Julie Bogart <[email protected]>

Hi all.

One thing that has beneficial to me as a homeschooling mom
who is transitioning to unschooling (since we didn't start out that
way) is to keep a little log of what my kids do during the day. I
have a special calendar just for this purpose and I just jot down
"Casablanca" or X-Box Halo or Discovery Channel Temple of
Artemis. I was one of those who was worried that "all my kids
would do all day is watch TV and play X-box left to themselves."
What's been so wonderful about my little, informal log is that it is
physical proof *to myself* that my kids are doing far more than
TV and X box. It also is a way for me to track the
interconnectedness of their learning which is uncluding TV and
X-box. :)

For example, my kids love to watch Jackie Chan cartoon on
Saturday mornings. Last week we were reading In the Year of
the Boar and Jackie Robinson aloud. Both of these have tie ins
to China which led us to reading more about China. We went on
a binge of figuring out our Chinese birth year names. (Mine is the
Year of the White Cow...) Then we went from that to the
constellations and various ways that other cultures count years
and keep calendars (solar, lunar or solar/lunar).

Then the kids got interested in the Silk Road which ends or
begins in China (they liked the book we found at the library
because it's introduced by Yo Yo Ma, someone they respect and
love from having heard of him originally on Arthur, the PBS
cartoon... do you see where this is going yet?). Anyway, we were
reading along about China and the Silk Route and the kids
wanted to read about cultural celebrations in China.

So we took out another book on celebrations and in it, it circled
back to the Chinese zodiac. It wasn't until this book that I realized
that the Chinese zodiac is actually a 12 year cycle, not 12
months. My 8 yo boy suddenly blurts out: I know the characters of
the Chinese zodiac and all their powers! I was shocked. "How do
you know that Liam?" They're on Jackie Chan! Then he
proceeded to look at the pictures and tell me all the names and
each of their personalities. Full circle.

This interweaving of pop culture, TV, and cartoons with history,
religion, holidays, geography... well it literally floored me. And I'm
pretty sure that if I hadn't been keeping that log, I would have
forgotten some of the connections. For me, the log gives me a
sense of ownership and also reassurance during the transition.
I also think it will be easier for me at the end of the year to pull
together the stuff we've done into come kind of coherent picture
for the year end assessment (Ohio requires this or testing).

Anyway, just wanted to share another part of my process,
especially since so manyare trying to make the transiton from
one way of learning to this newer, more insecure world of
unschooling. :)

Julie

Kelli Traaseth

"Julie Bogart <julie@...>" <julie@...> wrote:
**begins in China (they liked the book we found at the library
because it's introduced by Yo Yo Ma, someone they respect and **



We watched Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon the other day, we ended up doing the same learning circle and I was so excited to see that Yo-Yo played music for it!



Love that movie!



Kelli







Hi all.

One thing that has beneficial to me as a homeschooling mom
who is transitioning to unschooling (since we didn't start out that
way) is to keep a little log of what my kids do during the day. I
have a special calendar just for this purpose and I just jot down
"Casablanca" or X-Box Halo or Discovery Channel Temple of
Artemis. I was one of those who was worried that "all my kids
would do all day is watch TV and play X-box left to themselves."
What's been so wonderful about my little, informal log is that it is
physical proof *to myself* that my kids are doing far more than
TV and X box. It also is a way for me to track the
interconnectedness of their learning which is uncluding TV and
X-box. :)

For example, my kids love to watch Jackie Chan cartoon on
Saturday mornings. Last week we were reading In the Year of
the Boar and Jackie Robinson aloud. Both of these have tie ins
to China which led us to reading more about China. We went on
a binge of figuring out our Chinese birth year names. (Mine is the
Year of the White Cow...) Then we went from that to the
constellations and various ways that other cultures count years
and keep calendars (solar, lunar or solar/lunar).

Then the kids got interested in the Silk Road which ends or
begins in China (they liked the book we found at the library
because it's introduced by Yo Yo Ma, someone they respect and
love from having heard of him originally on Arthur, the PBS
cartoon... do you see where this is going yet?). Anyway, we were
reading along about China and the Silk Route and the kids
wanted to read about cultural celebrations in China.

So we took out another book on celebrations and in it, it circled
back to the Chinese zodiac. It wasn't until this book that I realized
that the Chinese zodiac is actually a 12 year cycle, not 12
months. My 8 yo boy suddenly blurts out: I know the characters of
the Chinese zodiac and all their powers! I was shocked. "How do
you know that Liam?" They're on Jackie Chan! Then he
proceeded to look at the pictures and tell me all the names and
each of their personalities. Full circle.

This interweaving of pop culture, TV, and cartoons with history,
religion, holidays, geography... well it literally floored me. And I'm
pretty sure that if I hadn't been keeping that log, I would have
forgotten some of the connections. For me, the log gives me a
sense of ownership and also reassurance during the transition.
I also think it will be easier for me at the end of the year to pull
together the stuff we've done into come kind of coherent picture
for the year end assessment (Ohio requires this or testing).

Anyway, just wanted to share another part of my process,
especially since so manyare trying to make the transiton from
one way of learning to this newer, more insecure world of
unschooling. :)

Julie


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[email protected]

Hey Julie.. just wanted to say, nice to see you back here. I thought you had
left!!

I think the journal thing is a good idea if folks are worried about thier
kids"getting what they need" I know a journal like that would go a long
way in helping me during the interrogations I get from family and friends
about what my kids are doing.. LOL.. For me, I know my kids get "what they
need" as far as what they learn. If they "need" to know something.. how
to do something, how something works.. they ask me and I will help them
figure it out.

Unschooling, the 'academic" part is a non issue for me. I get it.. I do it.
I understand it. Thats the easiet part to me in this lifestyle. Its all
the other parenting issues that are more difficult to implement. And some
of those are non issues as well. Foods, TV, games, .. not an issue.. not a
problem with no restrictions, no limitation( probably becasue I never limited
them in the first place). I want to be the same way with bedtimes and
video game stuff, but there have been ( and continue to be) some challanges
there.

Teresa


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

Julie Bogart <[email protected]>

--- In [email protected], grlynbl@a...
wrote:
> Hey Julie.. just wanted to say, nice to see you back here. I
thought you had
> left!!

Thanks. Nice to be back.

>
> Unschooling, the 'academic" part is a non issue for me. I get
it.. I do it.
> I understand it. Thats the easiet part to me in this lifestyle. Its
all
> the other parenting issues that are more difficult to implement.
And some
> of those are non issues as well. Foods, TV, games, .. not an
issue.. not a
> problem with no restrictions, no limitation( probably becasue I
never limited
> them in the first place).

Teresa, perhaps a log would be helpful here? I know when I see
things in big global issues I tend not to notice incremental
changes. But if you were able to see gradual progress toward
your ideals rather than trying to "cure" them over night with the
ideology, perhaps you'd be encouraged.

For me, academics wasn't the issue so much as lack of
regulation for what I saw as "extras." So that's why it felt
important for me to simply be aware of how all these parts fit
together.

I want to be the same way with bedtimes and
> video game stuff, but there have been ( and continue to be)
some challanges
> there.

Well, if your log showed that out of two weeks, one night your
kids all got ready and went to bed without any inducements from
you and treated your dh with respect while he slept... and then in
the next ten days did that twice, you might feel there was less of
a problem than when viewed globally—all together. Or perhaps
you could sort of keep track of what worked: snuggling son #1 to
sleep works better than it works for son #2...

Anyway, I don't have a cure but thought I'd throw it out for you to
consider.

Julie

[email protected]

In a message dated 2/15/03 11:14:15 AM, julie@... writes:

<< It wasn't until this book that I realized
that the Chinese zodiac is actually a 12 year cycle, not 12
months. My 8 yo boy suddenly blurts out: I know the characters of
the Chinese zodiac and all their powers! I was shocked. "How do
you know that Liam?" They're on Jackie Chan! Then he
proceeded to look at the pictures and tell me all the names and
each of their personalities. Full circle. >>

Julie, I love these stories, and I've saved yours! Thanks!

In the car the other night Holly was singing a song from a Simpsons CD. She
doesn't know the original. It's "When I was Seventeen."

The Homer Simpsons lyrics she was singing were

"When I was seventeen, I drank a very good beer
I drank a very good beer I purchased with a fake ID
My name was Brian McGee, I stayed up listening to King - QUEEN! (she
corrected herself)
When I was seventeen."

I will make it my (leisurely) task to find a copy of the original song,
someday, so she'll see how close the parody was! <g>

But she turned to me and said "What's Queen?"

So I told her it was a band from the 80's and she'd heard some of their
stuff, and I'd play her some later.

I found a cassette tape with "Queen's Greatest Hits" written in my
handwriting.

We worked a jigsaw puzzle while we listened. She's familiar with Bohemian
Rhapsody from Wayne's World and from Weird Al's version, the Bohemian Polka
(very same everything, but polka style with accordian, and fast dance tempo).

"We Are the Champions" came on and I said "Remember, they used that in The
Mighty Ducks?"

She said a bit later, "So they used TWO Queen songs in the Mighty Ducks?" I
had forgotten they used "We Will Rock You" too.

It came to one song there (I'm not remembering which one but will follow up
when I ID it) and she said "Hey, I've heard this but I thought it was the
Beatles, maybe, or Herman's Hermits."

Cool!!

And that from the Simpsons.

We also talked about "musicians' musicians," musicianship, different musical
styles, harmonies, and AIDS.

Sandra

Tia Leschke

>>Well, if your log showed that out of two weeks, one night your
kids all got ready and went to bed without any inducements from
you and treated your dh with respect while he slept... and then in
the next ten days did that twice, you might feel there was less of
a problem than when viewed globally-all together. Or perhaps
you could sort of keep track of what worked: snuggling son #1 to
sleep works better than it works for son #2...>>

It might also make it easier to see buildup and triggers early enough to
head them off. I know that focusing on the triggers and the buildup have
been very helpful to my daughter, who has one of those extreme kids.
Tia

[email protected]

In a message dated 2/15/03 2:24:13 PM Eastern Standard Time,
julie@... writes:

> Well, if your log showed that out of two weeks, one night your
> kids all got ready and went to bed without any inducements from
> you and treated your dh with respect while he slept... and then in
> the next ten days did that twice, you might feel there was less of
> a problem than when viewed globally—all together. Or perhaps
> you could sort of keep track of what worked: snuggling son #1 to
> sleep works better than it works for son #2...
>

Now that is a good idea.. More of a journal.. I like journaling.. YOu would
never guess it.. lol

Teresa


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