Brooke T Patten

>I Love Little Bear! Explain to me how it could focus on an IS schooling
>mentality when Little Bear does not go to school and in fact spends his
>time unschooling by wandering around playing in the woods, doing cooking
>experiemnts at home, using his imagination and playing with his friends.

>Nanci K.

Didn't mean to upset you. We happen to love Little Bear also and I must
have gotten confused when I lumped this program with Franklin. I
wouldn't let my baby watch them if I didn't think they were quality.
Besides, I'm not trying to get people to quit watching the shows I
mentioned, I only asked for opinions about the ones that focus on school.

Brooke

___________________________________________________________________
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Joel Hawthorne

How about "Arthur" for revolting?

Brooke T Patten wrote:

> From: Brooke T Patten <babypatten@...>
>
> >I Love Little Bear! Explain to me how it could focus on an IS schooling
> >mentality when Little Bear does not go to school and in fact spends his
> >time unschooling by wandering around playing in the woods, doing cooking
> >experiemnts at home, using his imagination and playing with his friends.
>
> >Nanci K.
>
> Didn't mean to upset you. We happen to love Little Bear also and I must
> have gotten confused when I lumped this program with Franklin. I
> wouldn't let my baby watch them if I didn't think they were quality.
> Besides, I'm not trying to get people to quit watching the shows I
> mentioned, I only asked for opinions about the ones that focus on school.
>
> Brooke
>
> ___________________________________________________________________
> Get the Internet just the way you want it.
> Free software, free e-mail, and free Internet access for a month!
> Try Juno Web: http://dl.www.juno.com/dynoget/tagj.
>
> > Check it out!
> http://www.unschooling.com

--
best wishes
Joel

For a wonderful gift possibility and to support a great cause check out:
http://www.naturalchild.com/calendar_pictures.html

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Thomas and Nanci Kuykendall

>Didn't mean to upset you. We happen to love Little Bear also and I must
>have gotten confused when I lumped this program with Franklin. I
>wouldn't let my baby watch them if I didn't think they were quality.
>Besides, I'm not trying to get people to quit watching the shows I
>mentioned, I only asked for opinions about the ones that focus on school.
>
>Brooke

Oh, I wasn't upset. I was just confused about how Little Bear could have a
negative IS mentality, when there is no "schooling" in it. I was just
bewildered by the comments about "a day in the life of" and school issues
confusing unschooled chilren when you were talking about Little Bear.

I do agree about Franklin, though. The one mom at the playgroup that I
quit who I thought might be a good friend has made some comments that
raised my eyebrows on various occassions about sending her preschooler to
private school, about movies they watch or the plethora of toys that they
own/buy, etc. But one I remember in particular is her praise for Franklin.
I can't stand Franklin for my unschooling children, as almost every
episode includes a mention of or a focus on school. Barney is another with
a focus on schooling, as the whole set consists of the school and the
schoolyard, where all of the shows take place.

Preschool Shows that we enjoy:

PBS: Dragon Tales, Sesame Street, Zaboomafoo

Diseny Channel: Out of the Box, Bear in the Big Blue House, Winnie the Pooh

Nickelodeon Jr.: Blue's Clues, Little Bear, Gullah Gullah Island

Thomas and Nanci Kuykendall

At 06:00 AM 11/05/1999 -0800, you wrote:
>From: Joel Hawthorne <jhawthorne@...>
>
>How about "Arthur" for revolting?
>
>Brooke T Patten wrote:


Oh Ick! Don't get me started! That's another one that the ex-playgroup
espoused the wonders of.

[email protected]

In a message dated 11/5/99 7:52:39 AM CST, jhawthorne@... writes:

<< How about "Arthur" for revolting?
>>

Believe it or not, my kids love Arthur! I don't think it is a hurtful
show....they certainly promote reading, anyway. I am accentuating that
positive! LOL
Blessings, Lori in TX

B & T Simpson

I hope you have considered the wild thornberries!!! talk about
unschooling!!! and inspector gadget, the niece always goes all over the
world helping her uncle and is never actual in school!!!
Tanya
Tanya M Simpson
Be sure to check out my online mall at http://www.blmall.com
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-----Original Message-----
From: Thomas and Nanci Kuykendall <tn-k4of5@...>
To: [email protected] <[email protected]>
Date: Friday, November 05, 1999 11:52 AM
Subject: Re: [Unschooling-dotcom] Little Bear


>From: Thomas and Nanci Kuykendall <tn-k4of5@...>
>
>>Didn't mean to upset you. We happen to love Little Bear also and I must
>>have gotten confused when I lumped this program with Franklin. I
>>wouldn't let my baby watch them if I didn't think they were quality.
>>Besides, I'm not trying to get people to quit watching the shows I
>>mentioned, I only asked for opinions about the ones that focus on school.
>>
>>Brooke
>
>Oh, I wasn't upset. I was just confused about how Little Bear could have a
>negative IS mentality, when there is no "schooling" in it. I was just
>bewildered by the comments about "a day in the life of" and school issues
>confusing unschooled chilren when you were talking about Little Bear.
>
>I do agree about Franklin, though. The one mom at the playgroup that I
>quit who I thought might be a good friend has made some comments that
>raised my eyebrows on various occassions about sending her preschooler to
>private school, about movies they watch or the plethora of toys that they
>own/buy, etc. But one I remember in particular is her praise for Franklin.
> I can't stand Franklin for my unschooling children, as almost every
>episode includes a mention of or a focus on school. Barney is another with
>a focus on schooling, as the whole set consists of the school and the
>schoolyard, where all of the shows take place.
>
>Preschool Shows that we enjoy:
>
>PBS: Dragon Tales, Sesame Street, Zaboomafoo
>
>Diseny Channel: Out of the Box, Bear in the Big Blue House, Winnie the Pooh
>
>Nickelodeon Jr.: Blue's Clues, Little Bear, Gullah Gullah Island
>
>>Check it out!
>http://www.unschooling.com
>
>

Thomas and Nanci Kuykendall

At 10:39 AM 11/07/1999 -0500, you wrote:
>From: "B & T Simpson" <michigan@...>
>
>I hope you have considered the wild thornberries!!! talk about
>unschooling!!! and inspector gadget, the niece always goes all over the
>world helping her uncle and is never actual in school!!!
>Tanya
>Tanya M Simpson


Actually I think that those shows are a little too advanced for my
toddlers. I like to keep things simple and wholesome and I think those
shows are geared more towards older children. Plus I try to stay away from
potrayals of violence, and evil characters (like Dr. Claw on Inspector
Gadget.)

[email protected]

In a message dated 11/7/99 8:59:01 PM !!!First Boot!!!, tn-k4of5@...
writes:

<< Plus I try to stay away from
potrayals of violence, and evil characters (like Dr. Claw on Inspector
Gadget.) >>


Maybe they are too young -- of course, that's your judgement. But -- it
seems to me that a lot of good stories need a bad guy to give the story a
plot. Good almost always wins over evil in these stories but the idea that
someone might not be good is something the kids need to know (and figure out
anyway) at some point. IMO, of course.

Nance

Joel Hawthorne

There's lots of time to come to grips with evil...but the shallow, cartoon,
television fictional evil seems a lousy introduction. I think kids should be
spared gratuitous evil and violence as much as possible. Television gives a
grotesquely distorted view of reality. The more television people watch the
less accurate view of reality they have.

This is probably especially true of the "news" which fills people with trivial
sensational issues while trivializing the really burning pressing issues.

Marbleface@... wrote:

> From: Marbleface@...
>
> In a message dated 11/7/99 8:59:01 PM !!!First Boot!!!, tn-k4of5@...
> writes:
>
> << Plus I try to stay away from
> potrayals of violence, and evil characters (like Dr. Claw on Inspector
> Gadget.) >>
>
> Maybe they are too young -- of course, that's your judgement. But -- it
> seems to me that a lot of good stories need a bad guy to give the story a
> plot. Good almost always wins over evil in these stories but the idea that
> someone might not be good is something the kids need to know (and figure out
> anyway) at some point. IMO, of course.
>
> Nance
>
> > Check it out!
> http://www.unschooling.com

--
best wishes
Joel

For a wonderful gift possibility and to support a great cause check out:
http://www.naturalchild.com/calendar_pictures.html

All children behave as well as they are treated. The Natural Child
Project http://naturalchild.com/home/

[email protected]

In a message dated 11/8/99 1:51:10 PM !!!First Boot!!!, jhawthorne@...
writes:

<<
There's lots of time to come to grips with evil...but the shallow, cartoon,
television fictional evil seems a lousy introduction. I think kids should be
spared gratuitous evil and violence as much as possible. Television gives a
grotesquely distorted view of reality. The more television people watch the
less accurate view of reality they have. >>


Well, I certainly wouldn't advocate TV as a road to understanding reality.
But, a good story needs (what's it called in literatue class?) tension. The
youngest child may not need that but very soon, to make the story
interesting, I think, there has to be some kind of conflict or problem or
dilemma, imo. If not, it's a documentary. Which are nice too.

Take care.

Nance

Thomas and Nanci Kuykendall

> There's lots of time to come to grips with evil...but the shallow, cartoon,
> television fictional evil seems a lousy introduction. I think kids
should be
> spared gratuitous evil and violence as much as possible. Television gives a
> grotesquely distorted view of reality. The more television people watch the
> less accurate view of reality they have. >>

I have agree with Joel (as usual) on this issue. There is plenty of time
to become acquainted with the various faces of evil in this world. I don't
think preschoolers necessarily need to do this. However, for what it's
worth, I find that their programming options are VERY entertaining for
them, and there is always a "problem" to be solved in the storyline without
the use of violence or evil characters. Frankly I would rather they learn
to solve more realistic problems in ways which use their intellect and
talents than to think that everything is black and white, good and evil and
must be solved physically with violence and weapons.

Here are some examples:

From Dragon Tales: For those of you not familiar with the show, it centers
on two American children of Hispanic descent, Emmy and Max. They have
found a magic dragon scale and use it to wish themselves into the land of
dragons on a regular basis where they play with their young dragon friends.
On a recent episode they met a near sighted Unicorn who had lost her
glasses. The rest of the show focused on the two kids and their dragon
pals helping "Eunice" to find her glasses using reasoning, problem solving
and retracing her path.

On another episode, Max was frustrated with being little and not being able
to do the things that he wanted to. In the course of the story his angry
tantrum released a trouble making imp who thrived on Max's anger and grew
in size (and trouble) each time Max lost his temper. Max had to learn to
reign in his temper and express his frustration in a more constructive way,
like using that energy and determination to figure out how to accomplish
his goals. In this was the imp shrank and they were able to recapture him
in the seed pod from which he came.

In another episode, the kids and dragons were building a tree house and
Emmy wanted everyone to do things her way, and was hurting everyone's
feelings by not listening to them. She had to discover that to work
together, everyone has to have their voice heard and be able to have a hand
in the finished product. She learned to back off and let the others
contribute to the project, even if they didn't do things exactly the way
she would have, because they each had their own special gifts and talents
to bring to the tree house construction that were just as special as hers.

From Little Bear: In one episode Little Bear meets a new friend, No Feet
the garden snake, and sets about discovering what kind of a bed No Feet
would like. He tries all different places in his bedroom, but the drawer
is too dark, the shelf too high, the plant pot too small, and so on.
Finally they decide that his best bed is in the garden where Little Bear
found him.

On another episode Little Bear sets off exploring in the forest, a
recurring theme, with some of his friends and has many adventures along the
way, and meets some new friends.

In another Little Bear episode, he and his best friend Emily try to make
some cupcakes "just like Mother Bear makes." After including everything
but the kitchen sink in the cupcakes, they come out of the oven not quite
right. With some help from Mother Bear, who tells the story of her first
cupcakes and how they were not quite right either, they discover they have
left out a key ingredient, the baking powder!

You get the idea. The stories are interesting, fun and entertaining,
without the use of villians as a story device. I find that plot line
rather tired and boring anyway. It's an overused device. Anyway they do
watch and love a number of Disney films, which use the villian story device
almost exclusively. I don't think that they need to see evil characters or
violent story lines in their every day entertainment. Once in a while in
their Disney movies is more than enough for me. I find that boys have a
natural tendancy towards more agressive behavior and if I want them to
learn to express themselves in other ways I want their regular
entertainment to be non-agressive in nature. It seems to be working so
far, as I have two polite, affectionate little boys who do not regularly
"play fight," choose weapons as playthings, or know what a G-U-N is.

Nanci K. in Idaho