inmdcrew

I'm not a newbie to hs but to unschooling. My history is 6 yrs of
electic schooling. Perhaps my perspective is wrong but: doesn't
everyone who is new to unschooling go thru a pre-unschooling?
Whether it be the deschooling process if your child has participated
in any type of formal schooling or school at home.
Whether it be the waiting game for your children to find an interest.

As a newbie who has become aware over the past 6 years of the
benefits of unschooling I consider myself a pre-unschooler. What a
title. Try to explain that to your unrelenting relatives.

This pre-unschooling time so far is full of doubts. How come my 10
year old can't find any thing to interest him? He's still waiting
for me to tell him what to study. How come my 6 year old refuses to
have any thing to letters and sounds? She was burned out last year
on the reading program we had chosen. But does that mean she will 21
before she wants to try again? Ha!

Anyways I think that pre-unschooling can encompass more than just
toddlers "graduating to Kindergarten and beyond".

Just my thoughts
Tina

kayb85

> This pre-unschooling time so far is full of doubts. How come my 10
> year old can't find any thing to interest him? He's still waiting
> for me to tell him what to study

I would just tell him that he doesn't have to study anything
anymore. Tell him all he has to do is play.
Sheila

zenmomma *

>>doesn't everyone who is new to unschooling go thru a pre-unschooling?>>

Interesting twist on the word, Tina. :o) I see a lot of parents going
through what you call the pre-unschooling stage for sure. I'm also amazed at
the numbers of parents who just seem to accept unschooling in all its glory
right from the start.

>>This pre-unschooling time so far is full of doubts. How come my 10
year old can't find any thing to interest him? He's still waiting
for me to tell him what to study.>>

It will help if you stop thinking of it as studying and start thinking of it
as exploring, investigating, checking out, glancing at, etc. His interests
may never look like the studying a topic that you're used to from the
schoolwork days. But he will deschool awhile and then start to get intrested
in lots of things that don't look like studying at all. Those are the
unschooling interests that can lead all sorts of places.

Real life interests aren't divided into neat little subject areas. That's
for the schools. Our kids get to connect little bits of history with bits of
math with something they saw on TV with skateboarding with a book they're
reading....It all counts and it's all connected.

>>How come my 6 year old refuses to have any thing to letters and sounds?
>>She was burned out last year on the reading program we had chosen. But
>>does that mean she will 21 before she wants to try again? >>

Probably not. Try to relax. Six is still very young. She'll come back to it
when she's ready. In the meantime, keep reading her lots of great books and
magazines and filling her world with words.

Life is good.
~Mary

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inmdcrew

--- In Unschooling-dotcom@y..., "kayb85" <sheran@p...> wrote:
>
> > This pre-unschooling time so far is full of doubts. How come my
10
> > year old can't find any thing to interest him? He's still waiting
> > for me to tell him what to study
>
> I would just tell him that he doesn't have to study anything
> anymore. Tell him all he has to do is play.
> Sheila


Sheila,
Thanks for the encouragement. This goes against everything I was
ever taught. I think it is a matter of me deschooling more than my
son.
Tina

inmdcrew

--- In Unschooling-dotcom@y..., "zenmomma *" <zenmomma@h...> wrote:
>
> >>doesn't everyone who is new to unschooling go thru a pre-
unschooling?>>
>
> Interesting twist on the word, Tina. :o) I see a lot of parents
going
> through what you call the pre-unschooling stage for sure. I'm also
amazed at
> the numbers of parents who just seem to accept unschooling in all
its glory
> right from the start.
>
> >>This pre-unschooling time so far is full of doubts. How come my
10
> year old can't find any thing to interest him? He's still waiting
> for me to tell him what to study.>>
>
> It will help if you stop thinking of it as studying and start
thinking of it
> as exploring, investigating, checking out, glancing at, etc. His
interests
> may never look like the studying a topic that you're used to from
the
> schoolwork days. But he will deschool awhile and then start to get
intrested
> in lots of things that don't look like studying at all. Those are
the
> unschooling interests that can lead all sorts of places.
>
> Real life interests aren't divided into neat little subject areas.
That's
> for the schools. Our kids get to connect little bits of history
with bits of
> math with something they saw on TV with skateboarding with a book
they're
> reading....It all counts and it's all connected.
>
> >>How come my 6 year old refuses to have any thing to letters and
sounds?
> >>She was burned out last year on the reading program we had
chosen. But
> >>does that mean she will 21 before she wants to try again? >>
>
> Probably not. Try to relax. Six is still very young. She'll come
back to it
> when she's ready. In the meantime, keep reading her lots of great
books and
> magazines and filling her world with words.
>
> Life is good.
> ~Mary
>


Mary,

Thanks for the encouragement. When you mentioned being amazed at how
some parents take to unschooling from the beginning, I thought of one
idea. I believe it has a lot to do with how you are raised and the
emphasis that is put on schools. In my family, college was never not
an option and I know that most of my family believe I am wasting my
expensive education by staying home. In fact there isn't a month
that doesn't go by that someone doesn't encourage me to get a job.

And then there is the matter of what schools must you attend.
Perhaps the easily adapted parents that unschool came from families
where investigation was encouraged. Instead of "don't go against the
grain" or " what would so and so think"

So I think that I need to deschool somewhat too.

One question, I have noticed that by my children's investigating-
when they see something interesting they are all for checking it out
but quickly get bored or don't want to go in depth. How do you keep
up b/c I find myself getting these great ideas only to find myself
left in the dust and they have moved on.

tina
> _________________________________________________________________
> Join the world's largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail.
> http://www.hotmail.com

[email protected]

In a message dated 8/13/02 12:35:46 PM, Hatfield72@... writes:

<< One question, I have noticed that by my children's investigating-
when they see something interesting they are all for checking it out
but quickly get bored or don't want to go in depth. How do you keep
up b/c I find myself getting these great ideas only to find myself
left in the dust and they have moved on. >>

My husband used to have his feelings hurt if a kid asked a question and then
didn't want a twenty-minute session. I helped him see what small units
information-requests can be, and to trust that they'll be back when they want
the next bit. But if he insists on doing a lecture for every little math or
science question, they'll just learn not to ask!

In school, lessons are 45 minutes long or so but in real life learning can
take as little as one second. Thirty-second "lessons" and two-minute
show'n'tells will, over the years, add up to more learning than many hours of
droning introduction, lesson and summary sessions could ever.

A good example is when a kid asks where babies come from. Going to dig out
your old '101 sexual positions' book is WAY way way too much information!!!!
He wants "they grow inside their moms."

Five seconds.

If he wants more, he'll ask. It might be then, it might be in a year or two.

Sandra

kayb85

> One question, I have noticed that by my children's investigating-
> when they see something interesting they are all for checking it
out
> but quickly get bored or don't want to go in depth. How do you
keep
> up b/c I find myself getting these great ideas only to find myself
> left in the dust and they have moved on.

Lol! You know what I did this spring? The kids and I had an
appointment in a new area. On the way home we spotted this little
park so we stopped to explore. We had a blast, and the kids were
enthralled with the little stream that was flowing through it. We
followed the stream until we came to a bigger branch in the river.
They asked all kinds of questions about where rivers start and end.
They wanted to know which river this was, and I didn't know so I went
home and got out our map. I showed them where the river started and
how it ended in the ocean. Then I showed them other rivers that we
had been to. This was all they really wanted, but I got out of hand!
lol

I went to the internet and found a website about the town where the
lake of this river started. I found that you can get a boat ride of
the lake, and even go fishing on the boat. I found a cute little
hotel with a play area and a beach.

Then I went to the website for the town where the river empties into
the Chesapeake bay. I even went to the website for the city where
the bay empties into the ocean. <g>

Then I got even more out of hand. lol I called the Chesapeake bay
alliance and asked them to send me a wall map of the entire river. I
hung it up and took the kids on a few day trips where there were
other branches of this river and we put stickers on the places we
visited.

Then my sweet daughter ever so lovingly broke it to me that they
really weren't into all this. I realized that I was trying to turn
one day's fun and interesting questions into this big thing so that I
could say, "Look at the neat things unschooling can lead to" lol I
really am sitting here laughing at myself now. Thank goodness I
hadn't booked any motels yet!

Sheila

inmdcrew

--- In Unschooling-dotcom@y..., "kayb85" <sheran@p...> wrote:
> > One question, I have noticed that by my children's investigating-
> > when they see something interesting they are all for checking it
> out
> > but quickly get bored or don't want to go in depth. How do you
> keep
> > up b/c I find myself getting these great ideas only to find
myself
> > left in the dust and they have moved on.
>
> Lol! You know what I did this spring? The kids and I had an
> appointment in a new area. On the way home we spotted this little
> park so we stopped to explore. We had a blast, and the kids were
> enthralled with the little stream that was flowing through it. We
> followed the stream until we came to a bigger branch in the river.
> They asked all kinds of questions about where rivers start and
end.
> They wanted to know which river this was, and I didn't know so I
went
> home and got out our map. I showed them where the river started
and
> how it ended in the ocean. Then I showed them other rivers that we
> had been to. This was all they really wanted, but I got out of
hand!
> lol
>
> I went to the internet and found a website about the town where the
> lake of this river started. I found that you can get a boat ride
of
> the lake, and even go fishing on the boat. I found a cute little
> hotel with a play area and a beach.
>
> Then I went to the website for the town where the river empties
into
> the Chesapeake bay. I even went to the website for the city where
> the bay empties into the ocean. <g>
>
> Then I got even more out of hand. lol I called the Chesapeake bay
> alliance and asked them to send me a wall map of the entire river.
I
> hung it up and took the kids on a few day trips where there were
> other branches of this river and we put stickers on the places we
> visited.
>
> Then my sweet daughter ever so lovingly broke it to me that they
> really weren't into all this. I realized that I was trying to turn
> one day's fun and interesting questions into this big thing so that
I
> could say, "Look at the neat things unschooling can lead to" lol I
> really am sitting here laughing at myself now. Thank goodness I
> hadn't booked any motels yet!




That is so neat! What a great idea. My kids wouldn't go for it
either.
What is cool is the fact that my husband is from MD and grew up right
on the Chesapeake Bay on the Eastern Shore. In fact I married and
lived there with him and the kids uptil 4 years ago. We moved away
for alittle while but plan on moving back soon.
Tina
>
> Sheila

Tia Leschke

>
>That is so neat! What a great idea. My kids wouldn't go for it
>either.
>What is cool is the fact that my husband is from MD and grew up right
>on the Chesapeake Bay on the Eastern Shore. In fact I married and
>lived there with him and the kids uptil 4 years ago. We moved away
>for alittle while but plan on moving back soon.

Depending on their age, they might like the books Homecoming and Dicey's
Song by . . . by . . . by . . . well I'll think of her name
eventually. The kids in Homecoming are abandoned by their mentally ill
mother and make their way to their grandmother's on Chesapeake
Bay. There's quite a bit of information about the area woven into the
story. The main character is a young teen, so it's probably aimed at
pre-teens to early teens.

Cynthia Voigt - I knew I'd remember.
Tia

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
Eleanor Roosevelt
*********************************************
Tia Leschke
leschke@...
On Vancouver Island