Sarah K. Groseclose

Deana,
One of my daughters is like this. She just asked me if I would stand at the
board and lecture the assignments! I told her no, that I am preparing her
to do independent study and to help her follow her heart. She didn't get
it! She is worried about her spelling and wanted a textbook so I got her a
workbook to use. She uses it faithfully, bringing me the list to test her
on. She also wants math worksheets. I was hesitant, but she spent some
time yesterday surfing for math worksheet sites and brought me a list of
them. So, I printed off a few for her to do. I still believe I am
unschooling because I am following her lead. It's all about what the child
wants to do. She is more apt to follow her own lead in learning about
ancient cultures and she chooses what books to read on the subjects she is
interested in.
Peace,
Sarah

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

Betsy

**One of my daughters is like this. She just asked me if I would stand
at the
board and lecture the assignments!**

Even teacher training classes in the U.S. are now advising future
teachers that they should stop acting like "the sage on the stage"
(lecturing), and be more of "a guide on the side" (facilitating). (You
can tell her I said so.)

I personally hate lectures and love textbooks, so I think my learning
style may be quite different from you daughter's. But if she likes
lectures, she may also learn well from videos. I think that the
History Channel, and the Discovery channel and PBS all have websites
with resources for teachers that go with their various TV programs.
Possibly even downloadable worksheets. (How wicked is that?) In some
areas, community colleges broadcast some of their lecture classes. Some
of them are dull enough to cure insomnia, but I really like the foreign
language instruction classes that I've seen. (The fancy Capretz
programs: French in Action and Destinos.)

I know this sounds awfully schooly. I'm not saying "make her do it",
just show her some options. If they don't suit her, she'll drop them
pretty quickly.

And learning whatever you can about "deschooling" may help, too.

Betsy

[email protected]

In a message dated 8/28/03 4:16:12 PM, CHILDLEDucator@... writes:

<< I still believe I am
unschooling because I am following her lead. It's all about what the child
wants to do. >>

If the parent or child knows no other way, then they're not making a choice,
they're doing the only thing they know of that will work.

<<She is worried about her spelling and wanted a textbook so I got her a
workbook to use. She uses it faithfully, bringing me the list to test her
on. >>

"Faithfully" seems to me to be a telling word to use, if it was chosen
consciously.
And if it was used UNconsciously, even worse. Faith in a workbook being
stronger than faith in natural learning or faith in herself says, to me, that
unschooling isn't understood yet in that family.

Sandra