~ June Unschooling Support! ~ - Page 7

[dillonandmarasmom]

nomadmom, That trip sounds amazing! I remember the trips my family took when we were heavily involved with our swim team. We always went early or stayed late to check out the area, camp, hike, etc. And watching your ds chat with another parent...I wonder if a "schooled" kid would have the gumption or desire to relate to an (gasp) *adult* . I'll bet that gave you a good feeling inside .

We are lounging around this morning. DS and DD decided to get dressed early, have some dry cereal and watch a little Arthur on PBS.

So, here I am...

[papayapetunia]

Just read through the last few pages. I've been extremely busy taking care of my sick little one. Well, it's more teething than sickness for the past week or so. She must be getting molars because she's miserable.

We're getting ready to live down at our family's vineyard this summer. We're going to be doing so many fun things besides farming though. We're building at least one of these, and we're building a playhouse for Tania and a sandbox for Talula. We're experimenting with organic viticulture methods and raising a barn, raising chickens. We're going camping, going to the Oregon Country Fair...so much fun planned! And Tania is going to NY to visit a cousin her same age. I'm jealous though, as I've never been to NY yet!

Anyway, just thought I'd check in and say hi. Gotta go...poopy diapers are calling me...

[mom2ponygirl]

Originally Posted by nomadmom

Along the way, dd spotted the chalk outline of a horse on the side of a hill. She goes riding once a week, and is a total horse fanatic. She'd read about it, and was absolutely beside herself with excitement when she realized what it was.

http://www.amazon.com/White-Horse-Ta...1669794&sr=8-1
She might like this book

[dillonandmarasmom]

Wow, Candice!! Big plans, there . That house is cute!

We are planning a fort, play house of some kind. DS and cleared out the space in our backyard yesterday, he drew up the plans ( --he's 4), and we are going from there. He wants 3 stories...with steps...and a balcony:

[mommabear]

Wow everyone is doing such neat stuff!

Ds is off for the day with his Gram (my mom), riding his bike and hanging out. I just love that they can still have a day a week together to just do gram and gramson things! (Wouldn't have that if he was in school!) They go to Chinatown and science world and the animal shelter and sometimes just her backyard. When it works, the grandparent-grandchild relationship is awesome!

He and dh and my brother are leaving tomorrow for a road trip to visit my dad. He built a house about 5 hours from here and they are going to go have a 'boys adventure'!

Dd is sleeping in the sling so my arm is a bit compromised! Forgive the typos!

Originally Posted by tiffani

Hi all,


have we met? May I point you in the direction of the vancouver tribe here on mdc if you've never partaken? I do believe we have the most active tribe around...

Thanks for the invite! I was around there a few years ago then fell away from these boards when I was going through my miscarriages. I should definitely check back! See ya there!

[UnschoolnMa]

Wow a trip to England sounds so amazing! Lots of neat connections made it sounds like. We occasionally take trips to the lake.

We are going to have a warmer day here than the last two have been. Ds and I might get out and mow the lawns, but I am undecided. Maybe it can wait until Sat? You know... when Dh will be here.

Dd is watching old episodes of "The Twilight Zone" and loving it. Ds is rambling around here somewhere. We will have some young friends over here off and on for the next few days as I am babysitting for a friend. (Her summer child care is closed for the first two days of summer break. She is not amused lol.) Tomorrow we might walk to the library and stop at the grocery.

Dd has been dealing with some issues with neighborhood kids, and seeing how this is only the start of summer I am a little nervous about the next several weeks. One girl in particular has "zoned" in on Dd and a 11 year old boy called her the "B" word and then said he'd rip her tongue out and... well you don't want to hear the rest. What on earth? In talking to these kids' parents it's clear that children often do learn what they live. One of them said she'd take away his summer and she's tried putting painful things in his mouth to cure him of talking that way, and the other scolded my Dd for even being over in "their part of the block" because we live around the corner. Dd is taking it all pretty well, but she was pretty shocked by the adult attitudes for sure.

It takes all kinds I guess! lol

[tiffani]

Gen, sorry to hear of your miscarriages . You should definately come hang out with us here, http://www.mothering.com/discussions...70#post8366470 (just jump right in!) and also maybe here, http://www.vancouverhomelearners.ca if you're looking for more local homelearney people. Have you ever been to the Strathcona homelearner drop-in (especially since it sounds like you live nearby?) If you did come to the drop-in, and my kid bit your kid or something like that, I apologize! Just kidding, but if you've been and it was too nutso, I apologize for that too -- that seems to be the general mood there often, though it is quieting down a bit, and we have invented "the quiet room" where some of the older kids gather and create muggle newspapers, play school (complete with questionable math instruction), and other activities that don't involve the crazy antics of the rowdies in the other room, or the grabby toddlers (though toddlers are allowed in the quiet room, of course). We also invite parents to organize art projects or activities, science projects, etc but these are super low-key, and kids can participate or not.

alima, I love your son's waffle project! Just think of all the unauthorized skills he is developing!

Today is just another relaxed day here on our little island, after a busy day yesterday, complete with a guided tour of the farm at UBC, seeing 'Hurricane on the Bayou' and the grossology exhibit at Science World, and a birthday party in the evening where the birthday family rented out this place with a bunch of bouncy castle/slides/riding toys/ping-pong/airhockey/basketball hoops/etc...I had a chance to show off my sadly underused hoops skills, which was fun!

Later in the week we're going on a tour of a mining museum nearby, complete with hardhats and goldpanning!

On saturday my daughter wants to go to an audition for the musical 'Annie' where she would have to perform a song... I am amazed that she is so excited and totally not nervous to do this, but with only 4 days to prepare a song, I'm fearful that she'll freak out on the day of it, and be afraid to go to auditions in the future (she really, really loves acting). She knows that the other kids will have had a lot more experience, she is a little younger than most of them, and she won't likely get the part. She is ok with all of that. The place is about an hour from our house, including a 20 minute ferry ride, so I'm actually not that keen to do that on a regular basis, in the event that she does get a small role. There is a little acting troupe here on our island that I just heard about, so I'd like her to get involved with them instead, but I feel like since she is so confident and comfortable with the idea of going to this audition, that I am discouraging her by talking her out of it. But, luckily, we have a big summer block party in our old neighborhood on the same day as the audition, so it's pretty easy to sway her with that -- but am I holding her back from a really great experience (the contact at the theatre co. was really encouraging, and said the directors were really nice, etc) or does my line of thinking that she should maybe have a little more experience under her belt, so she doesn't place so much emphasis on THIS audition (where she will be underprepared, so likely more uncomfortable) and ruin her desire to act in "real" plays???

I'm not normally so : , I apologize It seems like one of those things that could be great, or disastrous...

[nomadmom]

Originally Posted by UnschoolnMa

Wow a trip to England sounds so amazing!

Our trip was very cool, but it was only for a weekend and we only travelled a few hours from home -- we live in England!

Today was a more ordinary day. Lots of laundry and tidying for me.

Since dd doesn't have a pony, she frequently puts a horse harness and lead rope on our dog and "trains" her. I don't think the dog minds... much. Doggie also got a bath. Dd watched a couple cartoons and played on the computer. A slow day for her, but with all the sports she does I'm happy that she has time to chill when we're home. She's going to a (unschooling) friend's house tomorrow, and on Friday we're going swimming w/ several home ed friends.

Ds and I read a chapter of The Pearl together. Last month we read Of Mice and Men, and he enjoyed it so much he asked me to check out some more Steinbeck. Mostly it's me reading aloud, but sometimes ds will have a turn or read a chapter on his own and tell me what happened. It's something we've done for years.

Other than that, he was either at the computer or playing guitar. He's in a band w/ some older teens, and they have their first gig at an area club later this month. Practices are generally last minute because they all have variable schedules, so I often have to drop everything and run ds to the old mill where they rehearse. Luckily, it's not far, and he says he'll take care of me when he's famous.

I've been reading Jan Fortune-Wood's doing it their way: home-based education & autonomous learning. I know of her and her husband from the TCS list, but had never read this book.

Mom2ponygirl, thank you for the book recommendation for dd!

UnschoolnMa, I'm sorry some kids are being mean to your dd. I hope they back off so she can enjoy being outside.

[oldermamato5]

UnSchoolnMa,I am sorry to hear about the neighborhood kids being so mean to your daughter. You know,I care about all children,I really do,but sometimes it's just soo hard to deal with kids who are so angry,defiant,lonely,etc. I have alot of kids running in and out of my house these days since it's summer and I really have to watch what goes on constantly. Keeping my ears open is important too. I want these kids to be able to come here and feel liked and cared for but geez,after a bit you just want to send them home and tell them to please not come back.
More than anything I just feel so bad for them.

On the other hand,we had a nice day today. I don't think my kids will ever tire of our local park pool! I've been reading up a storm while I'm there though so that's fun.
We signed up for the summer reading club at the library but they so far haven't been to interested. They would rather play outside all day!

Tomorrow my dd is coming over with my 3 wonderful,precious grandbabies!

[mommabear]

UnschoolnMa, that is just awful for your dd, and more than a little scary imo, but it sounds like she is handling it with maturity. Hope the situation improves.

Okay Tiffani, you wouldn't happen to be members of the Vancouver Homelearners group of the Young Naturalists Club would you? Those are some of the activities they have organized recently (we aren't attending tho). You're tripping me out girl! And thanks for the links!

[tiffani]

Originally Posted by mommabear

Okay Tiffani, you wouldn't happen to be members of the Vancouver Homelearners group of the Young Naturalists Club would you? Those are some of the activities they have organized recently (we aren't attending tho). You're tripping me out girl! And thanks for the links!

The mining museum trip is through them, but my friend Jasmine (who also co-organized the strathcona drop-in and the vancouver homelearners website) organized this trip to the farm -- it was awesome, and what made a huge difference was that the guy was really good with the kids, which is a rare treat. His name is Adam Hicks if you ever organize a tour with them.

[nomadmom]

Originally Posted by alima

He has always had phases of his main interest, where he will be completely obsessed with and spend huge amounts of time reading on one subject.

I've noticed this w/ my kids, too, and it's something that Jan Fortune-Wood discusses in the book I'm reading. Taking a quote from the TCS journal, she writes:

"By expecting everyone to be well-rounded, we may well be blunting genius by taking time away from the development of one, particular skill."

I'm not saying my kids are any kind of genius, but there are certain areas where they have great skill or knowledge simply because they've had the freedom to spend as much time as they want pursuing those interests.

There are things that I'm good at, but I wonder how much better I'd be if I hadn't wasted so many years "learning" stuff I was never going to use. And any way, my best skills are ones I developed on my own and have nothing to do with school!

[SagMom]

Originally Posted by nomadmom

Taking a quote from the TCS journal...

Is this a new book?

Being "well rounded" is a myth--I think something like it maybe was possible in the past (can I insert any more qualifiers there?) but there's just too much information in the world for anyone to be well-versed in everything, yk? OTOH, I think being exposed to as much as possible is really important.

This thread is tough to keep up with. As soon as I read up, I'm out of time and don't get to post and the next time I look there's a page or two of new posts. Nice to see so much unschooling conversation here!

[nomadmom]

Joan, I don't think the TCS journal is a book. I'm not on the list any more, but I think it was a series of papers that were meant to be published as a book at some time, but never actually were.

[SagMom]

Originally Posted by nomadmom

Joan, I don't think the TCS journal is a book. I'm not on the list any more, but I think it was a series of papers that were meant to be published as a book at some time, but never actually were.

Ah, okay. It's been years since I was on the list. I read With Consent but the journal didn't ring a bell.

[RasJane]

I have a hard time keeping up too!
We've been so busy too. My parents are at the coast for the week and then they'll spend the weekend with us. Sunday, ds1 gets to go back to Idaho with them for 2 weeks. Is it bad that I'm so excited about this?
My husbands sister and mom are also in town. We spent yesterday with them at the mall and then they watched the boys while I went grocery shopping all by myself! Wow, what a trip! I got everything on my list without back-tracking all over the strore. Who knew?
Then we are driving them up to the airport today, which means I need to consider getting dressed and feeding us all I guess.
We've had the K'nex out in the living room the last few days. Ds built the ferris wheel, then the boom ride and now he is making bridges. No, I guess now he has moved on to a saw mill for all the paper towel tubes PaRuss sent up with Gramma.
The boys have also been playing sea lion a lot. I have a giant blanket and pillow nest in the living room. Little hard to get to the kitchen, but it's cozy.
We heard a report on NPR about interest rates, which sparked a discussion on what interest is. Ds thought interest was a horrible concept until I turned it around to investing. Now he wants to learn to invest. I think we'll check out some of the kids investing site and give him play money to invest. I want to do it too. I'm thinking that we'll put 1K in each of the investments we learn about and see what happens to it. Who knows, maybe he'll be one of those natural investing geniuses and we can buy that farm! I can dream right?

[Catherine CK]

Hi Mamas,

I have a 2y4m ds and a new arrival- 3mo ds. I've always toyed with the idea of unschooling- it just seems so right, but I'm having a hard time really deciding not to send ds to preschool. Most of his friends from playgroups will be starting this Sept... And I was looking forward to some more alone time since ds is what Dr Sears calls a high-needs baby and being with him all the time is quite draining... Basically I think I need to believe that he'll be better off at home with me and hid baby brother than in preschool... The bad thing is that now his default when he's bored is watching TV, and I think he'd be better off in preschool than watching TV... But then I think of all the problems at preschool with other kids, bullies, doing something just because a teacher told you to do it and keeping at it for as long as the teacher wants you to etc, and then I think that he's better off at home even if he is watching TV. On top of that he knows so much already- he can read all the letters of the alphabet, and can count to 10, he knows his shapes ans colours... I don't know how he would fit in because of that. I would not want him to dumb-down, which is something that both I and dh did in school... I don't want him to do only what is expected, I want him to have the opportunity and freedom to go beyond. His current interests are trucks, birds and butterflies. He's very observant and notices trucks everywhere as we're driving, and happily shouts out what type of trucks they are. He can also recognize several types of local birds. He's happy and active at home. but more shy with other kids. I don't want preschool to squash his personality... The problem I also face is that there are very few people who homeschool in Trinidad, and the few that I am aware of use curricula... I want him to interact with other kids, but I'm not sure how many we'd find... I plan to sign him up for other activities like martial arts, gymnastics etc when he's a bit older, will that be enough? Will he feel really weird since he's the only one unschooled?

If I do unchool I'm thinking of starting a weekly homeschooling drop-in morning at a local birth centre, so hopefully I'll met some people that way...

Please offer your comments/ideas/suggestions...

Thank you...

[SagMom]

He's happy and active at home. but more shy with other kids... I want him to interact with other kids, but I'm not sure how many we'd find... I plan to sign him up for other activities like martial arts, gymnastics etc when he's a bit older, will that be enough?

I don't think you'll know if it's "enough" until he tells you. What I mean is, my kids have needed different levels of interaction with other kids at different ages. I just mentioned this on another thread--when my kids were little, they were happy to be at home, but as they reached pre-teen ages, they needed more social outlets. When we started, we were the only hsers in our area. Now we know many people including a bunch who unschool. No matter what you decide, things will change--the circumstances in your area, as well as your kids' needs. The best you can do is find what meets their needs NOW.

[SagMom]

: Well, in addition to all our usual stuff this week, we also went to a performance about Irish immigration to America, which was fabulous. Ds1 went to a class on bow-making (archery, not gift.) And we took a two hour guided hike at a nature center. We've had different friends over for four days running--my house feels like it has a revolving door, but I love it.

It's been a really good week, but our guide today was funny. We usually go to a different nature center than the one we went to today. This guide was good...knowlegable about the local geography and plants and animals, etc. BUT, he was a bit anal about the rules--I actually had a hard time not laughing when he pulled out info on an archaic law which makes it illegal for anyone to possess a migratory bird feather. But it was still a good hike with some wild views and now we're all beat. Well, *I'M* beat, anyway, lol. There are two extra kids here for the night and I have a feeling I'm going to be the first one asleep!

Life is good.

[Kidzaplenty]

I have just been lurking, and really have nothing to add. But I just wanted to say that I have enjoyed reading all the posts. It is nice to see that I am not alone.