Re: [Unschooling-dotcom] Digest Number 2164
[email protected]
In a message dated 7/20/2002 1:31:02 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
[email protected] writes:
recently. At a Father's Day gathering at the in-laws', my husband's aunt and
I got into the old and tired 'socialization' discussion. When I explained
that my girls met with their homeschooled friends at park day at least twice
a month, the oldest (9) attends the Gifted Student Program (at her own
desire!) one day a week, as well as they meet numerous children from all over
the country when we're out doing our travel reviews, all she could counter
with was, "Well, those are all kids *just* like her. How is she going to
know what to do when little Johnny calls her a bad name? That's the real
world!" AAAARRRRGGGGGG! When I pointed out to her that the parents in our
homeschool groups vary from Fundamentalist Christians to devout Atheists,
from Yuppie professional types to tattoo artists, from ages 19 to
40-something, the point of our different backgrounds was lost on her. It was
still important for my kids to know what to do when they are called names.
Finally she quit when I said, "Well, you know they'll do that to each other
when they hit late adolescence....guess it's lucky I have two..." Some
people! No matter how much they think they want to be educated, they just
don't listen!!!
Oh, and thanks for your support on the 'lurking' mode. I usually try to lurk
awhile to get the feel before I jump in...I'm glad you could all identify
with the 'dust' plaque...LOL.
I gave a brief intro as a homeschooling mom to two daughters (9 and 5 in 13
days - she's counting!)...we love the philosophy of unschooling! What freaks
we are considered to many, people just don't get it. My question is
this...how much 'guidance' are parents allowed before we're not really
considered 'unschoolers?' Izzy (9) chooses all of her topics and such, but I
do have a guideline (although very loose) which keeps her kind of
well-rounded in my opinion. It's nothing major, just encourages her to
spread her learning between the computer, educational tv, fiction and
non-fiction, and even a little seatwork. She always gets to choose which
show/book/workbook/cd/etc., but I give her a simple guideline of about 30
minutes of each per day. Of course, if she watches 4 hours of ER on TLC in
one day, that 'fulfills' her 'requirement.' *I'm VERY flexible on this. She
gets to pick the workbook, etc. Once we're 'back in the groove' (all her
neighbor friends are back to school) she has to be doing something
'eduationally productive' between 9 (like she gets up that early...LOL) and
2ish...if she can explain to me why playing with LEGOS is educational (which
she can by skill very well...LOL) then fine, if she can tell me that playing
with Barbies 'is teaching me to be nurturing and requires cooperation with
Lilly (little sister)', then fine. But I allow no junk TV or
Gameboy/Nintendo/PlayStation, etc. until after 2...does this sound like some
sort of unschooling? Or am I way off???
Thanks in advance for your support and advice (I know no one here would bash
my theories for sharing them, right???? You seem Waaaayyyyyy too nice and
supportive for that!)
~Dani
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[email protected] writes:
> "Life is terrible, so put your kids in school where they'll learnI'm sure this is not a new topic on this list, but I just dealt with this
> how bad life is and get used to it."
recently. At a Father's Day gathering at the in-laws', my husband's aunt and
I got into the old and tired 'socialization' discussion. When I explained
that my girls met with their homeschooled friends at park day at least twice
a month, the oldest (9) attends the Gifted Student Program (at her own
desire!) one day a week, as well as they meet numerous children from all over
the country when we're out doing our travel reviews, all she could counter
with was, "Well, those are all kids *just* like her. How is she going to
know what to do when little Johnny calls her a bad name? That's the real
world!" AAAARRRRGGGGGG! When I pointed out to her that the parents in our
homeschool groups vary from Fundamentalist Christians to devout Atheists,
from Yuppie professional types to tattoo artists, from ages 19 to
40-something, the point of our different backgrounds was lost on her. It was
still important for my kids to know what to do when they are called names.
Finally she quit when I said, "Well, you know they'll do that to each other
when they hit late adolescence....guess it's lucky I have two..." Some
people! No matter how much they think they want to be educated, they just
don't listen!!!
Oh, and thanks for your support on the 'lurking' mode. I usually try to lurk
awhile to get the feel before I jump in...I'm glad you could all identify
with the 'dust' plaque...LOL.
I gave a brief intro as a homeschooling mom to two daughters (9 and 5 in 13
days - she's counting!)...we love the philosophy of unschooling! What freaks
we are considered to many, people just don't get it. My question is
this...how much 'guidance' are parents allowed before we're not really
considered 'unschoolers?' Izzy (9) chooses all of her topics and such, but I
do have a guideline (although very loose) which keeps her kind of
well-rounded in my opinion. It's nothing major, just encourages her to
spread her learning between the computer, educational tv, fiction and
non-fiction, and even a little seatwork. She always gets to choose which
show/book/workbook/cd/etc., but I give her a simple guideline of about 30
minutes of each per day. Of course, if she watches 4 hours of ER on TLC in
one day, that 'fulfills' her 'requirement.' *I'm VERY flexible on this. She
gets to pick the workbook, etc. Once we're 'back in the groove' (all her
neighbor friends are back to school) she has to be doing something
'eduationally productive' between 9 (like she gets up that early...LOL) and
2ish...if she can explain to me why playing with LEGOS is educational (which
she can by skill very well...LOL) then fine, if she can tell me that playing
with Barbies 'is teaching me to be nurturing and requires cooperation with
Lilly (little sister)', then fine. But I allow no junk TV or
Gameboy/Nintendo/PlayStation, etc. until after 2...does this sound like some
sort of unschooling? Or am I way off???
Thanks in advance for your support and advice (I know no one here would bash
my theories for sharing them, right???? You seem Waaaayyyyyy too nice and
supportive for that!)
~Dani
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[email protected]
In a message dated 7/20/2002 1:31:02 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
[email protected] writes:
that we also do the multi-gen thing....my husband and I are both
'semi-retired' (great for early 30's) - he's was injured in the military, so
we have a pension from that, and I toy with hobbies that give us 'fun money'
(presently teaching child care inservices). Anyway, last summer we decided
to put a 1,800 sq. ft. addition onto my parent's home (basically a huge MIL
suite), and we all live together. It's super - we each have our own separate
living quarters, and split all the bills 50/50. I cook dinner for everyone
almost every night, the girls have both parents home with them, my parents
are closer to retirement since we help with the bills, the girls get some
gardening experience with my mom (brown thumb here), and get to visit with
their grandparents on a regular basis. We all travel a bunch (my mom and dad
are presently in GA at a Harley rally, then they leave for three weeks for a
ride to Newfoundland in early August - we were gone all of April & May) so it
works VERY nicely! It's a great plan, Nancy, and we hope that someday we
will share this house with our girls, then they could with each other, their
kids, etc. I would really love to see families getting back to this way of
life, people think we're so odd, but this was a common (and often necessary)
arrangement until, what, the nineteenth century? It really gives us all
support and a terrific feeling of family. I think we'd all be somewhat
better off if we had this kind of support network as the norm rather than the
exception!
~Dani (who is stepping off the soapbox, sorry!)
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[email protected] writes:
> Heck! I want my kids to stay at home, or at least come back after they haveBe careful what you wish for...LOL... I failed to mention in my short intro
> tons of great adventures. My dream is a rambling old farm house, with huge
> rooms, tons of sunny windows for all my plants, big wrap-around-porch,
> shade
> trees for tree houses and tire swings, a creek somewhere on the property,
> and
> both my kids, their significant others, and their kids. That's what I want.
>
that we also do the multi-gen thing....my husband and I are both
'semi-retired' (great for early 30's) - he's was injured in the military, so
we have a pension from that, and I toy with hobbies that give us 'fun money'
(presently teaching child care inservices). Anyway, last summer we decided
to put a 1,800 sq. ft. addition onto my parent's home (basically a huge MIL
suite), and we all live together. It's super - we each have our own separate
living quarters, and split all the bills 50/50. I cook dinner for everyone
almost every night, the girls have both parents home with them, my parents
are closer to retirement since we help with the bills, the girls get some
gardening experience with my mom (brown thumb here), and get to visit with
their grandparents on a regular basis. We all travel a bunch (my mom and dad
are presently in GA at a Harley rally, then they leave for three weeks for a
ride to Newfoundland in early August - we were gone all of April & May) so it
works VERY nicely! It's a great plan, Nancy, and we hope that someday we
will share this house with our girls, then they could with each other, their
kids, etc. I would really love to see families getting back to this way of
life, people think we're so odd, but this was a common (and often necessary)
arrangement until, what, the nineteenth century? It really gives us all
support and a terrific feeling of family. I think we'd all be somewhat
better off if we had this kind of support network as the norm rather than the
exception!
~Dani (who is stepping off the soapbox, sorry!)
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[email protected]
dani,
i go threw this issue with my daughter's father every other friday and
then again on sunday, and this week i got to get in a saturday match with him
too! yea me! i can't seem to get it threw to him that she has many
opportunities to interact. we live in a child ran neighbor and we have our
homeschool group and are zoo members and often go there. yoour group sounds
great. i'm the only mother in our group with different religous, and life
ideas, and then there's the tatoo, but that's another story.is there any
chance you guys are in nc?
tina
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
i go threw this issue with my daughter's father every other friday and
then again on sunday, and this week i got to get in a saturday match with him
too! yea me! i can't seem to get it threw to him that she has many
opportunities to interact. we live in a child ran neighbor and we have our
homeschool group and are zoo members and often go there. yoour group sounds
great. i'm the only mother in our group with different religous, and life
ideas, and then there's the tatoo, but that's another story.is there any
chance you guys are in nc?
tina
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[email protected]
In a message dated 7/20/2002 11:22:09 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
tinkiechelle1@... writes:
~Dani
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
tinkiechelle1@... writes:
> yoour group soundsNo, we're in FL...LOL
> great. i'm the only mother in our group with different religous, and life
> ideas, and then there's the tatoo, but that's another story.is there any
> chance you guys are in nc?
> tina
>
~Dani
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]