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Quote:
Originally Posted by Calliope84Â 
Quote:
Originally Posted by hablame_todayÂ
It's a funny story. When I was pregnant a friend of mine was sorta unschooling her then kindergartener ds. Doing waldorfy unschooly lessons like taking a few sticks to make a letter A on the ground during a nature walk, taking a bag of sand to write a HUGE letter B on the ground then having the boy walk all the way around it.
When the end of year state tests came around she said some of the unschool mothers in her mixed homeschool playgroup would get frantic and start cramming with worksheets. It was like they were afraid that if the kids failed or failed too many times they would no longer be allowed to homeschool. I don't think that's true. What do they do with the kids who fail in public school, not let them go to public school any more? No. The test is just for statistics and records. That's the point if unschooling- they're supposed to develop all organically on their own timeline. So you could chose to unschool and worry that he might be a slacker, but why? It's supposed to be kind of living on faith in the human survivalism, that they can slack off if they choose and "grow up" and make up for lost time when the time is right, in it's purest form.
Also... My grandpa (not from the gifted gene pool side of my family, but my mom's side of the family were smart too, just not so gifted) but anyway he got his GED the same year I did, when I was sixteen. He's owned his own home, nothing fancy, but very nice, they've owned since before my mom was grown. Deep sea fisherman.
I think that's the other side of unschooling. Everybody wants to let their imagination run wild with that well known story of the kid who learned to read at twelve years old, then went on to graduate from Harvard, and some other stories similar to his. I think the point of unschooling is about supporting someone to be on a path on their own, not pushing them down an alternative path to college.
That point seems to be missed around here sometimes. I keep getting warned that if I don't stop giving ds "academic" lessons at such a young age I'm going to make him burn out early and start to "hate learning". Not only do I not believe that, but I also ain't afraid. If ds wants a long, long acedemic career like I personally like to assume he will, I got his back. If he loses interest in studying and wants to explore other options with his life, I still got his back.
So I'm saying if you're saying "can I unschool and ensure a specific outcome?" I'd say I'm sure you can, I'm sure you're creative enough to, but I think that's the wrong attitude. Just be a homeschooler then. But, um. I always talk so long when I really have an opinion about something. *embarrassed smiley*
But I was saying as a mother you have as much flexibility in raising your child as your finances allow. That friend who unschooled her five year old sent him to a private, I forget if it was waldorf or montessori? But this private school took nature walks and made a big deal about being "child-led" and sounded so great. But they got mad because they were telling a five-year old boy to choose his own activities then getting dissapointed that he was choosing to play rather than study, given the choice. Disappointed:!;!(. That's not what she was paying them for. They're doing something else now.
The point is you're free to try something. And you're free to decide to keep following that method. And you're free to try something else. Reserve the right to change your mind.
Good luck naturegirl. I'll be around. Keep in touch. -,-'-<@
(that's a white rose of friendship)
It's a funny story. When I was pregnant a friend of mine was sorta unschooling her then kindergartener ds. Doing waldorfy unschooly lessons like taking a few sticks to make a letter A on the ground during a nature walk, taking a bag of sand to write a HUGE letter B on the ground then having the boy walk all the way around it.
When the end of year state tests came around she said some of the unschool mothers in her mixed homeschool playgroup would get frantic and start cramming with worksheets. It was like they were afraid that if the kids failed or failed too many times they would no longer be allowed to homeschool. I don't think that's true. What do they do with the kids who fail in public school, not let them go to public school any more? No. The test is just for statistics and records. That's the point if unschooling- they're supposed to develop all organically on their own timeline. So you could chose to unschool and worry that he might be a slacker, but why? It's supposed to be kind of living on faith in the human survivalism, that they can slack off if they choose and "grow up" and make up for lost time when the time is right, in it's purest form.
Also... My grandpa (not from the gifted gene pool side of my family, but my mom's side of the family were smart too, just not so gifted) but anyway he got his GED the same year I did, when I was sixteen. He's owned his own home, nothing fancy, but very nice, they've owned since before my mom was grown. Deep sea fisherman.
I think that's the other side of unschooling. Everybody wants to let their imagination run wild with that well known story of the kid who learned to read at twelve years old, then went on to graduate from Harvard, and some other stories similar to his. I think the point of unschooling is about supporting someone to be on a path on their own, not pushing them down an alternative path to college.
That point seems to be missed around here sometimes. I keep getting warned that if I don't stop giving ds "academic" lessons at such a young age I'm going to make him burn out early and start to "hate learning". Not only do I not believe that, but I also ain't afraid. If ds wants a long, long acedemic career like I personally like to assume he will, I got his back. If he loses interest in studying and wants to explore other options with his life, I still got his back.
So I'm saying if you're saying "can I unschool and ensure a specific outcome?" I'd say I'm sure you can, I'm sure you're creative enough to, but I think that's the wrong attitude. Just be a homeschooler then. But, um. I always talk so long when I really have an opinion about something. *embarrassed smiley*
But I was saying as a mother you have as much flexibility in raising your child as your finances allow. That friend who unschooled her five year old sent him to a private, I forget if it was waldorf or montessori? But this private school took nature walks and made a big deal about being "child-led" and sounded so great. But they got mad because they were telling a five-year old boy to choose his own activities then getting dissapointed that he was choosing to play rather than study, given the choice. Disappointed:!;!(. That's not what she was paying them for. They're doing something else now.
The point is you're free to try something. And you're free to decide to keep following that method. And you're free to try something else. Reserve the right to change your mind.
Good luck naturegirl. I'll be around. Keep in touch. -,-'-<@
(that's a white rose of friendship)
I love this ;)
Whatever happened to Hablame? I remember an argument here about her guiding her son's artwork. Has she not posted since? That makes me sad. She was very outspoken.
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