[email protected]

I was not looking for a TCS list, that was a response comment from someone
else on the list.
Syndi----Still having questions

We worry about what a child will be tomorrow, yet we forget that he
is someone today.
Stacie Tauscher


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Danielle E. Conger

At 02:12 PM 11/16/2003 -0500, you wrote:
>I was not looking for a TCS list, that was a response comment from someone
>else on the list.
>Syndi----Still having questions
>
>We worry about what a child will be tomorrow, yet we forget that he is
>someone today.
>Stacie Tauscher


In an effort to offer support and commiseration and as a response to
Syndi's signature quote, I made the comment that I was struggling with both
unschooling and TCS because the results are so deferred. A parent has to
let go of the obvious markers and be willing to wait years for results to
emerge--kind of like the threads on reading or chores. A child may not
read at 6, 9, 12, whenever, but we can hope that by not forcing them to
hate reading that they may discover a love of literature when they're 30.
Then again, they may not. Same thing with a "work ethic": may not happen at
10, 15 or even 20, but we can hope that when our children grow into
themselves and have families or responsibilities of their own that the
modeling we have done will serve them well.

I was not referring to this as a TCS board, but was merely making a
connection between two different, but overlapping philosophies as I spoke
about my own situation. You certainly don't have to do one to do the other,
but they are very compatible. They have in common an inherent respect for a
child's autonomy and the trust that a child will discover her/ his own path
when given the freedom to do so. They both require a parent to let go of
traditional models of parenting that are inherently authoritarian and to
leave behind traditional markers of growth and well-being as defined by
schools, churches, doctors, whatever form of authority it may be. Not an
easy thing to do on its own, never mind once you add the expectations of
extended family members, well-meaning neighbors or congregationalists,
overly-intrusive school reviewers for those of us who have to deal with
them, etc.

If anyone is interested in reading more about TCS, you may find the
following website useful: www.takingchildrenseriously.com Like
unschooling, it can take a bit of getting used to, a bit of mulling over
before it begins to make sense. Yet another similarity: people are often
skeptical and unconvinced (if not downright threatened) by both unschooling
and TCS when they first hear about it, reacting with disbelief that either
could ever "really" work.

--danielle




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[email protected]

In a message dated 11/16/03 5:11:49 PM, danielle.conger@... writes:

<< In an effort to offer support and commiseration and as a response to
Syndi's signature quote, I made the comment that I was struggling with both
unschooling and TCS because the results are so deferred. >>

It's not a big deal. I just didn't want a new reader to think this was an
"unschooling and TCS" list, so I clarified.

Sandra