
Pam Sorooshian wrote:
Unschooling happily and successfully requires clear thinking.
—Pam Sorooshian
photo by Janine Davies
What ways have you found to continue your own learning? What kinds of things have you gotten interested in since having kids?Sandra Dodd's response:
My kids have introduced me to music, movies, games and humor I wouldn't have known otherwise. It's been wonderful. Kirby moved nearly two years ago, but he still sends me recommendations for things to see and hear. I've met lots of unschoolers and their children, and corresponded with 20 times as many; from them I've learned more and more about unschooling.
Looking up through the list of jobs, I will give as many shift-starting-times as I can remember, and you might wonder if someone who had grown up with a bed time and a regular schedule could ever hold a job.
AM | 6:30 8:00 9:00 10:00 11:00 |
PM | 1:00 3:00 4:30 5:00 6:00 |
How do you feel about the word "permissive" to describe unschooling and the lifestyle surrounding it? (I'm hearing this word a lot when trying to explain unschooling to family and friends...)My response was:
"Permissive" is a term of insult used by and among people who feel the right and duty to control.
It was used by aristocrats of other aristocrats who were not reigning in their servants to the point that was recommended to keep them in line.
It's used by strict teachers who demand silence and obedience in the classroom, of other teachers who actually engage in dialog with their students, and unscripted dialog at that, which could lead anywhere, instead of just leading to the correct answers in the book, and preparing people for the test.
Don't look as "permissiveness" as though it exists in nature. See it as the pejorative term it is, and see the beliefs of the only people who can use it: controlling people trying to make others be as controlling as they are.
Yesterday was David's birthday and we had guests. I left dishes in the sink when I went to bed. I got up early with the dogs but then went back to bed. When I got up later Dylan had done the dishes. He said "I know you really like to do the dishes mom, so I hope you don't mind, but I just felt like doing them."
Dylan is twelve.
I *know* living life joyfully makes a difference in the way our kids see us and the way they see the little things that make life better.
Kai's self-confidence surprises me all the time. He is happy to go talk to strangers anywhere, and teenagers. On his first day signing up for soccer Kai took a ball to a teenager and asked him if he wanted to play with him and Brett (my husband). That totally floored my husband, who couldn't have imagined going up to a strange teenager when he was seven, let alone asking them to play soccer with them (the teenager did play with them, they had fun).—Jo Isaac
In the dark? Feel your way blindly?
How will you know which way to go?
Probably it would be better to gather ideas that will help with decision-making and then make decisions in the bright light of everything you know, and the way you would like to be.
PLAY is the work of childhood. Play IS the work of childhood. Play is THE work of childhood. Play is the WORK of childhood |