes us, as do our communities but the recognition of individual nuance is the best aspect of unschooling imho.
Susan
If one does in fact not have faith that eventually these kids will be interested in something more than lego it could be a challenge to one's world view. The world is infinitely rich and if we as adults show a vital interest in it our children will pick up on it. One cannot usefully be forced to be interested in things. You can force children to expand their horizons but to me it is at the expense of the most important values. Self-determination, self-direction, and the validation of one's own feelings about the world. Children in my opinion grow best in a rich environment, with "interested in the world" parents, a varied community of adults, a varied community of children of different ages, with maximum freedom of choice within the real confines of their particular families.
Sitting at one thing for a long time is in fact the road to mastery. The ability to be absorbed in one thing completely bodes well for whatever interests these children will have in the future. The fact of the matter is that different people have very different learning styles. Some flit from thing to thing. Some sit zen- like for what seems like ages on a little corner of the world which fascinates them. Some are orderly, sequential, logical. Others are given to wild enthusiasms which bring chaos with them. A loving supportive environment allows each flower to blossom as best befits its nature. No one escapes the nurturing cauldron of their family. It shapes us, as do our communities but the recognition of individual nuance is the best aspect of unschooling imho.
Thomas and Nanci Kuykendall
Wow! Joel, I hope you're saving this stuff to compile into a book! Your
writing is great...You really know how to put it all in perspective!
Susan
That's pretty funny!
Nanci K. in Idaho
writing is great...You really know how to put it all in perspective!
Susan
That's pretty funny!
Nanci K. in Idaho