Unschooling Support Jan 08 - Page 3

[wonderwahine]

ds is just over 2, and I let him watch as much as he wants. He does the watch/play thing, and when he wants to see us, he comes out, and he plays with us or colours etc.

[UnschoolnMa]

We watch a lot of TV, at least by most standards here I'd guess, and we really enjoy it. We feel that we learn a lot and it's just fun. It almost always gives us something to talk or at least think about. We have no real rules other than the ones we agree on:

* we've got to share usage so that we can all watch things we like. This is helped by having more than one TV.

* We try not to watch things in the main part of the house that are making someone else really uncomfortable in a significant way. (A lot of violence/horror bothers me in a very real way for example, so the kids watch anything like that in another room.)

I've shared the reasons many parents worry about TV watching with the kids, and asked for their thoughts. It's been good so far, and they are teens now so we're pretty happy with this plan.

[pia]

[pia]

[pia]

Just wanted to say hi!


....Sorry for posting 3 times, a database-error-message came up and I wasn´t able to see that I had posted. If you´re happy to see me wave "hi" three times, ok, otherwise just ignore.

[Earthy Mama]

When my mom was visiting over Christmas I was trying to explain to her what we would be doing as far as "school" was concerned. She was confused as to why she wouldn't be getting tested and told me I needed to be up to date on the school's standards so she is on the same level as other kids her age. Uh, that was one of the main reasons I took her out of school! Because those "standards" are ridiculous!

I hate how I feel like I need to prove myself to her. She was for me homeschooling, but apparently thought we were going to go the classic curriculum based route.

[bente]

Hi everyone:

It is so nice to check in on these threads Dh is sick with some really nasty stomach virus and the whole house has a little impending doom feeling - I really don't want us all sick with this. A pipe in our wall broke so we can't use our shower, and we our waiting for the insurance company to come with an estimate, meanwhile we have to shower at the neighboor's and I really don't want to do that shuffle with puke in my hair

Other than that I am looking at one of our 3 christmas trees (the real one) and thinking it should be out days ago - but it sure is pretty, still! This weekend I want to make tamales and have a "get all the christmas stuff out" party.

It is cold here and snowing: This weekend is supposed to be really cold and lots of powdery snow so we will probably be out at our park playing all day. The cold makes me want to run away though - soooooo I put our apartment on one of those home exchange sites and have already got 3 really cool offers. Reykjavik, Seattle and Toulouse! So cool! It is really interesting - even if we never do an exchange, it really is fun. I am hoping for an exchange in Mallorca, Spain. That would be so wonderful. Not far from here, but warmer and really good coffee - and a nice little homeschool tribe to hang out with.

Now back to reading all your posts!

[rachelmarie]

I'm glad I'm not the only one whose dc watches (a lot of) tv. I guess I figure its okay since given a free moment I'm on the computer. No one tells me not to be since I want to be, you know? He wants to watch tv, so why shouldn't he? Its not like he doesn't do a lot of other cool things, too.

[rachelmarie]

Originally Posted by Earthy Mama

When my mom was visiting over Christmas I was trying to explain to her what we would be doing as far as "school" was concerned. She was confused as to why she wouldn't be getting tested and told me I needed to be up to date on the school's standards so she is on the same level as other kids her age. Uh, that was one of the main reasons I took her out of school! Because those "standards" are ridiculous!

I hate how I feel like I need to prove myself to her. She was for me homeschooling, but apparently thought we were going to go the classic curriculum based route.

My mom's a teacher and says she supports us wanting to homeschool our dc. What she doesn't know is that we'll be unschooling... I know its a good choice and I won't have a problem defending it especially since I can use a really good friend of mine, who was an unschooler and now has her master's in psych, as an example.

[pia]

Originally Posted by bente

Hi everyone:

Howdy Bente! Nice to see you here too!!!

Ds and I have been down with some mean&nasty flu over christmas and now it´s dh´s turn here too. He is : sitting on the sofa watching Star Wars. Not my favourite...so I am here.

Ds is on the sofa with dh....waiting for me to take him to bed. We finished reading a whole book earlier today. Really funny and cool book (Norwegian)...about a professor inventing a farting powder, two cool kids, two mean kids, an anaconda, a rat...and lost love in Paris! Thank you Bente!!!

[MarineWife]

Hi everyone. I secretly lurked on last months thread a little. This time I lurk in the open. I know we're going to be unschoolers whenever I decide we are schooling. Since I only have an almost 4yo and almost 7 month old in the house now I don't really think of us as doing school. I get so annoyed with the whole pressure to preschool thing. I know my children have been learning the unschooling way since they were born so I don't feel the need to call it anything, if that makes any sense. Once ds is school-age I guess we'll officially become unschoolers if people ask.

Right now we just hang around the house watching TV, reading, playing, cooking, cleaning...DS was in a dance class last year but didn't want to do it this year. He said it's too loud and makes him too busy (I just love that! hehe). I do worry a little about how we will unschool as ds gets older. I'm very much a homebody. I only go out if I have to. It's hard for me to take ds to the park every day or have field trips or outings a lot.

I have a question. What do you all think about magazines for kids? I got a flyer in my Motherwear clothing shipment for the magazines Ladybug, Babybug, Click, Spider and ask. Each one is geared toward a certain age range and/or a specific goal like reading or arts and science without any ads. I'm not a big fan of magazines. They just don't interest me and I find the information in them to be too limited. I need more. We used to get National Geographic for Kids for my oldest ds but he never got into them. I'm thinking my middle ds might like the magazines because he loves to look at catalogs and we could use them as an introduction to lots of subjects to explore further. Has anyone tried these or other? Was it worth it?

[mackysmama]

Originally Posted by MarineWife

I have a question. What do you all think about magazines for kids? I got a flyer in my Motherwear clothing shipment for the magazines Ladybug, Babybug, Click, Spider and ask. Each one is geared toward a certain age range and/or a specific goal like reading or arts and science without any ads. I'm not a big fan of magazines. They just don't interest me and I find the information in them to be too limited. I need more. We used to get National Geographic for Kids for my oldest ds but he never got into them. I'm thinking my middle ds might like the magazines because he loves to look at catalogs and we could use them as an introduction to lots of subjects to explore further. Has anyone tried these or other? Was it worth it?

I've looked into the ones you mentioned but I thought they were very pricey. My 5.5 ds gets Ranger Rick through the National Wildlife Federation and before that he got My Big Backyard, which is for younger kids. He likes it a lot. I agree that it doesn't give enough information but it does give him enough to know if he wants to learn more about a certain topic. It's a nice change every few weeks in our reading routine, they have great pictures, and its fun to get mail!

[wonderwahine]

this thread is all wonky, twice today it has said there is new posts, yet when i click, theres nothing!

[wonderwahine]

and now its not showing my posts........... uh oh

[wonderwahine]

mdc ate 3 posts.....

[pia]

Originally Posted by wonderwahine

this thread is all wonky, twice today it has said there is new posts, yet when i click, theres nothing!

I experienced thread-wonkiness yesterday too! See...that´s why there are three posts from me! Kept getting some database error and I never saw my posts until much later. :

[Needle in the Hay]

Only have a minute since I told DS I'd be right there to play "Battleground: Cannons & Catapults" with him. It's a battle set he bought yesterday with his Christmas money. He and DH were playing with it last night.

He also bought a bow and arrow set and a playmobil knight with cannon. Then we went to the cinema, back home on public transportation and to the post office to pick up a package my sister sent to him. She "adopted" a blue-footed booby for him from WWF (she sent a plush toy and picture of the adopted animal). She also found a book called The Blue Footed Booby Dance to send with it. At the PO he spelled TIREZ (pull) on the door handle and told me it what it said.

He woke up this morning asking me if I wanted to know which numbers have middles. He told me "3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 and many others have middles but if you count by twos starting with 2 those numbers don't have middles". Then he demonstrated this to me on his hands.

Off to battle. I'm guessing I will have to be the Orcs and DS will be the knights.

[wonderwahine]

Originally Posted by MarineWife

I have a question. What do you all think about magazines for kids? I got a flyer in my Motherwear clothing shipment for the magazines Ladybug, Babybug, Click, Spider and ask. Each one is geared toward a certain age range and/or a specific goal like reading or arts and science without any ads. I'm not a big fan of magazines. They just don't interest me and I find the information in them to be too limited. I need more. We used to get National Geographic for Kids for my oldest ds but he never got into them. I'm thinking my middle ds might like the magazines because he loves to look at catalogs and we could use them as an introduction to lots of subjects to explore further. Has anyone tried these or other? Was it worth it?

ds loves babybug, and I have got an issue of their magazine called faces, because it was an issue on my country. They are very well made magazines, not your nick jr on the shelf magazine crap for kids. The baby bug has a whole pile of poems and short stories in it, i have been getting it for ds since he was 7 months old.

[Needle in the Hay]

My DS loves magazines. We don't have any subscriptions at the moment, though. Sometimes we buy a bundle of back issues of various magazines that they sell over here. They throw in 4 or 5 different magazines for a few bucks. Some are what some people might refer to as "crap for kids" but I don't think so. Some of them do have ads, mostly for video games. My DS sees them more as part of the magazine though, not something to ask for.

Anyway my DS loves to look through these magazines. Some are Scooby Doo and Bugs Bunny and other characters and some are more instructive, such as knights, dinosaurs or geography. Some come with plastic toys, but since we are buying the bundle of back issues I don't think it is as bad. They are going to make however many they hope people will buy at full-price. The extras are either going to get trashed or sold at a huge discount.

He also loves the big Scrooge (as in Donald Duck's uncle) magazine. It's really a comic book the size of a catalogue that comes out monthly and I like that it doesn't come wrapped in plastic with a toy like so many magazines here do.

I often buy Nat'l Geo and I sometimes share some things in there with DS if I think he'd be interested.
ETA: This thread reminded me I wanted to order DS a subscription to a local nature magazine so thanks to marinewife for bringing this up!

[wonderwahine]

I wanted to clarify since i made the post half asleep this morning I don't think the nick jr etc magazines are crap, ds loves the nick jr characters, i ment more that they are full of advertising. I refuse to pay their prices for over half the content being ads!