Re: Help! My kids want to try school!
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In a message dated 11/11/03 11:53:57 AM Central Standard Time,
mkirk@...
writes:
to death by asking to return to school in the fall. He'd been having a GREAT
time unschooling. Took to it like a fish to water.
The first thing I did was try not to panic, or to show that I was failing, in
my expression.
The second thing I did was validate his request. He had a reason for asking.
I just didn't know yet what that reason was, but I couldn't jump to any
conclusions or make or pass any judgements.
The third thing I did was keep my mouth shut about it for several days, until
HE wanted to talk about it again. That was hard.
It turns out that he was feeling two things. A little lonely, and in need of
a little structure.
We dealt with each of those things individually, and voila'! No more talk of
school.
His desire to go back to school wasn't so much about school as it was about
perceived unmet needs. I needed to help him figure out a way to identify and
meet his own needs. It turned into a great object lesson for the both of us.
If I'd run off half-cocked, in a panic and enrolled him right away in school,
what a disaster that would have been.
Laura B.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
mkirk@...
writes:
> I think you should consider that you have several months.Last spring, my ds, 15, out of school just a year and a half, shocked me half
>
> If they start next fall, they're just a few more among the new kids from
> other schools. If they start in December, the other kids will already all
> know
> each other, the routine, the building, etc. At the beginning of school lots
> of
> kids are learning who's who and where's what.
>
> Sandra
to death by asking to return to school in the fall. He'd been having a GREAT
time unschooling. Took to it like a fish to water.
The first thing I did was try not to panic, or to show that I was failing, in
my expression.
The second thing I did was validate his request. He had a reason for asking.
I just didn't know yet what that reason was, but I couldn't jump to any
conclusions or make or pass any judgements.
The third thing I did was keep my mouth shut about it for several days, until
HE wanted to talk about it again. That was hard.
It turns out that he was feeling two things. A little lonely, and in need of
a little structure.
We dealt with each of those things individually, and voila'! No more talk of
school.
His desire to go back to school wasn't so much about school as it was about
perceived unmet needs. I needed to help him figure out a way to identify and
meet his own needs. It turned into a great object lesson for the both of us.
If I'd run off half-cocked, in a panic and enrolled him right away in school,
what a disaster that would have been.
Laura B.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]