Alan & Brenda Leonard

> One woman was asking me about unschooling and kept coming back to her
> concern about retaining Authority over her children. What is with this????

It's a big Christian thing among the conservatives. I'm Episcopalian, so of
course I can't quote you chapter and verse <g>, but the idea is that
children are to be subservient to their parents, and that parents MUST take
authority over their children. Otherwise, the children will instantly go
bad and go to hell. See, Satan is lurking right there, waiting to pull in
your precious children, the moment you let down your guard. If your
religion mandates that you train up your child in the love and fear of the
Lord, failing to hold proper authority over your children could send you to
hell, too. And lest you be laughing here, hell is no laughing matter. It's
a very real and scary place for many of these folks. So they take their
responsibility very seriously.

> I want to be an advocate for unschooling, yet am not comfortable really
> talking about it to these other homeschoolers because it seems to freak them
> out. Any one else go thru this? What do you do?

Yep. I smile a lot at homeschool gatherings. (I also avoid them...) I
don't advocate unschooling, I merely exist and drive everyone nuts because I
do it "wrong" and it still seems to work, and God hasn't smote me yet for
unschooling. I don't evangelize, but I answer questions when asked.

There's a little book called Christian Unschooling, Growing Your Children in
the Freedom of Christ, which you might like to read. It's not very radical,
and there are things in it that aren't very unschooly. But it does give you
some words and ways to explain unschooling to Christians. I do also see
where many Christian homeschoolers relax after a period of strict
school-at-home, and try to be positive about any moves towards the more
relaxed end of the continuum, even if they're still not anywhere near my
personal definition of unschooling.

I answer curriculum gripes and questions with some comment along the lines
of "Ah, well, you know I can't help you with THAT, but have I told you
about...." Become a world-champion topic-changer, and people eventually
learn to not complain to you much! <g>

> Also, how do I get over this weird desire to buy school supplies every time
> school rolls around?<G>

But you CAN (and should, I think!) buy school supplies in August. Right
after all the kids go back to school. The store aisles are quiet, and it's
all on sale. Buy a couple reams of paper, some nice new colored pencils and
crayons, and a spiral notebook or two; they're always useful. Stock up on
pencils and pens while they're cheap and buy some pocket folders at 12 for a
dollar. Your house is stocked, and you can get back to the very serious
business of unschooling!

brenda
at the conference with laptop!