homeopath02 <[email protected]>

Dear people,

I am Caroline and new on this list. I am a woman from Holland and
with my family, I am in the process of immigrating to Canada. We have
three children, age 2, 7 and 9. In Holland we are not allowed to
homeschool or unschool (can you believe that in a democratic, free
country...sigh...), to my big frustration! Of course my youngest one
is not going to school yet, but the other two are, and I find the
effects disastrous. My 7 year old son is very clever, he reads and
does things that are way above his level, but since he goes to school
he has lost most of his interest in learning - he hates it. He says
at school they have to do exercise after exercise of things he
already knows and it is BORING. Of course it is. He wants to know
about Robin Hood and learn how to do archery and that kind of stuff.
My hands itch to dive into it with him, but when he comes home from
school he is simply to tired to do anything but hang around.
My oldest daughter (9) is a very creative girl, very expressive, but
in school they pay attention almost only to the cognitive side of
things, which is not her strong side. What I see now, is that she is
completely forgetting who she really is. Doesn't paint, draw, sing
anymore. IS very fake and tells me frankly she is not happy and
doesn't even know why.
So, you can guess, one of the first things I want to do when we are
in Canada is unschool my children. Now I have heard that the first
time of unschooling, after they have gone to school already, is very
tough, because they don't know how to inspire themselves anymore, and
they don't know what their interest really is. I am not looking
forward to that period, but I definitely will deal with it, because I
want the true spirit of my children back. Does any of you have any
experience with this?
I have another question as well. My oldest daughter is at this point
(as a reaction to her unhappiness in school I think) quite dominant
in her presence, she wants a lot of attention and talks alot, laughs
quite foolishly about everything, is angry and so on. My youngest
daughter of two of course copies everything, and also her behaviour.
When my oldest is in school she plays totally different, is singing
and in fantasygames - has a break, so to say, from her sister. One of
the things that i think will be difficult for me in homeschooling is
her continuous presence, and the young one copying everything,
including all the things that are fake and unreal. I understand that
it is very possible that my oldest's behaviour will change over time
when she is not going to school anymore, but before that she is
definitely having some negative effect on her brother and sister. Do
any of you recognize this and if yes, how do you deal with it?
I hope you can give me an answer on this, I'd love to hear your
experience!
THank you very much,
kind regards,
Caroline van Daal

Debi Watson

Where in Canada? There are local lists to give you specific information on
each province, and a few across-Canada ones as well. One of the members
here, Tia, knows way more than I do, but you can email me privately
debiwatson@... if you like. Debi, in Alberta
>> I am in the process of immigrating to Canada.(snip) one of the first
things I want to do when we are
> in Canada is unschool my children.

Tia Leschke

> I am Caroline and new on this list. I am a woman from Holland and
> with my family, I am in the process of immigrating to Canada.

Welcome to Canada in advance. I live on Vancouver Island. Do you know
where you will be living?

> So, you can guess, one of the first things I want to do when we are
> in Canada is unschool my children. Now I have heard that the first
> time of unschooling, after they have gone to school already, is very
> tough, because they don't know how to inspire themselves anymore, and
> they don't know what their interest really is. I am not looking
> forward to that period, but I definitely will deal with it, because I
> want the true spirit of my children back. Does any of you have any
> experience with this?

I've heard people suggest that you act as if it's a summer holiday. What
kinds of things would you and they do if you were on holiday?

> I have another question as well. My oldest daughter is at this point
> (as a reaction to her unhappiness in school I think) quite dominant
> in her presence, she wants a lot of attention and talks alot, laughs
> quite foolishly about everything, is angry and so on. My youngest
> daughter of two of course copies everything, and also her behaviour.
> When my oldest is in school she plays totally different, is singing
> and in fantasygames - has a break, so to say, from her sister.

You'll want to get involved with a local homeschooling group as soon as
possible after you arrive. www.flora.org/homeschool-ca/ is a good place to
start looking for support groups. Hopefully your older kids will take part
in some homeschooling activities and make some friends. Then they're likely
to spend at least some time with their friends or at activities, and those
are times you'll have to do things with the youngest. You might want to
join the Canadian homeschooling list, hs-ca to get a feel for Canadian
homeschoolers. There are lots of unschoolers and even more "almost"
unschoolers on that list. Send a blank message to
[email protected]
If you have more Canadian questions, feel free to ask. I think I'm not the
only Canuck on this list.
Tia

ed hodgins

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tia Leschke" <leschke@...>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, February 03, 2003 3:34 PM
Subject: Re: [Unschooling-dotcom] hello from holland


> > I am Caroline and new on this list. I am a woman from Holland and
> > with my family, I am in the process of immigrating to Canada.
>
> Welcome to Canada in advance. I live on Vancouver Island. Do you know
> where you will be living?
>
> > So, you can guess, one of the first things I want to do when we are
> > in Canada is unschool my children. Now I have heard that the first
> > time of unschooling, after they have gone to school already, is very
> > tough, because they don't know how to inspire themselves anymore, and
> > they don't know what their interest really is. I am not looking
> > forward to that period, but I definitely will deal with it, because I
> > want the true spirit of my children back. Does any of you have any
> > experience with this?
>
> I've heard people suggest that you act as if it's a summer holiday. What
> kinds of things would you and they do if you were on holiday?
>
> > I have another question as well. My oldest daughter is at this point
> > (as a reaction to her unhappiness in school I think) quite dominant
> > in her presence, she wants a lot of attention and talks alot, laughs
> > quite foolishly about everything, is angry and so on. My youngest
> > daughter of two of course copies everything, and also her behaviour.
> > When my oldest is in school she plays totally different, is singing
> > and in fantasygames - has a break, so to say, from her sister.
>
> You'll want to get involved with a local homeschooling group as soon as
> possible after you arrive. www.flora.org/homeschool-ca/ is a good place
to
> start looking for support groups. Hopefully your older kids will take
part
> in some homeschooling activities and make some friends. Then they're
likely
> to spend at least some time with their friends or at activities, and those
> are times you'll have to do things with the youngest. You might want to
> join the Canadian homeschooling list, hs-ca to get a feel for Canadian
> homeschoolers. There are lots of unschoolers and even more "almost"
> unschoolers on that list. Send a blank message to
> [email protected]
> If you have more Canadian questions, feel free to ask. I think I'm not
the
> only Canuck on this list.
> Tia
>
>
> ~~~~ Don't forget! If you change topics, change the subject line! ~~~~
>
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the moderator, Joyce Fetteroll (fetteroll@...), or the list owner,
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>
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>
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>
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>
>
> I was raised in Burnaby from age 2-13. Then Kelowna
14-17 and wich time I moved here to Ontario. Canucks Ive enjoyed but what
about those Leafs???? Can you please let me know of some more Canadian
Sites.

[email protected]

Caroline,

Coincidentally, I just recently stumbled across another family who emigrated
from Holland for educational freedom (to the U.S.) You might find
corresponding with the mom to be helpful to you in anticipating challenges
and delights you may face in the move to a foreign culture at the same time
you are leaving the culture of schools.
You'll find Nanda and her family at:

http://www.alternative-learning.org/ale/us-series.html

Folks here on this list are known to say that deciding to unschool isn't like
moving to Mars, but moving across the globe is a pretty big step,
nonetheless. :-)

Deborah in IL
Unschooling.com Online News editor

Tia Leschke

> > I was raised in Burnaby from age 2-13. Then Kelowna
> 14-17 and wich time I moved here to Ontario. Canucks Ive enjoyed but what
> about those Leafs???? Can you please let me know of some more Canadian
> Sites.

Offhand, I can't think of any, but I know there are a bunch linked from the
flora site I gave.
Tia

[email protected]

In a message dated 2/3/03 10:50:36 PM, dacunefare@... writes:

<< Folks here on this list are known to say that deciding to unschool isn't
like
moving to Mars, but moving across the globe is a pretty big step,
nonetheless. :-) >>

Hey, I said that. But I meant if you stay in your own HOUSE. <g>
I don't think moving to Canada would be like moving to Mars anyway. They
speak English. <g>

Sandra

Tia Leschke

>
> Hey, I said that. But I meant if you stay in your own HOUSE. <g>
> I don't think moving to Canada would be like moving to Mars anyway. They
> speak English. <g>

In most of Canada, anyway. We *do* have two official languages though.
Tia

Andrea

Hi Caroline, where are you going to live in Canada? I am in Nova Scotia.

It is easy to unschool in Nova Scotia. You submit a plan for the year in
September and a review for the year in June. Use some "educationese" and
the unschooling can sound very cirriculum-like.

There are quite a few Dutch immigrants here, too, most of whom came over
shortly after WWII. My sister is married to a Van de Reep whose family
came from Haarlem.

Donna Andrea in Dartmouth

Angela

Just wanted to share that we just read the first two books in the series "A
Series of Unfortunate Events" by Lemony Snicket and they are really funny.
THe kids love them. (kids are 6 and 8) The first one is called "A Bad
Beginning" and the second is "The Reptile Room". I think there are 9 books
in the series. We can't wait to get more.



Angela in Maine
mailto:unschooling@...
My Unschooling Page
http://userpages.prexar.com/rickshaw/

"What you are shouts so loudly in my ears I cannot hear what you say."
Emerson






[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Angela

Karin,
?? Who is Beatrice??

Angela in Maine-unschooling@...
http://userpages.prexar.com/rickshaw/

"What you are shouts so loudly in my ears I cannot hear what you say."
Emerson


Karin wrote:
And just WHO is Beatrice, anyway? ;-)



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Angela

What a riot!! I hadn't read the dedication. In the second book it says
"For Beatrice- My love for you shall live forever. You however, did not."
LOL I figured it had to be a pen name. Who the hell would name their kid
Lemony Snicket? And a boy at that. I thought it was a girl, at first.
Thanks for the link. Off to check it out.



Angela in Maine-unschooling@...
http://userpages.prexar.com/rickshaw/

"What you are shouts so loudly in my ears I cannot hear what you say."
Emerson


-----Original Message



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Angela

The web site Karin gave said there is going to be 13, but right now they
only listed the 9 in the series and the autobiography. Mr. Snicket is
really clever with his use of words. At first when he explained what a word
meant, it drove me nuts, now I get the humor and think it is funny.



Angela in Maine-unschooling@...
http://userpages.prexar.com/rickshaw/

"What you are shouts so loudly in my ears I cannot hear what you say."
Emerson



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Shyrley

Angela wrote:

> Just wanted to share that we just read the first two books in the series "A
> Series of Unfortunate Events" by Lemony Snicket and they are really funny.
> THe kids love them. (kids are 6 and 8) The first one is called "A Bad
> Beginning" and the second is "The Reptile Room". I think there are 9 books
> in the series. We can't wait to get more.
>
>
>

They are brilliant aren't they. My 3 (10, 9 and 7) have read the first 9. Someone toldf me that there's 12 now!

Shyrley

squidgybumemma <[email protected]>

My kids (12 &13) have read all nine books. The first six we read out
loud together. Some of the stuff is a bit "warped" but very well
written. We originally got them out from the library but they were so
well liked, my daughter bought them herself. Actually she bought hers
in England(where we moved from nearly 6 years ago) where only the
first seven are available at this time so she has to wait for the
remaining two to be published. The covers are better(that's our
opinion) so she's happy to wait.

Great reading & funny.

See ya

Liz
>
> "Angela" <unschooling@p...> wrote:
>
> > Just wanted to share that we just read the first two books in the
series
> "A
> > Series of Unfortunate Events" by Lemony Snicket and they are
really funny.
> > THe kids love them. (kids are 6 and 8) The first one is
called "A Bad
> > Beginning" and the second is "The Reptile Room". I think there
are 9
> books
> > in the series. We can't wait to get more.
>
>

[email protected]

Anna LOVES them.. has them all.. I havent read them but she tells me all
about the childrens unfortunate events..

Teresa


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Karin

"Angela" <unschooling@...> wrote:

> Just wanted to share that we just read the first two books in the series
"A
> Series of Unfortunate Events" by Lemony Snicket and they are really funny.
> THe kids love them. (kids are 6 and 8) The first one is called "A Bad
> Beginning" and the second is "The Reptile Room". I think there are 9
books
> in the series. We can't wait to get more.


Oooh! We love those books!
We have listened to them all on tape. Most are narrated by Tim Curry -
FABULOUS narrator!
Oh he is so good with his coughing spells that Mr. Poe has and his general
deep and throaty voice.
Some are narrated by Lemony Snicket himself - also very good.
And just WHO is Beatrice, anyway? ;-)

Some people don't get into them, though, because of the dark and depressing
nature of the books.
But my boys and I enjoy them!

I have heard rumors of a movie in the works for Series of Unfortunate Events
with Jim Carey as Count Olaf.
Now that would be good!

Karin
mom to Ben (11) and Jonny (10)

Karin

> Karin,
> ?? Who is Beatrice??
>
> Angela in Maine-unschooling@...



Beatrice is who all (I think?) of the books are dedicated to at the
beginning of the books.
I have the first one right here. It says:

To Beatrice -
darling, dearest, dead.

He also mentions Beatrice from time to time in the books.

I have a book called "Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Biography" which is
pretty funny.
You see, Lemony Snicket is a very secretive guy, and one will RARELY ever
get a glimpse of him.
In the whole book that I have, he is always turned away or somehow obscured
from the view of the camera.
I think I remember reading somewhere that Lemony Snicket is the pen name for
the guy who really writes the books.
Wait - I'll see if I can google it real quick.
Yeah - the authors real name is Daniel Handler.
Here's a fun website: http://www.lemonysnicket.com/

Karin

Karin

>At first when he explained what a word
> meant, it drove me nuts, now I get the humor and think it is funny.


I know exactly what you mean!
I love the very different and dry sense of humor that comes through in all
the books.
It's very refreshing to read the way he writes those books - I think he's an
"out of the box" thinker. <g>

Karin

Olif VanPelt

Our library has several of these on tape, and we are enjoying them too! They are a great way to pass car time.Get more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.com


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Fetteroll

on 2/4/03 10:06 PM, Karin at curtkar@... wrote:

> I have heard rumors of a movie in the works for Series of Unfortunate Events
> with Jim Carey as Count Olaf.
> Now that would be good!

He gives me the creeps. (But maybe that's what's needed for the character!)

To also to a lesser extent Bill Murray, the Austin Powers guy (or at least
that character) and Tim Allen. It's funny because I'll enjoy movies they're
in and then thinking back get an uncomfortable feeling about having enjoyed
it. (Though that's not true of Groundhog's Day and The Santa Clause. And I
adore Galaxy Quest! :-)

I think I get this feeling of insincerity. Even if the endings show a turn
around for the character, the whole rest of the movie is all about scamming
people into believing they're sincere and that unconsiously overwhelms the
ending in my memories of the movie.

Joyce