Tia Leschke

>Can you tell me what you did
> today?

My 15 year old son got up around 10, cleaned his room, and took the bus to
town with his bike. There, I assume he'll go "urbing", which is finding
places to jump his bike up onto and ride or going over jumps or whatever he
can find.
>
> Can you tell me your definition of unschooling? Do you use any workbook
at
> all or is that what unschooling is all about?

If the child chooses the workbook while having lots of other choices, yes.
>
> Right now my oldest just wants to read his Garfield comic books or watch
TV
> or listen to the radio or play on the computer or go sledding. ANYTHING,
> but "school".

So get rid of "school".

So I thought, well maybe he's stressed by the workbooks, so we
> cut some out of our day. No change in him.

Of course not, if you only cut out *some* of the workbooks. That's not
unschooling. Until you get rid of "school" and let him get over it, he'll
still be doing whatever he can to avoid "school".

Pretend it's summer vacation. What would you and your kids be doing? Go do
those things. Watch what catches their interest, and find ways to give them
access to more of whatever it is, even or even especially if it's TV, games,
or comics. Help them find the connections between their current interests
and the rest of the universe. Pay attention to what floats past you in your
life and send some of it their way. They'll find their interests and
passions, but it rarely ends up looking like school. I spent about the
first nine years of what I thought was unschooling watching for behavior
that looked like school. I rarely found it and became quite frustrated. It
wasn't until finding this list and paying attention to what the most
experienced people were saying that I stopped looking for school. I know
that's hurt my son, and now I'm trying to make up for it by "really"
unschooling. <g> Hopefully you'll see the light earlier than I did.

Sometimes I think he's just
> taking this being home thing for granted and needs a dose of what it could
> be like!

Like a dose of school? You *want* him to take being home for granted, as in
"this is how we live". Get rid of the school stuff and just live your
lives. You'll all be happier, and your kids will end up with exactly the
right education for each of them.
Tia