[email protected]

This is true and really important imo (hi Liza, good to run into you
here!) -

Not only are children real people, but their WORLD is real, right now,
today, not at some far-distant and unspecified point in the future when they
have been properly conditioned and publicly licensed to venture out into it.

So maybe we should speak of the schooling/unschooling contrast in
different terms, to make this more plain. It's more like the contrast between
artificial/real learning experiences, or perhaps manipulated/authentic learning?
JJ


listdiva@... writes:


> > on 10/5/03 12:38 AM, liza sabater at listdiva@... wrote:
> >
> >> In our society we tell kids that they are not whole yet. Our whole
> >> culture of parenting is based on tomorrow. We tell our kids that they
> >> are not really persons but the potential of a person. That once they
> >> "get educated", "turn 21", "finish college", "get the great
> >> jobs/car/spouse/house/kids", then they are real people.
> >>
> >> What about now?
> >>
> >> Aren't they complete now? Aren't they real people now?
> >



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

pam sorooshian

On Monday, October 6, 2003, at 07:08 AM, jrossedd@... wrote:

> It's more like the contrast between artificial/real learning
> experiences, or perhaps manipulated/authentic learning?

Roya went to school until 4th grade - she's now almost 19.
They did "authentic assessment" - no tests or grades - just teacher
observing what the kid shows she knows as she does projects like makes
board games, creates skits, does computer demonstrations, writes about
something, etc.

I was very far from knowing anything about unschooling in those days,
but I do remember, once, saying to her teacher - "Kind of weird to
'authentically' assess what is not authentically learned."

This was because my daughter had been assigned to learn about the
kangaroo rat. All California 4th graders learn about California. So the
class had been divided into groups - the desert, ocean, mountains, and
valleys groups. She was in the desert group. Then, within the group
they each got assigned an animal to learn about. She got the kangaroo
rat. At the time, she was horse-crazy. She also was crazy about
dolphins and whales and other creatures of the sea. She was NOT
interested in kangaroo rats.

So - poor kid - was spending her school and homework time reading and
doing projects based on the kangaroo rat and, in her spare time, was
happily - and in her own way - learning everything possible about
horses and dolphins.

The so-called "authentic assessment" only involved observing how much
she'd learned about kangaroo rats and the Mojave Desert.

Authentically assessing manipulated/forced learning?

-pam

[email protected]

In a message dated 10/6/03 12:34:25 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
pamsoroosh@... writes:

> All California 4th graders learn about California

All NC 4th graders learn about NC.. I never thought about it.. I bet its the
same thing for every state! .. I still have my NC scrapbook from 4th grade.. I
did it in about 2 days.. lol. we had weeks to work on it. I remember the
teacher wrote some comments on it about "sloppy work, seems hurried' But, I got
a good grade for "content" .. Landon and Anna had to make NC scrapbooks
too. Ethan and JP got lucky :-)

Teresa


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

Heidi

Yup. Fourth Grade is the grade for learning about your home state.
When Abbie was fourth grade age, even with a "compile your own
curriculum" group we were involved with, we got a workbook about a
study on Idaho.

Never did anything about it, though. At that age, Abbie was learning
everything she could about sharks, hobbits, elves, and wizards.

Why is fourth grade THE grade for that, anyway? sheesh. I mean, who
decided that 10 is the age for state history and 14 the age for
civics and and and

argh

HeidiC


--- In [email protected], TeresaBnNC@a... wrote:
> In a message dated 10/6/03 12:34:25 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
> pamsoroosh@m... writes:
>
> > All California 4th graders learn about California
>
> All NC 4th graders learn about NC.. I never thought about it.. I
bet its the
> same thing for every state! .. I still have my NC scrapbook from
4th grade.. I
> did it in about 2 days.. lol. we had weeks to work on it. I
remember the
> teacher wrote some comments on it about "sloppy work, seems
hurried' But, I got
> a good grade for "content" .. Landon and Anna had to make NC
scrapbooks
> too. Ethan and JP got lucky :-)
>
> Teresa
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Brian and Kathy Stamp

What part of NC are you in? We're in the Charlotte area.

Kathy
----- Original Message -----
From: TeresaBnNC@...
To: [email protected]
Sent: Monday, October 06, 2003 12:40 PM
Subject: Re: [UnschoolingDiscussion] growing up REAL was: growing up responsible


In a message dated 10/6/03 12:34:25 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
pamsoroosh@... writes:

> All California 4th graders learn about California

All NC 4th graders learn about NC.. I never thought about it.. I bet its the
same thing for every state! .. I still have my NC scrapbook from 4th grade.. I
did it in about 2 days.. lol. we had weeks to work on it. I remember the
teacher wrote some comments on it about "sloppy work, seems hurried' But, I got
a good grade for "content" .. Landon and Anna had to make NC scrapbooks
too. Ethan and JP got lucky :-)

Teresa


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


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

[email protected]

In a message dated 10/6/03 11:53:47 AM, bunsofaluminum60@... writes:

<< Yup. Fourth Grade is the grade for learning about your home state. >>

We did it in 7th, in New Mexico.

In Texas they did it EVERY year.

Sandra

[email protected]

In a message dated 10/6/03 4:14:45 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
SandraDodd@... writes:

> In Texas they did it EVERY year.
>
> Sandra
>
ROLFMAO .. Only because I know some Texans, and I can definitely understand
why they reqiure "Texas Teachings" every year...

Teresa


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