[email protected]

Okay y'all. Please help me out here. Okay... NO ONE is more surprised about
my "unschooling" than me! I had every intention of making my kids sit and
school at the appropriate age and everytime I would begin to go that way, my
heart cried out to me to not change a thing. So, I am not educated on what
unschooling is.... I just know that we do it. My main question is this. Do you
all just truly let your kids live out their days? Do you only participate when
it is a natural participation? Okay... like my boys wake up somewhere between
7-8 am. They watch TV until they feel like doing something else. Usually, I
go and exercise or something. Then they go out and play... come in... grab a
book to look up something that they saw or argued about while they were
outside (they usually look stuff up to settle things : ) They play... they try
to figure stuff out... they eat... sometimes they prepare their own food... my
6 yr old does laundry... dusts... vaccuums... he is a worker bee without being
asked. My 8 yr old is not very motivated. When the little one cleans, the
older one usually reads... like a Magic Tree House Bood or lately, Jackie Chan.
Of course we are interacting daily with the world as we are out and about.
I went through a "Saxon Math" phase for a short time, but it was SOOOO
unnatural for us. My little one LOVES workbooks... my older one does the math one I
have now without fuss... because I feel that I need to know that he is making
progress so that I can "prove" that he is making progress if asked to.
Okay... so, my question is this... Is unschooling just really letting the kids do
whatever comes naturally to them in a day? I mean, after all if I'm gonna do it
I might as well do it right, right? : ) ~Kris


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

zenmomma2kids

>>Okay... like my boys wake up somewhere between 7-8 am. They watch
TV until they feel like doing something else. Usually, I go and
exercise or something. Then they go out and play... come in... grab
a book to look up something that they saw or argued about while they
were outside (they usually look stuff up to settle things : ) They
play... they try to figure stuff out... they eat... sometimes they
prepare their own food... my 6 yr old does laundry... dusts...
vaccuums... he is a worker bee without being asked. My 8 yr old is
not very motivated. When the little one cleans, the older one
usually reads... like a Magic Tree House Bood or lately, Jackie Chan.
Of course we are interacting daily with the world as we are out and
about. >>

This sounds like a perfectly wonderful unschooling day to me. I'd
join in where it looks fun and if it's appreciated by the boys.

I kind of look at my job as a facilitator, mentor and maybe even
cruise director. I throw them ideas, bring home cool books and toys,
show them interesting websites, let them know if there's an eclipse,
help them sign up for classes they want to take..that kind of thing.

>>my older one does the math one I have now without fuss... because I
feel that I need to know that he is making progress so that I
can "prove" that he is making progress if asked to.>>

You're right that this is *your* need and not his. But if he's
enjoying the books, I'd just let him be. I wouldn't insist he do them
though.

>>Is unschooling just really letting the kids do whatever comes
naturally to them in a day? >>

Unschooling is the active participation in a life worth living.

Life is good.
~Mary

Mary

From: <Mattydill@...>

<<Is unschooling just really letting the kids do
whatever comes naturally to them in a day? I mean, after all if I'm gonna
do it
I might as well do it right, right? : ) >>



Yes that's it!!!! Live life every day and go in search of whatever interests
you if it isn't in your own back yard. As long as it's fun, then it's
unschooling.

Mary B

[email protected]

In a message dated 6/3/2003 12:04:17 PM Mountain Daylight Time,
Mattydill@... writes:

> Do you all just truly let your kids live out their days?
>
>

I want to say "yes," but the picture you have in your head might not be the
same as the one in mine.

Do you only participate when > it is a natural participation?

"Natural"'s a hard concept in this day and age, among people who are
discussing things electronically.

Example:

Today is Marty's second of five days at the Junior Police Academy. They had
to be there at 7:00 a.m. in uniform with sunscreen already on. I don't
consider that natural, but I woke up at 5:50 and took him anyway! (Half hour
drive.)

Just as we got there, he realized he had forgotten the lunch I made him. I
realized Tuesday was the day they were going an additional almost-half-mile by
bus to a remote site for a rapelling tower and driving-range day, and bomb
squad demo.

None of that is natural.

SO I got a map and directions, came home, waited a while and at 8:00 woke
Holly up to see if she wanted to go with me to see Marty rapel. She usually gets
up at 10:30. She was pretty agreeable and I told her I'd ask her again in
five or ten minutes.

3:10, we just got back. AND we never got to see Marty rapel. But Holly got
to ride in a chase car, siren and lights,chasing two other cars, going
through/between cones, swerving... (Marty was getting out of one of the cars when we
pulled up.) We saw the bomb squad stuff. They blew a few things up, way out
in the desert there. We saw lots of other kids rapel. Saw the kids drill
and march and run. When we left a big ladder truck had just shown up. I heard
they were going to give the kids a ride and talk about the relationship
between the fire department and police department.

If Marty had remembered his lunch, I would have come home, read this list,
done some laundry...

It was a good yet totally unexpected and unplanned adventure. We had put on
sunscreen and taken water which was good. We were out there four hours (not
counting driving time, and for the former Albuquerque folk, it's past the city
firing/archery range, west of the volcanos, beyond the airport that's out
there.

-=-Is unschooling just really letting the kids do
whatever comes naturally to them in a day?-=-

I think if no days are that way, there's a problem, but if ALL days are that
way that's also a problem.

Balance.

Sometimes there should be something exciting and different to stimulate them
and give them access to sights and sounds not available at home. But not
EVERY day.

There are some typical days collected here:

<A HREF="http://sandradodd.com/typical">http://sandradodd.com/typical</A>

Sandra



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

[email protected]

In a message dated 6/3/2003 12:26:55 PM Mountain Daylight Time,
zenmomma@... writes:

> Unschooling is the active participation in a life worth living.
>
>

If you take out "the," that's a bumper sticker for SURE.

Wow. That's really good.

Sandra


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

zenmomma2kids

>>Unschooling is the active participation in a life worth living.
> >
> >
>
> If you take out "the," that's a bumper sticker for SURE.>>

Oh editor, my editor. <g>

>>Wow. That's really good.>>

Thanks. I liked it when I wrote it.

Life is good.
~Mary

[email protected]

In a message dated 6/3/03 2:04:51 PM Eastern Daylight Time, Mattydill@...
writes:

> ... Is unschooling just really letting the kids do
> whatever comes naturally to them in a day?

Your day sounds so interesting, of course without the math thingy added at
the end. I truly let my boys live out their day. They ask questions and ask
for help on certain things and I may offer different things that I think they
might be interested in. Or different events that might be coming up in the
community. They can say yes or no. I also have my interests as well. While they
are doing their thing I will be working on a quilt or gardening etc.
Pam G.


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

Olga

Kris,

I am soooo happy you asked this. The same exact question has been
going through my head and I was just thinking today how to post it.
My boys are 2 and almost 5 and pretty independent. Generally, the
boys play, they have been watching TV at will lately, sometimes we
head to the park or backyard or try to squeeze in activites or play
dates. I always worry I am not offering enough. Especially since
they play with action figures all day and pretty much engage in
imaginative play ALL day. There is no art work, sometimes blocks,
but it is all in their heads. So some days I worry it is enough?
How is the reading and math going to come in <s>? Some days we do
more than others. Anyway, I was happy to see you ask this question
as the answers pertain so much to me as well :)

Olga :)

--- In [email protected], Mattydill@a... wrote:
> Okay y'all. Please help me out here. Okay... NO ONE is more
surprised about
> my "unschooling" than me! I had every intention of making my kids
sit and
> school at the appropriate age and everytime I would begin to go
that way, my
> heart cried out to me to not change a thing. So, I am not educated
on what
> unschooling is.... I just know that we do it. My main question is
this. Do you
> all just truly let your kids live out their days? Do you only
participate when
> it is a natural participation? Okay... like my boys wake up
somewhere between
> 7-8 am. They watch TV until they feel like doing something else.
Usually, I
> go and exercise or something. Then they go out and play... come
in... grab a
> book to look up something that they saw or argued about while they
were
> outside (they usually look stuff up to settle things : ) They
play... they try
> to figure stuff out... they eat... sometimes they prepare their own
food... my
> 6 yr old does laundry... dusts... vaccuums... he is a worker bee
without being
> asked. My 8 yr old is not very motivated. When the little one
cleans, the
> older one usually reads... like a Magic Tree House Bood or lately,
Jackie Chan.
> Of course we are interacting daily with the world as we are out
and about.
> I went through a "Saxon Math" phase for a short time, but it was
SOOOO
> unnatural for us. My little one LOVES workbooks... my older one
does the math one I
> have now without fuss... because I feel that I need to know that he
is making
> progress so that I can "prove" that he is making progress if asked
to.
> Okay... so, my question is this... Is unschooling just really
letting the kids do
> whatever comes naturally to them in a day? I mean, after all if
I'm gonna do it
> I might as well do it right, right? : ) ~Kris
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[email protected]

In a message dated 6/3/03 8:36:01 PM, britcontoo@... writes:

<< Especially since

they play with action figures all day and pretty much engage in

imaginative play ALL day. There is no art work, sometimes blocks,

but it is all in their heads. >>

When Kirby was eight or nine he used to do "sculptures," but what they were
were static scenarios with Ninja Turtles (usually). He would pose all his
figures in the Technodrome or the Turtle Sewer (big plastic playsets/stages) and
when it was all ready, he would call me in and tell me what each person was
just about to do (if it could turn to a movie). Each was posed to go! And he
had the distances all calculated (the weapon would or wouldn't reach, depending
whether he was going to make the hit or not), and someone might be about to
swing, jump or fall down unexpectedly (unbeknownst to the person he was swooping
down on) and he knew what each character could see or knew at that instant.

That's a kind of art, and it's an element of writing, and of playwriting and
staging moviemaking and management and analysis. If he were doing window
dressings or setting up 3-D photo shoots for ViewMaster disks or whatever, it
would need those thoughts and skills.

Sandra

Deborah Lewis

***My main question is this. Do you
all just truly let your kids live out their days? ***

Well, isn't that what everyone does anyway? Schooled kids just have
others telling them what the days should look like.

Dylan decides his own days. I might have errands to run, or things I
really like to do and I invite him along. I think of things I know
he'll enjoy and offer them. I make as many things available and
possible for him as I can and from that, and whatever else he can devise,
he is living every day the way he likes.

***Do you only participate when
it is a natural participation? ***

I participate when he want's my participation. I'm always here, I'm
always available to answer questions, listen to a story or look at a
spider. If by participate you mean do I schedule his time for a
workbook while I supervise, then no. I participate in the life he's
living with us everyday. I don't participate in interfering with his
life in schoolish ways. I play games, jump on the trampoline, swim,
hike, watch movies. I participate naturally in what we both enjoy.

Deb L

unolist

When I was ten or so, the film Teachers (how ironic LOL) was filmed
in Columbus, and on the same night we were to pick up my grandpa from
the airport, my mom thought some of the stars were coming for the
premier? I was all ready to meet Ralph Machio. Instead, a very
scruffy Nick Nolte gave me a shoulder hug, a kiss on the cheek, and
an autograph. LOL One of my first crushes in junior high was a Nolte
look alike, and my dh when young, looked like Nick Nolte, blonde and
deepset blue eyes. Almost like a young Decaprio, but stockier LOL

My other brush was with Rob Schneider at Bob Evans near Port Columbus
when Megan(10) was a year old. He was there with a very tall, pretty
girl, and I never realized how short he was. I knew him from SNL, and
he gave me an autograph that said to the Angela-meister. He was just
in a movie recently that he played a sorrority girl.

My other claim to fame is my ancestors in the Pro Football Hall of
Fame in Canton. My great grandpa and six brothers were one of the
first pre-NFL teams, noteable because so many brothers playing on one
team. Here is a website I made about them:

http://hometown.aol.com/megamom08/NESSER.html

Names like Jim Thorpe and Knute Rockne are associated with them
brothers.

Anyone in Ohio want to make a field trip to Canton????? LOL


Ang, who loves to hear others' brushes with celebrity

Betsy

I think in _And the Skylark Sings_, David Albert calls this kind of
scenario-making "an opus" or opera. (Doesn't that translate into "work"
or "artwork"?) Anyway, I like having an impressive word for it.

Betsy

**When Kirby was eight or nine he used to do "sculptures," but what they
were
were static scenarios with Ninja Turtles (usually). He would pose all
his
figures in the Technodrome or the Turtle Sewer (big plastic
playsets/stages) and
when it was all ready, he would call me in and tell me what each person
was
just about to do (if it could turn to a movie). Each was posed to go!
And he
had the distances all calculated (the weapon would or wouldn't reach,
depending
whether he was going to make the hit or not), and someone might be about
to
swing, jump or fall down unexpectedly (unbeknownst to the person he was
swooping
down on) and he knew what each character could see or knew at that instant.

That's a kind of art, and it's an element of writing, and of playwriting
and
staging moviemaking and management and analysis. If he were doing
window
dressings or setting up 3-D photo shoots for ViewMaster disks or
whatever, it
would need those thoughts and skills.**

Alan & Brenda Leonard

Well, okay.

When we lived in Montana, Andi McDowell went to the same church we did. She
used her real name, Rose Qualley. That's still how I think of her.

Tim was born just after we moved there, and I always sat in the back row at
church so that I could make the quick escape when Tim started fussing. The
Qualley's place was about half an hour from the church, I think, and they
often arrived just as things were getting going, or a couple minutes late.
So they sat in the back row quite a lot, too. Rose loved to hold Tim, she
said she was going through baby withdrawl with her baby, Sarah Margaret,
getting so big at three.

My other wonderful memory of her is the day she showed up to church in a
linen suit that looked like it had been made for her. Probably had.
Gorgeous outfit, and it looked like she had just picked it up off the floor
of her closet that morning, it was so wrinkled. The crowning touch was that
she'd just obviously gotten out of the shower before church, because her
long hair was still wet and dripping down her back.

I loved her for being so real, and she was so sweet to my son.

brenda

Mary

From: "unolist" <unolist@...>

<<My other claim to fame is my ancestors in the Pro Football Hall of
Fame in Canton. My great grandpa and six brothers were one of the
first pre-NFL teams, noteable because so many brothers playing on one
team. Here is a website I made about them:>>


Cool!!! I've been to Hall of Fame a lot. And with the football players I've
met and known, we are sure to have a connection somewhere!

Mary B