Unschooling Voices #9

Hello everyone! :-) Welcome to the 9th edition of Unschooling Voices! There's information on how to participate in #10 (which will be out July 1) at the end of this post.

Please link to this post and help spread the word about all the great blogs participating. (Leave a comment here when you do so I can link back to you) Don't forget to add your pictures from this edition to our new Unschooling Voices Flickr Group. You can also add the technorati tag unschooling voices at the end of your submissions for some extra exposure.

This month we had 22 participants (I think that might be a record) and 33 submissions. We're also welcoming some newbies this month!

Mandy starts us off with pictures of her daughters making jewelry. She says "What better examples than creating art, developing entrepreneurial skills, social skills (her life-long, since birth, public school friend is spending the night-makes for some very interesting conversations as they compare what school is like and unschooling), spelling, to name just a few off the top of my head".

Melissa shared some great pictures of her family. She says "A big life means lots of pictures, lots of things going on. A big family living a big life means even more pictures. All of my children are involved in so many things, and it mostly means I run around like crazy facilitating, but it also means that we have a bunch of kids strewing with each other. So cool!" She describes them all on her blog so click on all the links to see her great big unschooling family!!

Cher at Cake For Breakfast (I just love that title) submitted a few posts. The first is a post about the freedom and opportunities unschooled children have to BE in the "real world" and experience things not common to other kids their age. The second is a typical unschooling day (NOT!), She said she chose this post to give people a view inside an average day in their house and to show the constant flow and movement learning takes for them. The third post shows kids can learn without being forced and it doesn't take "making" a child do something, to have them learn and experience new things.

Holly, from Unschooling Girls submitted her daughter Lucia's new blog. Lucia is a six year old unschooler who's been writing a lot of stories lately and decided she'd like to share them with others. Enjoy! I'll be sure to pass this along to Jacqueline who loves writing (and reading) stories also.

From the group writing blog Life Without School, Linda writes about not following the status quo. I loved this part; "They have permission to change the world, change this country, change their backyard, or just change themselves. They have permission to start something, put it down and try again later. They have permission to not have to do everything perfectly, to not be an expert. They can do things because it is fun, interesting, makes them feel good. It does not have to have any value to anyone else".

Stephanie at Throwing Marshmallows found a study that says that children can add and subtract without being taught arithmetic. She shares her favorite quote from cognitive psychologist Elizabeth Spelke of Harvard University; "We never dreamed that you could simply give children the symbols and they will succeed”.

Lill from Hawkhill Acres, who says she's an "opinionated mom working toward being better at this unschooling thing" (count me in too Lill!), shares her thoughts on the current trend toward busier lives and less time to just hang out and a few other things.

Sandra Dodd wrote about how unschooling has changed her. She also shared some pictures and says "That's what life is about: learning and building relationships".

Summer over at Wired For Noise reflects how she's changed from being workbook orientated to feeling less afraid and more open to learning in freedom. Also, from her other blog, Mom Is Teaching, she takes a look at some of the perks of homeschooling and what she's come to love about it.

I'm envious of Laura from Mind Chatter who's son, a teenage unschooler is building her a pond. I can't wait to see the finished product!

We interrupt this program for a very important public service announcement from Ren at Learning in Freedom. She has declared this week (and the other 51) to be Turn Off School Week! :-) Way to go Ren! She also submitted a slide show, that Geri put together, of their recent campout with unschoolers and homeschoolers from Families Learning Together at the North Carolina coast. Looks like everybody had a blast!

Silvia at Po Moyemu (Russian for 'in my opinion) says she was prompted to write this post by a professor who had asked her to speak to her college sociology class about how homeschooling had changed her. In it she writes about how homeschooling benefits the mother and how some people think homeschooling moms are losing themselves in their children's lives.

Tracy over at In My Head shares some recent pictures of what unschooling looks like in her house. (suddenly I'm in the mood for pancakes!)

Arp who blogs at Tiny Grass submitted a post where he looks back and sees unschooling and attachment parenting in his own childhood growing up in India.

Kelli from Our Joyful Life posted about how unschooling has changed her. I love what she write here; "Maybe that's where unschooling has changed me the most, it has turned a life of limits into a life of possibilites. We now make choices that matter to us in a deep important way".

Nancy at Into The Light shared a photo post about our unschooling experience. It is a collection of black and white photos of her kids doing different things.....capturing what unschooling really means to them.

Laurie from Learning Life Through Unschooling submitted a photo journal of what her creative unschoolers have been up to lately.

Nancy from Kansas Kskatzenjammers shared her "what unschooling looks like" photos of her boys discovering mud puddles. Take a look at the Unschooling Voices Flickr Group for a picture of one of them getting buried in the sand.

Kim over at Relaxed Homeskool blogged about how unschooling has changed her and she says "Unschooling has changed my life and my understanding of life in that it has reminded me how important play is".

Allan submitted a post from the Bastiat Free University blog, which I would describe as a self directed learning college for adults.

Here is my photo-blog of what unschooling looks like at this moment in our lives. Lots of cool stuff going on!

And last, but not least Queana has started a Digg-like site where you can submit blog posts. I submitted this edition of Unschooling Voices so head over and vote on it so it stays on the front page!

Don't forget to share the link to your unschooling blog (or website) at our Unschooling Squidoo lens.

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