UNSCHOOLING.COM ONLINE NEWS Mid-May 2002
[email protected]
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
UNSCHOOLING.COM ONLINE NEWS
Mid-May 2002
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
In this Issue:
Katharine Kersey on Growing Children
Gardening Resources
Organic School Garden Awards Competition
Unschooling-dotcom Email Discussion List
The Hole-in-the-Wall Experiment
A Few Words About Math
Uncollege
Unschool Friendly Conferences
FUN Books Anniversary Special
:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:
Children are given to us, on loan, for a very short period of time. They come
to us like packets of flower seeds, with no pictures on the cover and no
guarantees. We do not know what they will look like, act like, or have the
potential to become. Our job, like the gardeners, is to meet their needs as
best we can: to give proper nourishment, love, attention, and caring, and to
hope for the best.
Katharine Kersey
:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:
Gardening Resources
Perhaps you too are gardening this season, planting and sowing hopes for
bright blooms and fresh tastes in the future. These are a few of my familys
favorite garden resources.
Kids Valley WebGarden http://raw-connections.com/garden/
Tons of usable hints and tips in a format friendly to newer readers
Gardening for Wildlife http://wildlifegardening.com/
A collection of links - How and why to invite wild creatures to share your
land, whether you have several acres or just a few pots on a balcony.
The Garden Explored by Mia Amato and The Exploratorium
Hands on botany in a book for curious gardeners
Rebecca Rupps Good Stuff column in the May/June issue of Home Education
magazine is titled Full of Beans, and it is! She has resources about
growing beans, cooking beans, the science of beans, and fictional beans. What
fun! Unfortunately, the column isnt available online - if you dont have a
subscription check with your library, or with friends. (And consider
subscribing! http://www.home-ed-magazine.com)
:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:
Organic School Garden Awards competition
The Rodale Institute Kidsregen.org is proud to introduce the 2002 Organic
School Garden Awards
School and home-school students nationwide, grades K through 12, are invited
to enter this Organic School Garden Awards competition. If you're a kid who
believes that you can improve your health and the health of the Earth by
gardening, this contest is for you!
This years theme
How does your schools organic garden impact your health and eating habits?
We want to know if your garden has helped you change your eating habits,
taste new foods, or improve your health. Have you been able to introduce new
foods in the cafeteria, influence what food is served at home, learn about
nutrition, and so on? We want to know everything! We'll share your success
stories with others kids to inspire them to create a garden as good as yours.
Entries must be received by July 1, 2002 to be eligible. For information and
entry forms go to:
http://www.kidsregen.org/krrn/exhibits/gardens/2002/intro.shtml
:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:
Unschooling-dotcom Email Discussion List
Pointing out each thing he learns or each "educational" thing he does is
probably not the best approach, either. Let it flow for a while. If each
moment or conversation or activity is going to be reviewed for its
educational content, the whole day becomes one long test, and life's being
lived for the purpose of the review. That makes things too self-conscious,
and he might close down some, or avoid the situations...
...We have a bunch of pumpkins and morning glories just sprouted. We could
thin them out and look at a few roots, but if we pull them ALL up to look we
won't have any adult plants. Some have to be JUST watered and ignored. And
the more we can water and ignore, the more we'll have grow to maturity. Some
are going to spread out all over our side yard. Some are going to grow up
into the trees and bushes and make a happy all-flowery mess, but not until
later in the year. Some are going to die a natural death. Some are going
to make seeds for next year, and some of those seeds (this being the desert,
and we being disorganized) won't be sprouting for four or five years.
Some of the best learning is like that. You can plan something, and you can
plant something, but you can't mess with it too much after that. You just
have to let some stuff go at its own pace, and in its own season.
Sandra Dodd in a conversation on the Unschooling-dotcom Email list.
The Unschooling-dotcom Email list is affiliated with the Unschooling.com
website, and is a source of lively discussion about unschooling. Come join
the conversation! To subscribe send a blank Email to:
[email protected]
Or visit the Email list website at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Unschooling-dotcom/
:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:
The Hole-in-the-Wall Experiment
Sugata Mitra has a PhD in physics and heads research efforts at New Delhi's
NIIT, a fast-growing software and education company with sales of more than
$200 million and a market cap over $2 billion. But Mitra's passion is
computer-based education, specifically for India's poor. He believes that
children, even terribly poor kids with little education, can quickly teach
themselves the rudiments of computer literacy. The key, he contends, is for
teachers and other adults to give them free rein, so their natural curiosity
takes over and they teach themselves. He calls the concept "minimally
invasive education."
To test his ideas, Mitra 13 months ago launched something he calls "the hole
in the wall experiment." He took a PC connected to a high-speed data
connection and embedded it in a concrete wall next to NIIT's headquarters in
the south end of New Delhi. The wall separates the company's grounds from a
garbage-strewn empty lot used by the poor as a public bathroom. Mitra simply
left the computer on, connected to the Internet, and allowed any passerby to
play with it. He monitored activity on the PC using a remote computer and a
video camera mounted in a nearby tree.
What he discovered was that the most avid users of the machine were ghetto
kids aged 6 to 12, most of whom have only the most rudimentary education and
little knowledge of English. Yet within days, the kids had taught themselves
to draw on the computer and to browse the Net. Some of the other things they
learned, Mitra says, astonished him.
Read the full article at:
http://www.greenstar.org/butterflies/Hole-in-the-Wall.htm
:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:
A Few Words About Math
http://www.borntoexplore.org/unschool/math.htm
:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:
Uncollege
In last months newsletter I recommended Herbert Kohl's book "The Question is
College" for teens and parents considering the future. A reader replies
Another super great book for kids who want to do something other than
college is, "The Uncollege Alternative: Your Guide to Incredible Careers and
Amazing Adventures Outside College" by Danielle Kwatinetz-Wood.
Thanks, Ill be checking it out!
:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:
Unschool Friendly Conferences
Unschoolers sometimes feel outnumbered and out of place at large curriculum
oriented homeschooling conventions. The following conferences have
unschooling presenters and participants, including many regular posters at
the unschooling.com website and email discussion list.
Trusting the Children, Trusting Ourselves
August 16-18, 2002
Radisson Hotel Sacramento
http://conference.hsc.org/default.html
Live and Learn Unschool Conference
October 11 - 13, 2002
Columbia, SC
http://www.schoolsoutsupport.org/index.html
If you have information on other unschooling friendly conferences please
email the editor at newsletter@...
:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:
FUN Books Anniversary Special
Billy and Nancy Greer of FUN Books are celebrating their 20th anniversary on
May 22 and they would like you to join in on the celebration. For one week
before our anniversary and one week after, you can take an extra 20% off any
single item on the FUN Books web site. We have the kinds of resources that
are perfect for unschooling, unit studies, or eclectic homeschooling. We also
have many items that you can't find anywhere else.
FUN Books already has great discounts, so an extra 20% off gives you a chance
to really save. Here's how it works. Place an order between May 15 and May
29 and write "Happy 20th Anniversary Nancy and Billy!" somewhere on the order
(for on-line orders, type it in the comments section). When we process your
order, we will take an extra 20% off the highest priced item you purchased.
While the discount can be used for anything we carry, please note that only
one item per family can receive this special discount.
Please visit us on-line at http://www.FUN-Books.com to place your order on
our secure server, phone or fax your order to our voice mail at (888)
386-7020, or mail it to FUN Books, 1688 Belhaven Woods Ct, Pasadena, MD
21122-3727, or email us at fun@...
:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:
For information on purchasing unclassified advertising space in this
newsletter, please contact the editor at:
newsletter@...
:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:
Final Thoughts
People say, Dont we have a duty to expose children to whatever seems to us
best, most enjoyable, most significant, etc. in human life? (Or, to use a
popular cliche, The Best That Man Has Thought and Done.) Why think of it as a
duty? It is a pleasure, one of the most natural things in human life. We
constantly tell our friends about the things we like, urge them to read
books, see movies, hear music, or do this or that. The problem is that if we
urge too strongly, our friend may think that he must do what what we urge
lest he hurt our feelings. So with the gifted teacher in the open classroom,
filling it full of all kinds of wonderful things to look at, work with, do.
He must still leave the children a chance to say No. Otherwise exposure, or
call it temptation, crosses some kind of boundary and becomes seduction,
hidden coercion, do it to make me happy, do it because otherwise Ill be
unhappy and maybe even wont like you.
John Holt, in Freedom and Beyond
:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:
Thanks for reading the Unschooling.com newsletter! Feel free forward this
newsletter to all your friends, your local support group, and your
mother-in-law!
To subscribe, visit our web site at http://www.unschooling.com or send an
email to majordomo@... with the words subscribe
unschooling-newsletter followed by your name@your address.com in the body of
the email. (e.g. subscribe unschooling-newsletter youremailaddress). To
unsubscribe, send an email to majordomo@... with the words
unsubscribe unschooling-newsletter followed by your name@... in
the body of the email. (e.g. unsubscribe unschooling-newsletter
youremailaddress). To change the address at which you receive the newsletter,
unsubscribe your old address and then subscribe with your new one.
See you in June!
Deborah A Cunefare, Newsletter Editor
newsletter@...
Unschooling.com is a service of Home Education Magazine
UNSCHOOLING.COM ONLINE NEWS
Mid-May 2002
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
In this Issue:
Katharine Kersey on Growing Children
Gardening Resources
Organic School Garden Awards Competition
Unschooling-dotcom Email Discussion List
The Hole-in-the-Wall Experiment
A Few Words About Math
Uncollege
Unschool Friendly Conferences
FUN Books Anniversary Special
:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:
Children are given to us, on loan, for a very short period of time. They come
to us like packets of flower seeds, with no pictures on the cover and no
guarantees. We do not know what they will look like, act like, or have the
potential to become. Our job, like the gardeners, is to meet their needs as
best we can: to give proper nourishment, love, attention, and caring, and to
hope for the best.
Katharine Kersey
:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:
Gardening Resources
Perhaps you too are gardening this season, planting and sowing hopes for
bright blooms and fresh tastes in the future. These are a few of my familys
favorite garden resources.
Kids Valley WebGarden http://raw-connections.com/garden/
Tons of usable hints and tips in a format friendly to newer readers
Gardening for Wildlife http://wildlifegardening.com/
A collection of links - How and why to invite wild creatures to share your
land, whether you have several acres or just a few pots on a balcony.
The Garden Explored by Mia Amato and The Exploratorium
Hands on botany in a book for curious gardeners
Rebecca Rupps Good Stuff column in the May/June issue of Home Education
magazine is titled Full of Beans, and it is! She has resources about
growing beans, cooking beans, the science of beans, and fictional beans. What
fun! Unfortunately, the column isnt available online - if you dont have a
subscription check with your library, or with friends. (And consider
subscribing! http://www.home-ed-magazine.com)
:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:
Organic School Garden Awards competition
The Rodale Institute Kidsregen.org is proud to introduce the 2002 Organic
School Garden Awards
School and home-school students nationwide, grades K through 12, are invited
to enter this Organic School Garden Awards competition. If you're a kid who
believes that you can improve your health and the health of the Earth by
gardening, this contest is for you!
This years theme
How does your schools organic garden impact your health and eating habits?
We want to know if your garden has helped you change your eating habits,
taste new foods, or improve your health. Have you been able to introduce new
foods in the cafeteria, influence what food is served at home, learn about
nutrition, and so on? We want to know everything! We'll share your success
stories with others kids to inspire them to create a garden as good as yours.
Entries must be received by July 1, 2002 to be eligible. For information and
entry forms go to:
http://www.kidsregen.org/krrn/exhibits/gardens/2002/intro.shtml
:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:
Unschooling-dotcom Email Discussion List
Pointing out each thing he learns or each "educational" thing he does is
probably not the best approach, either. Let it flow for a while. If each
moment or conversation or activity is going to be reviewed for its
educational content, the whole day becomes one long test, and life's being
lived for the purpose of the review. That makes things too self-conscious,
and he might close down some, or avoid the situations...
...We have a bunch of pumpkins and morning glories just sprouted. We could
thin them out and look at a few roots, but if we pull them ALL up to look we
won't have any adult plants. Some have to be JUST watered and ignored. And
the more we can water and ignore, the more we'll have grow to maturity. Some
are going to spread out all over our side yard. Some are going to grow up
into the trees and bushes and make a happy all-flowery mess, but not until
later in the year. Some are going to die a natural death. Some are going
to make seeds for next year, and some of those seeds (this being the desert,
and we being disorganized) won't be sprouting for four or five years.
Some of the best learning is like that. You can plan something, and you can
plant something, but you can't mess with it too much after that. You just
have to let some stuff go at its own pace, and in its own season.
Sandra Dodd in a conversation on the Unschooling-dotcom Email list.
The Unschooling-dotcom Email list is affiliated with the Unschooling.com
website, and is a source of lively discussion about unschooling. Come join
the conversation! To subscribe send a blank Email to:
[email protected]
Or visit the Email list website at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Unschooling-dotcom/
:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:
The Hole-in-the-Wall Experiment
Sugata Mitra has a PhD in physics and heads research efforts at New Delhi's
NIIT, a fast-growing software and education company with sales of more than
$200 million and a market cap over $2 billion. But Mitra's passion is
computer-based education, specifically for India's poor. He believes that
children, even terribly poor kids with little education, can quickly teach
themselves the rudiments of computer literacy. The key, he contends, is for
teachers and other adults to give them free rein, so their natural curiosity
takes over and they teach themselves. He calls the concept "minimally
invasive education."
To test his ideas, Mitra 13 months ago launched something he calls "the hole
in the wall experiment." He took a PC connected to a high-speed data
connection and embedded it in a concrete wall next to NIIT's headquarters in
the south end of New Delhi. The wall separates the company's grounds from a
garbage-strewn empty lot used by the poor as a public bathroom. Mitra simply
left the computer on, connected to the Internet, and allowed any passerby to
play with it. He monitored activity on the PC using a remote computer and a
video camera mounted in a nearby tree.
What he discovered was that the most avid users of the machine were ghetto
kids aged 6 to 12, most of whom have only the most rudimentary education and
little knowledge of English. Yet within days, the kids had taught themselves
to draw on the computer and to browse the Net. Some of the other things they
learned, Mitra says, astonished him.
Read the full article at:
http://www.greenstar.org/butterflies/Hole-in-the-Wall.htm
:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:
A Few Words About Math
http://www.borntoexplore.org/unschool/math.htm
:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:
Uncollege
In last months newsletter I recommended Herbert Kohl's book "The Question is
College" for teens and parents considering the future. A reader replies
Another super great book for kids who want to do something other than
college is, "The Uncollege Alternative: Your Guide to Incredible Careers and
Amazing Adventures Outside College" by Danielle Kwatinetz-Wood.
Thanks, Ill be checking it out!
:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:
Unschool Friendly Conferences
Unschoolers sometimes feel outnumbered and out of place at large curriculum
oriented homeschooling conventions. The following conferences have
unschooling presenters and participants, including many regular posters at
the unschooling.com website and email discussion list.
Trusting the Children, Trusting Ourselves
August 16-18, 2002
Radisson Hotel Sacramento
http://conference.hsc.org/default.html
Live and Learn Unschool Conference
October 11 - 13, 2002
Columbia, SC
http://www.schoolsoutsupport.org/index.html
If you have information on other unschooling friendly conferences please
email the editor at newsletter@...
:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:
FUN Books Anniversary Special
Billy and Nancy Greer of FUN Books are celebrating their 20th anniversary on
May 22 and they would like you to join in on the celebration. For one week
before our anniversary and one week after, you can take an extra 20% off any
single item on the FUN Books web site. We have the kinds of resources that
are perfect for unschooling, unit studies, or eclectic homeschooling. We also
have many items that you can't find anywhere else.
FUN Books already has great discounts, so an extra 20% off gives you a chance
to really save. Here's how it works. Place an order between May 15 and May
29 and write "Happy 20th Anniversary Nancy and Billy!" somewhere on the order
(for on-line orders, type it in the comments section). When we process your
order, we will take an extra 20% off the highest priced item you purchased.
While the discount can be used for anything we carry, please note that only
one item per family can receive this special discount.
Please visit us on-line at http://www.FUN-Books.com to place your order on
our secure server, phone or fax your order to our voice mail at (888)
386-7020, or mail it to FUN Books, 1688 Belhaven Woods Ct, Pasadena, MD
21122-3727, or email us at fun@...
:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:
For information on purchasing unclassified advertising space in this
newsletter, please contact the editor at:
newsletter@...
:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:
Final Thoughts
People say, Dont we have a duty to expose children to whatever seems to us
best, most enjoyable, most significant, etc. in human life? (Or, to use a
popular cliche, The Best That Man Has Thought and Done.) Why think of it as a
duty? It is a pleasure, one of the most natural things in human life. We
constantly tell our friends about the things we like, urge them to read
books, see movies, hear music, or do this or that. The problem is that if we
urge too strongly, our friend may think that he must do what what we urge
lest he hurt our feelings. So with the gifted teacher in the open classroom,
filling it full of all kinds of wonderful things to look at, work with, do.
He must still leave the children a chance to say No. Otherwise exposure, or
call it temptation, crosses some kind of boundary and becomes seduction,
hidden coercion, do it to make me happy, do it because otherwise Ill be
unhappy and maybe even wont like you.
John Holt, in Freedom and Beyond
:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:
Thanks for reading the Unschooling.com newsletter! Feel free forward this
newsletter to all your friends, your local support group, and your
mother-in-law!
To subscribe, visit our web site at http://www.unschooling.com or send an
email to majordomo@... with the words subscribe
unschooling-newsletter followed by your name@your address.com in the body of
the email. (e.g. subscribe unschooling-newsletter youremailaddress). To
unsubscribe, send an email to majordomo@... with the words
unsubscribe unschooling-newsletter followed by your name@... in
the body of the email. (e.g. unsubscribe unschooling-newsletter
youremailaddress). To change the address at which you receive the newsletter,
unsubscribe your old address and then subscribe with your new one.
See you in June!
Deborah A Cunefare, Newsletter Editor
newsletter@...
Unschooling.com is a service of Home Education Magazine