Not sure if I can ask this here, but...

[midnightwriter]

Is there a more active unschooling discussion board somewhere? I remember some time ago a new one came up, but I can't even find it anymore, and when I did check it out it was even deader than here. I'd like to see more discussions, more members, more activity, and here we have just a handful of people, and many aren't even as active anymore. It seems like the same topics, the same answers, the same issues, over and over, which is not necessarily bad, but it is not a vibrant discussion forum, is it? We have threads here that have been stagnant on the front page for months.

Alternatively, any ideas on how to revitalise this board? Maybe a new roll call? Member profiles? Not sure if this will help, as even the generic homeschooling board is very slow.

[greenmagick]

I'm wondering if they have just been slow lately because of summer?  I too though would like a faster or more busy board if one exists...or yes, get more involved in this one:)

[SweetSilver]

Originally Posted by midnightwriter 

Alternatively, any ideas on how to revitalise this board? Maybe a new roll call? Member profiles? 

Go for it and see what happens.  
 

[midnightwriter]

Originally Posted by SweetSilver 

Go for it and see what happens.  
 

50 views in 20 hours. Granted, it's weekend, but still.

I recently I googled for reviews of a math program, and stumbled on the Well Trained Mind forums. An unpopular post there would be on page 20 within an hour. That was a bit of a shocker to me--that there are so many people and so many discussions. Now, WTM is not very good to my psyche. I spent a couple of days there, reading in fascination on how I don't want to homeschool (nothing against WTM, but it is not my cup of tea) and I think I developed a case of board envy. I wonder  if there are simply not enough unschoolers to achieve that kind of on-line vivacity, or even 1/3 of it.

The only time threads here become active is when other homeschoolers or those educating via public schools come here for a debate. And whenever there's a disproportionate number of views to replies, it means that the Trolls are mocking our life style and educational philosophy behind our backs deep in their trollywoods.

Signed: the dejected pessimist

[midnightwriter]

For a Saturday Evening comparison:

The ENTIRE mothering boards, of which unschooling is a tiny section: 1917 users (229 members, 1688 guests)

The WTM boards, in their entirety devoted to classical homeschooling: 916 users (369 members, 541 guests)

[SweetSilver]

I hope you can find a lively forum that fits your needs.  As it is MDC and its forums are about all I can keep up with.  Honestly, even though I love a good debate, I often tire of the same debates over and over again.  Between schoolers/ homeschoolers, between homeschoolers/ unschoolers.  The areas of disagreement are relatively limited, so the debate is limited as well.  Same for the BM/ formula, vax/unvax, veg/ omnivore, SAHP/working parent, spanking/ GD, abortion/ choice debates, these are all limited in their scope.  The same arguments come up over and over and over.  To resurrect a tired phrase: been there, done that.  These debates for me are dead ends.  (They are nothing like the old-fashioned face-to-face, caffeine and cigarette and psychedelic-influenced coffeehouse debates that veer in every direction, without limits on topics or anything.)  I don't mind debating them when they come up, as I love a good one, but I don't go seeking it.  By then my eyes are bugging out on the computer screen and it's bedtime, dinnertime, dh-time, or playtime.  Little time for this.

     The other reason is that I am a relatively confident unschooling parent.  For better or for worse, my mother left me with the legacy of do-it-yourself-or-perish.  I am comfortable figuring things out on my own.  It's fun.  Yoga, aikido, all these are internal explorations of my body and my mind.  I love having teachers there, and I love having some experienced unschooling mamas around to seek advice from when I need it, but my personal needs on the matter are limited.  And honestly?  I could care less if a radical unschooling parent has a kool-aid-and-potato-chip-driven-24-hr-online-gamer at home.  Or 10 flag-saluting-creationism-curriculum-school-at-home-kids either.

Doesn't mean that it's not amusing when threads get lively, but personally it's not what I'm here for.  

[Stacey B]

I find that this one is the best fit for me, it has enough interaction but not the sort that sucks my day away watching one thread. For other discussions a bunch of local mom's who unschool have created our own facebook page where we get deeper into things, but we're all friends too. I guess my suggestion beyond revitalizing this one, which I'm all for, is to create your own with in the niche that you are looking for. Still I come here every morning for a little inspiration for my day.

[momtokea]

Originally Posted by midnightwriter 

The only time threads here become active is when other homeschoolers or those educating via public schools come here for a debate. And whenever there's a disproportionate number of views to replies, it means that the Trolls are mocking our life style and educational philosophy behind our backs deep in their trollywoods.

Signed: the dejected pessimist

Yep, this exactly.  I come around here once in a while to read.  I'm one of the ones that gave up on this place.  I would come here for support and inspiration and leave beaten and deflated.

[zebra15]

I was very active here for a while, things changed at MDC after the winter holidays and well.. I guess I took my broom and left (not really but that's how I felt).

I'm an older home schooler and my child is slowly moving into the pre-teen years.  He is working with an online program that seems to suit his needs in some areas.  After watching him take numerous classes I have a whole new network of people's brains to pick I guess.  When I mention this online program over at MDC it seems people throw tomatoes at me.

I remember being VERY lonely at the beginning of homeschooling and for the first years.  Plus having a bright/gifted child didn't help things.  I've never found a chat board that is active that met my needs.  I found individual's with emails and that worked best.   I found the library and the children's librarian loves me (or so she says).  And my son finally found a couple activities that he loves.  Theater and swim club which get me out of the house and force me to talk to other parents who are playing the 'waiting game'.

MDC isn't user friendly anymore, thats just my 2c.

[Dar]

Originally Posted by zebra15 

MDC isn't user friendly anymore, thats just my 2c.

I'm sorry. That makes me sad. The homeschooling boards here (there was no unschooling board when I joined) have been a huge part of my unschooling journey, and I've enjoyed seeing lots of families grow and change over the years. Soooo many of us have changed so much. I have I'm sorry people were unkind to you. I think so many of us have used so many different resources, and honestly, I'm all for whatever works.

I lurked some this summer on some boards dedicated only to unschooling (unlike here, where we're just one tiny corner) and there was a lot of anti-college sentiment, and I felt really uncomfortable... I'm all for helping kids see that there are other options besides traditional academic paths, but there's no reason to close those paths off to them. One of Rain's best unschooler friends (for like 10 years now) is interning at an improv club and doing really cool, amazing stuff, and I think it's great that she had the time and freedom to get into it, and she loves it... but it's also cool that my kid got to go off to a place where she can learn lots of languages and other stuff, in classrooms from great, passionate professors, because she loves that.

[annakiss]

I've only seen Radical unschooling forums that were more active. This board is more my style.

Additionally, I think that unschoolers tend to be busy living their own lives since that's what they do. A lot of the folks who want to talk about it either seem to want to berate people with their self-righteousness (ahem, other forums or lists) or are new to the process and have less to offer.

I think unschooling is a curious process and we each have our own little paths that make the way we live it very different from everyone else living it. I would love to talk about unschooling more, but I have a hard time hitting the right levels of indignation/understanding/sympathy/skepticism in the community. I have had a very hard time with that and it makes me reluctant to open up much anymore in some places.

[Greenmama2]

Originally Posted by annakiss 

Additionally, I think that unschoolers tend to be busy living their own lives since that's what they do.
places.

Yes.
I'd love to see this board more active & actually I keep meaning to post more but, um life gets in the way...

[pinky]

I have to say that personally, I've never really adjusted to the big format change.  My home page/user profile doesn't work the same way, and I just stopped coming to MDC as much. I just haven't found it as user-friendly.  It seems to me that all of the (few) forums that I used to visit really regularly really slowed down after the change.

[zebra15]

You're still my hero

Originally Posted by Dar 



I'm sorry. That makes me sad. The homeschooling boards here (there was no unschooling board when I joined) have been a huge part of my unschooling journey, and I've enjoyed seeing lots of families grow and change over the years. Soooo many of us have changed so much. I have I'm sorry people were unkind to you. I think so many of us have used so many different resources, and honestly, I'm all for whatever works.

I lurked some this summer on some boards dedicated only to unschooling (unlike here, where we're just one tiny corner) and there was a lot of anti-college sentiment, and I felt really uncomfortable... I'm all for helping kids see that there are other options besides traditional academic paths, but there's no reason to close those paths off to them. One of Rain's best unschooler friends (for like 10 years now) is interning at an improv club and doing really cool, amazing stuff, and I think it's great that she had the time and freedom to get into it, and she loves it... but it's also cool that my kid got to go off to a place where she can learn lots of languages and other stuff, in classrooms from great, passionate professors, because she loves that.

[4evermom]

Originally Posted by SweetSilver  Honestly, even though I love a good debate, I often tire of the same debates over and over again.  Between schoolers/ homeschoolers, between homeschoolers/ unschoolers.  The areas of disagreement are relatively limited, so the debate is limited as well.

The other reason is that I am a relatively confident unschooling parent. 

Same here.  I don't mind debate but we've done it all.  The cycle keeps repeating as new people start unschooling and ask the same questions.  And I don't need much online support, personally.  My family is supportive which helps.  I know I'm doing what's best for ds and can't imagine doing anything else at this point.  Not that everything is a bed of roses but most of my frustrations are things no one online can help with.  It was great hearing about other kids like ds on MDC when he was younger (attached kids, late readers, etc, etc. etc) because I really never met a kid like him before.  So I come here to share our experiences from time to time and hopefully widen people's horizons about how broad a range normal can have.  And I've gotten blasted numerous times by people online who think I'm doing ds a great disservice and utterly failing to raise a competent human being, lol.  That doesn't bother me because it's so funny.  Everyone in real life thinks ds is doing fine.  The librarians are impressed by him.  The local police think I'm a great mother because ds is so far from neglected, something they see far too much of.  I still find MDC the most comfortable place online to talk about unschooling.     

[2xy]

I suspect a lot of homeschooling/unschooling discussion folks have migrated to Facebook.

[dogretro]

Once Mothering stopped publishing, I have not come to the forums much at all.  I am also a confident parent with a large real-life support base, including un/homeschooling moms with children of all ages.  On top of that, my own children are 3 yrs, 1 yr, and 4 mos, so we are not even unschooling yet!  Or we always have been ;)  The reality is that I don't have much of practicality to contribute & I barely ever come here to read anyway.  I know the Always Unschooled group on Yahoo! is quite active.

Also, really, when you are not discussing curriculum and how to get your kids to do their work & what type of progress they are making on said work, what is there really to talk about wrt day-to-day unschooling?

[rumi]

I still visit from time to time hoping for a nice interesting thread to provoke my thoughts. Maybe I should just post one instead of going away because no one else has posted one ...

[2xy]

Originally Posted by dogretro 

Also, really, when you are not discussing curriculum and how to get your kids to do their work & what type of progress they are making on said work, what is there really to talk about wrt day-to-day unschooling?

True! Seems like unschooling forums, when they're actually focusing on unschooling, are of two camps.....those who doubt it, and those who preach it. I'm not a doubter, nor do I feel a need to convert everyone, so I find that sort of discussion tedious.

The most active unschooling forum I've seen that was actually interesting to me is one where people just chat about everything under the sun, and all happen to be unschoolers. It was a forum FOR unschoolers but not necessarily ABOUT unschooling. KWIM?

[rumi]

Originally Posted by 2xy 

True! Seems like unschooling forums, when they're actually focusing on unschooling, are of two camps.....those who doubt it, and those who preach it. I'm not a doubter, nor do I feel a need to convert everyone, so I find that sort of discussion tedious.

:yeah  me too.

The most active unschooling forum I've seen that was actually interesting to me is one where people just chat about everything under the sun, and all happen to be unschoolers. It was a forum FOR unschoolers but not necessarily ABOUT unschooling. KWIM?

Oh, can we do that here?  Often I feel like asking / sharing something that would probably go under gentle discipline or even health or crafts or somewhere else but I feel like I'd rather post it herein unschooling, since that overlaps so much with our approach to discipline, food/health, etc.