Deirdre Aycock

From: "Danielle Conger" <danielle.conger@...>
Subject: Re: [UnschoolingDiscussion] Re: Varieties of Unschoolers


> The past couple of times at my local unschooler's support meeting, I've
brought up the concept of strewing. <snip> I've talked about how it's a
genuine act rather than a curriculum oriented act--that you do it without a
vested interest in whether the kids pick it up or not, much like you might
offer a guest a cup of coffee without being offended if they really
preferred tea. <snip>
Children will inevitably "bump" into things by living without parents'
interfering or strewing. <snip>
>
> How do you answer these criticisms? > --danielle

Here's the way I look at this strewing stuff: Someone else has already
mentioned that *not* strewing is like withholding things from your kids, and
I agree! I get mail order catelogues, book club brochures, craft supply
mail order stuff, I clean out closets or cabinets. I look through all that
and sometimes I find things that I'm interested in. New hobbies, stuff I
want to read, that sort of thing. But my kids aren't exposed to as much
stuff as I am. All that stuff that comes in the mail comes addressed to me
or their Dad, and they don't want to plow through it! And they don't enjoy
wandering around stores to see what's new. So I do that for them, just like
I do a lot of other things that they either don't enjoy or aren't able to
do. Since I am exposed to things that they aren't, it's my job to let them
know what I've gleaned from it that might be useful/interesting to them.
Strewing is how I let them know what's out there.
This applies especially to my daughter. She 9 and she's an artist. You
never know what materials might be inspirational or exactly the right thing
for what she's working on. How much is she going to run into as opposed to
what I am exposed to? And besides, she's busy! She doesn't have time to go
through all those books that are absolutely of no interest to her just so
she'll find that one book on sewing felt! But if that one book that's a
treasure is just sitting on her crafts table, I've done something really
nice for her. If I just hand her something she acts like she has to
immediately decide if it's useful to her or not. If the book is just
sitting there, it separates my feelings from whether the book or craft
material is actually interesting/useful. She can look it over without
having to take my feelings and possible motives into account.
Seeing a really cool book or video on old cars at the library in a
section my son doesn't usually walk through, and then not showing it to him
wouldn't be a nice thing to do! Maybe he's so interested in DragonBall Z
right now that he doesn't care about old cars anymore, but how do you know
if you don't put it out there for him? If that book is just sitting
around, it would give him something to do when he needs a break from the
other stuff he's working so hard on.
Everyone in my family reads. If we are eating alone, and there's
nothing to read, we read the cereal box. I think I'm doing them a favor
putting something out that's more interesting than the cereal box. I don't
see this as interfering or controlling. I think I'm being helpful and
interested in my kids.
Deirdre in Alabama

Elizabeth Hill

** Strewing is how I let them know what's out there.
This applies especially to my daughter. She 9 and she's an artist. You
never know what materials might be inspirational or exactly the right thing
for what she's working on. How much is she going to run into as opposed to
what I am exposed to? And besides, she's busy! She doesn't have time to go
through all those books that are absolutely of no interest to her just so
she'll find that one book on sewing felt! But if that one book that's a
treasure is just sitting on her crafts table, I've done something really
nice for her. **

It strikes me that many people are willing to be this thoughtful and
look for "stuff" that other people can use happily at Christmas time.
Strewn stuff can be thought of as a series of gifts, treats or delights
for ALL 12 months of the year, not just December. With some budgetary
adjustments, most likely.

Betsy

**If I just hand her something she acts like she has to
immediately decide if it's useful to her or not.**

And, for me, if I was already doing something else, I might make the
snap decision "not useful". Finding something when I was idle would
increase the probability that I would chose to get into something.