Re: [UnschoolingDiscussion] My Story of EarlyYears was: teens -"watch out!"
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I have an almost 5 yr old and a 1 yr old
and am wondering how the early years for you "seasoned ;)
unschoolers" have played out. . .
I am at a crux (is this a word, did I make it up?) of
"crux" captures what the early years were like with our two children.
As an older than average mom with a career behind me, just having
babies and being home with them was heaven.
But our new family were confronted with crisis after crisis. We lost my
own mom and dad plus DH's dad. DH fell off the roof during a storm and took
months to recover while I cared for both him and our toddler, with no family
members to help. I had emergency surgery that separated me as a nursing mom
from the new baby. The next year, when that baby was 13 months old and I had my
back turned with laundry, he managed to open the porch door. Less than one
minute later, he was facedown in the swimming pool. We somehow survived that with
no permanent damage. Then on a Sunday afternoon outing, all four of us were
blindsided by a teen driver who totaled our minivan and wrecked our peace of
mind, too.
Maybe "crisis" comes from the same root as "crossing" and "crux?" I
should go look that up. <g>
None of it could be blamed on anyone -- least of all the children, who
by comparison seemed almost miraculously perfect to me in every way, no
matter what they did or didn't do, or when they did or didn't do it.
I just loved being with them, in a moment-to-moment kind of way that
was completely out of character for me in Life Before Parenthood. I am a
professional educator, but I sure wasn't "teaching" or controlling their learning,
much less their development. I felt like we were lucky we were all still alive
and together! DH and I just had so much to deal with and worry about, that we
didn't buy curriculum or do phonics or anything schooly, or obsess about
finding a preschool or other programs.
So those early years were un-schooled, not in name or by design or
intent. Yet both children were early self-taught readers, happy, curious,
competent, confident, kind. And still are. :)
I'm grateful because they're so great, but also I suspect they're
great because I'm so grateful for them.
Without all the crisis in their early years to distract my own
overdeveloped, task-oriented, first-born drive to achieve and control -- and to focus
me on pure appreciation of their existence -- I can't say whether we would
have discovered the unschooling lifestyle that turned out to be so right for us.
Somehow we stumbled on it in the crucible of burning away everything else.
(crucible -- from the same root as crux, I'll bet! <g>)
JJ
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
and am wondering how the early years for you "seasoned ;)
unschoolers" have played out. . .
I am at a crux (is this a word, did I make it up?) of
>Hi Ticia - You feel you're at a crossing or intersection? I agree
> sorts. Do you all have any fun stories to share with us with young
> children on your unschooling led stories of the early years?
>
"crux" captures what the early years were like with our two children.
As an older than average mom with a career behind me, just having
babies and being home with them was heaven.
But our new family were confronted with crisis after crisis. We lost my
own mom and dad plus DH's dad. DH fell off the roof during a storm and took
months to recover while I cared for both him and our toddler, with no family
members to help. I had emergency surgery that separated me as a nursing mom
from the new baby. The next year, when that baby was 13 months old and I had my
back turned with laundry, he managed to open the porch door. Less than one
minute later, he was facedown in the swimming pool. We somehow survived that with
no permanent damage. Then on a Sunday afternoon outing, all four of us were
blindsided by a teen driver who totaled our minivan and wrecked our peace of
mind, too.
Maybe "crisis" comes from the same root as "crossing" and "crux?" I
should go look that up. <g>
None of it could be blamed on anyone -- least of all the children, who
by comparison seemed almost miraculously perfect to me in every way, no
matter what they did or didn't do, or when they did or didn't do it.
I just loved being with them, in a moment-to-moment kind of way that
was completely out of character for me in Life Before Parenthood. I am a
professional educator, but I sure wasn't "teaching" or controlling their learning,
much less their development. I felt like we were lucky we were all still alive
and together! DH and I just had so much to deal with and worry about, that we
didn't buy curriculum or do phonics or anything schooly, or obsess about
finding a preschool or other programs.
So those early years were un-schooled, not in name or by design or
intent. Yet both children were early self-taught readers, happy, curious,
competent, confident, kind. And still are. :)
I'm grateful because they're so great, but also I suspect they're
great because I'm so grateful for them.
Without all the crisis in their early years to distract my own
overdeveloped, task-oriented, first-born drive to achieve and control -- and to focus
me on pure appreciation of their existence -- I can't say whether we would
have discovered the unschooling lifestyle that turned out to be so right for us.
Somehow we stumbled on it in the crucible of burning away everything else.
(crucible -- from the same root as crux, I'll bet! <g>)
JJ
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[email protected]
-=- I'm grateful because they're so great, but also I suspect they're
great because I'm so grateful for them.
-=-
That's beautiful.
JJ wrote it.
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
great because I'm so grateful for them.
-=-
That's beautiful.
JJ wrote it.
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]