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In a message dated 11/6/99 12:14:27 PM Eastern Standard Time,
jhawthorne@... writes:

<< I think you have touched on some of the core issues Laura. A simpler,
relaxed,
full of interests life is what it is about. The interests however need to
spring
from the heart and not just be imposed interests from someone else. I am
inspired by your account. I know I have let many past interests atrophy to a
certain extent mostly because of having to do the money earning thing for my
family. Salaried employment occupies so much time. It has its own interests
so I
am not horrendously bored by my work but I want more time. Reflective time.

My daughters really love to go for neighborhood walks. They would always go
longer and farther than me because I am usually tired. I never want to do
it as
much as they do and yet the walks we have had are usually very pleasant.

There is a lesson here for me. >>

I was also thinking of the things you and John were discussing earlier
this week, exposing kids to many things versus letting them find their own
way. I am a proponent of both. I would not describe what I do as flooding my
kids and I would guess that John did not intend what he said to mean throwing
a thousand and one things at them at once.
What I have always tried to do with all my boys is to show them that the
world is a very big place and there are all kinds of options out there. This
came from my having been raised with a very limited view of possibilities. It
has taken me many years to even begin to discover my abilities. Granted we
are all capable of much more than we'll ever use but it sure is nice to have
a choice.
We travel as much as time and finances permit. We have been all over Ohio
since this is where we live. I take them to libraries,plays,musicals,craft
shows, pioneer reenactments, etc. I started reading out loud to them again
last year after having let it go for a couple of years. I read all kinds of
books and if after a bit they tell me they can't get interested I quit and
find another.
In the eclectic collection of books I hope to read are books from every
era and country. ( well, probably not every, you get the point) What we will
all learn by reading these will broaden our outlook considerably.
The exciting part of all of this is the realization that this wonderful
journey can be shared. I never dreamed how much I would benefit by having my
kids home. I knew I liked them and would like to be with them more before
they grew up.
I have rediscovered what a big exciting world is out there. Not the one
on TV, the one that lives in our dreams and imagination and doesn't cost us a
fortune to use.
I remember how much I loved to stay at my grandmother's house as a child.
My grandparents did not live on a lovely farm somewhere either. They lived
right in the North end of Columbus in an area I wouldn't walk anywhere in
today. However my grandmother possessed an incredible imagination. She would
let me make cookies and put in every food color to see what would happen.
Ugh! She let me write on her organ keys so I could learn to play and she
listened to me bang away in a four room house for hours. She taught me to
crochet and embroider. She took me down town on a bus and let me wear bright
red lipstick. Yet she never drove a car or wrote a check.
She never had any fancy clothes, nothing in her house matched but the
memories She gave me are as vivid today as they were 30 yrs. ago.
This is what I hope to impart to my children and grandchildren. I want
their memories of me to be as sweet as mine of my grandmother are. Funny I
can't remember anything my grandma bought me, though she did buy for me at
times. What stands out is all that she gave of herself. Now I have to go cry.
Bye.
Sorry this was so long, I got carried away.

Laura

Joel Hawthorne

I cried too... and as for Ohio ...when I was 19 I hitchhiked by Zanesville on a
July evening and saw thousands of fireflies which I had never seen before. It was
beautiful.

Bonknit@... wrote:

>
>
> I was also thinking of the things you and John were discussing earlier
> this week, exposing kids to many things versus letting them find their own
> way. I am a proponent of both. I would not describe what I do as flooding my
> kids and I would guess that John did not intend what he said to mean throwing
> a thousand and one things at them at once.
> What I have always tried to do with all my boys is to show them that the
> world is a very big place and there are all kinds of options out there. This
> came from my having been raised with a very limited view of possibilities. It
> has taken me many years to even begin to discover my abilities. Granted we
> are all capable of much more than we'll ever use but it sure is nice to have
> a choice.
> We travel as much as time and finances permit. We have been all over Ohio
> since this is where we live. I take them to libraries,plays,musicals,craft
> shows, pioneer reenactments, etc. I started reading out loud to them again
> last year after having let it go for a couple of years. I read all kinds of
> books and if after a bit they tell me they can't get interested I quit and
> find another.
> In the eclectic collection of books I hope to read are books from every
> era and country. ( well, probably not every, you get the point) What we will
> all learn by reading these will broaden our outlook considerably.
> The exciting part of all of this is the realization that this wonderful
> journey can be shared. I never dreamed how much I would benefit by having my
> kids home. I knew I liked them and would like to be with them more before
> they grew up.
> I have rediscovered what a big exciting world is out there. Not the one
> on TV, the one that lives in our dreams and imagination and doesn't cost us a
> fortune to use.
> I remember how much I loved to stay at my grandmother's house as a child.
> My grandparents did not live on a lovely farm somewhere either. They lived
> right in the North end of Columbus in an area I wouldn't walk anywhere in
> today. However my grandmother possessed an incredible imagination. She would
> let me make cookies and put in every food color to see what would happen.
> Ugh! She let me write on her organ keys so I could learn to play and she
> listened to me bang away in a four room house for hours. She taught me to
> crochet and embroider. She took me down town on a bus and let me wear bright
> red lipstick. Yet she never drove a car or wrote a check.
> She never had any fancy clothes, nothing in her house matched but the
> memories She gave me are as vivid today as they were 30 yrs. ago.
> This is what I hope to impart to my children and grandchildren. I want
> their memories of me to be as sweet as mine of my grandmother are. Funny I
> can't remember anything my grandma bought me, though she did buy for me at
> times. What stands out is all that she gave of herself. Now I have to go cry.
> Bye.
> Sorry this was so long, I got carried away.
>
> Laura
>
> > Check it out!
> http://www.unschooling.com

--
best wishes
Joel

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