Re: Schedules and classes...
[email protected]
In a message dated 5/28/2003 1:49:49 PM Eastern Standard Time,
[email protected] writes:
Julian likes some structure. He has decided to set times for himself several
days a week that he calls "study halls," in which he does some sort of
academic-y thing -- reads some history or literature, sometimes does some math on a
cd-rom. He decides what to do and how long. Recently he added practicing his
guitar every day.
This was not my idea; it was his, and he's very happy with it. He also
occasionally takes classes or does programs locally, like through MIT, and he has
guitar lessons. So there's a bit of structure. But he does it because for his
own reasons (he felt that it was too easy JUST to play computer games or JUST
read certain kinds of books without doing the other stuff he liked more
intentionally.) and his own way. My role, at his request, is to put his "study hall"
times in my calendar and remind him if he forgets.
Structure isn't a bad thing...many people find it really useful, and my Virgo
child is one of them. The difference is that it's his own.
Kathryn
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[email protected] writes:
> Okay, so...does scheduling classes mean you're not unschooling? IsI think the difference is whether the structure is desired by the individual.
> one definition of unschooling "Zero Structure"?
>
> Gotta have structure, IMO. NOt etched in stone, strictly followed,
> hour to hour scheduling. THAT doesn't work for anyone. But, you know,
> structure. Like, a load of laundry a day and shine your sink every
> day. Or, run the vacuum twice a week. Or maybe a daily goal of
> writing 1,000 words, if one has a longer term goal of being a writer.
> etc.
>
> Is THAT averse to the principles of unschooling?
>
> Oh! another idea that came to mind for my way of doing this. MIght
> not call it unschooling. Might call it Natural Learning or Learner
> Led Education. and, when asked, might just say "Oh, we don't follow a
> set curriculum. We learn about the things that interest us."
>
> howzat sound?
>
>
Julian likes some structure. He has decided to set times for himself several
days a week that he calls "study halls," in which he does some sort of
academic-y thing -- reads some history or literature, sometimes does some math on a
cd-rom. He decides what to do and how long. Recently he added practicing his
guitar every day.
This was not my idea; it was his, and he's very happy with it. He also
occasionally takes classes or does programs locally, like through MIT, and he has
guitar lessons. So there's a bit of structure. But he does it because for his
own reasons (he felt that it was too easy JUST to play computer games or JUST
read certain kinds of books without doing the other stuff he liked more
intentionally.) and his own way. My role, at his request, is to put his "study hall"
times in my calendar and remind him if he forgets.
Structure isn't a bad thing...many people find it really useful, and my Virgo
child is one of them. The difference is that it's his own.
Kathryn
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[email protected]
In a message dated 5/28/2003 6:35:59 PM Eastern Standard Time,
[email protected] writes:
Center, and they arrange all kinds of opportunities in the community-- museum
classes, walks with llamas, visits to a raptor rehab center, etc., etc.... You
join up, then you get access to all this cool stuff. When the new lists come
out every two months, Juls and I sit down and look at things he's interested in,
and we sign up.
I see my "job" in this as a resource person. I know things Julian is
interested in, AND I know HIM really well, so I know when I see stuff that he MIGHT be
interested in it, even if he never thought about it before. So, I ask.
Sometimes if he says no at first, and I REALLY am sure, I tell him a bit more, and
he trusts me, even if he's not sure. On those times, I have NEVER been wrong,
and they've become real passions for him. But we both know it comes from my
paying LOTS of attention to him and knowing him really well.
I think my role in unschooling for him is that I already know more about the
world, and I can share that. I have resources he doesn't. But I share. Come to
think of it, there are lots of ways in which his passions have also become
passions of mine.
Kathryn
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[email protected] writes:
> I stumbled upon the Junior Police Academy here, while on a website lookingAround here we have this great resource....it's called The Family Resource
> for something altogether unrelated. I KNEW Marty would be interested.
> Should I
> have waited to see if he would stumble across it too? That would be cruel.
>
>
> He's already signed up and has been to the orientation and fitted for his
> uniform. It's all paid for by the Police Athletic League. It lasts a week
> and
> he's really excited about it.
>
> Two different friends of mine sent me information on a Weird Al concert
> scheduled here for August. I might eventually have discovered that on my
> own, but
> they WANT me to go and they want us all to sit together. So they told me
> because they knew and they knew I would want to know.
>
> I'm treating my kids the way I treat my friends. Unschooling is not some
> sort of test on which they can't cheat, and getting help from adults would
> be
> cheating.
>
> I've never signed them up for classes they didn't want to take, but letting
> them know what's available doesn't violate any unschooling principles, for
> me.
> Holly was in my office the other night and said "what's this?" about the UNM
>
> Continuing Education catalog. I picked it up and flipped through, reading
> what kinds of classes they have, and explained that they're mostly one-day
> or
> short-term things, not for college credit, just for fun.
>
> I wasn't trying to press her to enroll. I was just answering her question
> and giving her six or eight examples to give her the range.
>
Center, and they arrange all kinds of opportunities in the community-- museum
classes, walks with llamas, visits to a raptor rehab center, etc., etc.... You
join up, then you get access to all this cool stuff. When the new lists come
out every two months, Juls and I sit down and look at things he's interested in,
and we sign up.
I see my "job" in this as a resource person. I know things Julian is
interested in, AND I know HIM really well, so I know when I see stuff that he MIGHT be
interested in it, even if he never thought about it before. So, I ask.
Sometimes if he says no at first, and I REALLY am sure, I tell him a bit more, and
he trusts me, even if he's not sure. On those times, I have NEVER been wrong,
and they've become real passions for him. But we both know it comes from my
paying LOTS of attention to him and knowing him really well.
I think my role in unschooling for him is that I already know more about the
world, and I can share that. I have resources he doesn't. But I share. Come to
think of it, there are lots of ways in which his passions have also become
passions of mine.
Kathryn
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]