[email protected]

-=-You know, I think you took what I said all wrong. I don't believe in

whatever. We can never really have all the knowledge we need. We

learn new things everyday. Maybe this list isn't for me then, if I

can't express my opinion and thoughts. I thought it was very well

written. -=-

Tammy, you could be right about me taking it wrong. I'm sorry. I saw yours
and responded before i saw the original question. Everyone learns new
things every day, but they don't need to be TAUGHT new things in most cases.
Too much teaching can cause people to expect and to need more teaching.

So I think this is what you responded to:


-=- Do we choose unschooling

because of our learning style or our child's learning style or

because it's "right"? If you had a child who loves to read and do

workbooks, would you school at home instead?-=-

If not, please feel free to clarify. You hadn't quoted anything before you
"shared," and looking back I see that the whole post was appended at the
bottom. I didn't read past your signature and for a new member to the group,
what you wrote seemed not to show much regard to unschooling as an ideal.

I'm sorry if I misunderstood.

Sandra

Jana

any artists who work at home in a studio while they unschool their kids?

i have some challenges right now related to discovering how to pursue
my art. sorry, this post is just about myself and my deschooling and
is not related directly to my daughter's learning except in how it
will help me get out of the way of her learning. i just sent a post
to the list about how i found it so hard to read for pleasure after
attending university English literature classes. well, i have a
similar thing going on with learning art.

i want to do art for a career; i was lucky to meet a mentor who really
turned me on to my ability to express myself in painting-- this is
when i was 16. he showed me to own my own learning process and not
jump through other peoples' hoops-- i think this is where i first
discovered the spirit of unschooling, though i didn't call it that at
the time, and it didn't spill over into other areas of my life until
later.

i knew at that age that there was no chance in hell i would ever
attend an institution to study art. i saw art schools as highly
competitive, arbitrary, and insular. i cared so much about it because
i cared so much about what it meant for me to paint. anyway, i am
left in the position now of never having attended an art institution
but being at the point where i need the skills, community, and backing
that getting a degree provides. at least, i think i do. i would like
to be able to attend school to learn what i need to learn, but i don't
want to get "swallowed up" by the idiocy of it. so i am just
wondering if anyone has any experience related to this? is there a
way to build artistic community and learn specific skills and
techniques without university?

i have taken an art class when my daughter was old enough to be okay
with me leaving, and i hated it and loved it at the same time. i find
myself coming home from university and writing reams of discourse in
my journals about all the things i would change if i ruled the world.
<g> there is another part of me who feels all i need to do is learn
how to do art for the pleasure of it and the meaning of it and that's
all, but then i see that i have probably spent the last 10 years
trying to do it on my own, and i don't see a lot of "results" (meaning
works produced) by this method. i also feel i am living way below my
potential. hope i made sense. thanks, jana