Unschooling Voices #13 has been posted. The link and details for participating in edition #14 can be found at the
Unschooling Voices main page.
If anybody is interested in hosting an edition on their blog, please let me know.
:-)
Just a mid-month reminder to send in your entries in for the next edition of Unschooling Voices. Click the link for details.
If you want to submit using blogcarnival.com, we have a widget in the left sidebar or you can email:
unschoolingvoices AT yahoo
Also, if you're interested in hosting, please leave a comment! :-)
For some strange reason, I haven't been able to log into blogcarnival.com for a long time. After a few back and forth e-mails with someone, I was finally able to get into my account and start updating the Unschooling Voices page over there.
If you'd like to be included in the current edition, please send it to unschoolingvoices AT yahoo.com, before the end of this month. The more the merrier! :-) Click on the Unschooling Voices main page for the details.
Unschooling Voices #12 will be hosted over at Relaxed Homeskool and Kim chose this edition's (always optional) question(s) of the month:
1)Write the unschooling manual for a newbie in 400 words or less- have fun!
2)Take the Unschooling Images Challenge and describe your unschooling experience using pictures. Here's the questions but you can add more or change them at will:
*Your favorite resource
*One field trip they loved and learned on
*The game they love so much they don’t realize it is educational
*What you’ve “strewn” lately
*Everyday task where they pick up lots of info
* A resource you have always wanted to purchase for the children but keep putting off
*What your kids think school is really like
* Best place to unschool
If you'd like to host a future edition, just let me know. :-)
unschooling+voices unschoolingvoices unschooling homeschooling
Happy New Year and welcome to Unschooling Voices #11!
This edition has 11 participants and 13 submissions. Take your time and stop by all these great blogs. Leave a comment while you're there and tell them we sent you! :-)
Pam Genant over at Meanderings of a Gentle Gull shares her unschooling journey with us by telling us what brought her and her family to unschooling. She also posted about something that comes up a lot on the unschooling lists, candy and sugar.
Colleen, who blogs at The New Unschooler whose submissions "shows that I'm learning a thing or two about respecting my child's feelings and taking him seriously. It's about two very similar situations with vastly different outcomes. What made the difference? The first time I fell back on my standard parental response and the second time I applied the principles of unschooling. You can probably guess which scenario produced the happy ending".
Becky submitted a post from her blog Life Without School and says "My six year old son is learning to read, and I didn’t teach him how!"
Stephanie from Learning Through Living answers the (always optional) question of the month with her post.
Mandy at Second To The Right, And Straight On Till Morning also submitted a post answering this months question.
Mary Nix, Editor and Writer for Home Education Magazine (and someone who has given a lot to the homeschooling community) says she wrote her post after being inspired by this months question.
Sally shares a post "about my intention to revisit my January posts from previous years blogging. I find that I'm often revisiting the same issues. However, it is fascinating to find how much you also move on over time, sometimes, pleasingly, toward the goals you hold".
From the Life Without School community blog, comes a post by Tammy who says "Letting my kids have their own intellectual jam sessions, that's what we are doing when we let them follow their interests. And when I can (which is pretty often), I jam right along with them. And together, we make music."
Also from the Life Without School Community Blog, Robin submitted a post on a topic that came up recently on one of the unschooling lists...Unschooling As A Single Parent by Becky.
Silvia over at Po Moyemu updates us on her radical unschooling journey.
Robin from The Miracle That Is My Life says this about her submission, "We are doing our best to live a radical unschooling life and learn respectful parenting. This particular entry is about my son's transition into toddlerhood and the beginning of the demands for autonomy. Our RU life looks a lot different now that Sam is no longer just a cheerful little soul concentrating all his efforts on putting one foot in front of the other. His undersanding of the world and his place in it grows every moment of every day and he wants to experience everything and has developed a fine and hearty voice of protest. Learning to respect this is both challenging and extraordinarily wonderful to me."
Rounding up the posts is my submission, which is an older one, being I haven't been blogging much these last couple of months. Here are some pictures from a recent day out with our homeschool group to a nature trail.
There you have it! Thank you to everyone who participated this month. Unschooling Voices is going to be doing a bit of travelling the next few months, starting at Kim's blog, Relaxed Homeskool for Unschooling Voices #12. If anyone is interested in hosting a future edition, let me know. I've posted Kim's question for the next edition-don't forget to send them in before Feb 1st. :-)
Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoy this edition!
Just a little FYI to all the blogs who participated in this edition of Unschooling Voices (#10). According to the mybloglog stats, from November 1-4, 1,439 people viewed Unschooling Voices #10. As far as outgoing links (people that clicked on a blog link), because I use the free version they only show me the top ten, but those ten accounted for 617 outbound links.
According to Google Analytics, there have been 1,799 views for Unschooling Voices #10 and there have been 819 total outbound links from the time it was posted until yesterday morning.
To visit the blogs that have been linking to Unschooling Voices, click "blogs that link here", in the right sidebar. Thanks again!
Thank you for reading and participating. :-)
I just send out an e-mail to all participants of Unschooling Voices and figured I should post it here also. I'll just copy the e-mail here.
Hello everyone!!
I wanted to take a few minutes to update all of you on the status of Unschooling Voices. As most of you know, my family suffered a tremendous loss in July when my mother passed away (it's so hard to even type that). Tomorrow will be three months and we're slowly getting back into our routine while taking care of her estate and working through our grief. I've just started blogging again and I want to thank those of you who have posted condolences and thoughts to me on my blog. They mean so much. My mother & I were very, very close and every day I feel the loss of not having her in my life. She was a big part of my children life and my daughters miss not having their Mom-Mom around to sew and garden with them. My husband was extremely close to my mother and he chose to be with her, when I couldn't do it, in the last hours of her life when I had to make the decision to remove her from her respirator. He held her hand and played Janis Joplin & Led Zeppelin (the music she loved) for her on a CD player as she crossed over.
I'm looking forward to getting Unschooling Voices back up and running. In keeping with the timeline of past editions of the first of the month, as of right now, I'm hoping for November 1. I was going to try for Oct. 1 but wasn't able to make the deadline. We're up to issue #10 and the question for that issue is located here:
Unschooling Voices Main Page
All the details and information regarding Unschooling Voices can be found on that page, including links to issues 1-9. If you have a blog or website, please share that link so others will find out about it.
So keep sending in those submissions. At last count, I think I received 32 so far and they will ALL be included in the next edition.
Thanks again...I'm looking forward to reading and organizing this next edition. If you have any questions that i didn't cover, feel free to reply. It may take me a bit to get back to you, but I will.
Hugs, Joanne
Sorry it didn't wasn't posted yesterday. We've been having bad lightning storms all week and I keep everything shut off when that happens and yesterday our electricity was out for several hours during one of the storms. I'll have it up this week. If anybody still wants to participate, feel free to e-mail your submission. All the details can be found by clicking the "Unschooling Voices" link in the right sidebar. (not the left sidebar-that's past editions)
Thanks!
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.
Want to participate in the next edition?
Want to read past editions?
Unschooling Voices Information.
I hope you enjoyed this edition! Tell me what you thought!
This month I asked the participants of Unschooling Voices to share pictures of what unschooling currently "looks" like in their family. To me...unschooling is about having the time and freedom to express yourself and follow your heart. That's what these pictures reflect.
Jacqueline (front) and Shawna play with a rotten egg. Why? Because it's gooey and fun.
Shawna (left-age 11) and Jacqueline (age 8) both bridged this year in Girl Scouts. Bridging is when you move up a level. Shawna, who just started Girl Scouts this year, moved from a Junior to a Cadet. Jacqueline, who is a four year Girl Scout, went from Brownies to Junior.
Jacqueline has been making Barbie doll clothes...out of balloons. Balloons!!! I'm inspired by her creativity.
One day I walked in Jacqueline's room and noticed her blackboard. This is what she does for fun.
These photos are part of the Unschooling Voices Flickr group. All participants of Unschooling Voices are welcome to add their photographs.
Just a quick post to say hello! :-) Your e-mails have meant the world to me. The support I receive from my online buddies always makes me feel thankful.
I've been working on the next edition of Unschooling Voices which will be out on June 1st. There's still time to partcipate if you haven't sent in your submission already. Check the post below this one or click Unschooling Voices in the sidebar. Please help spead the word by posting a link on your blog or website.
Also, I just created an Unschooling Voices group on Flickr. Stop by and add your photographs for this edition! It's totally brand new and empty! Let's fill it up with unschooling. :-)
I have a lot to share with all of you and I'll be back to regular postings after June 1st. (((Hugs))) :-)
Being it's already the middle of the month, I'm going to wait until June 1st to put our edition #9. My mom just came home after being in the hospital for over two months and getting her set up with in-home care has become more time consuming than I originally thought.
Feel free to continue sending n your submissions until May 31. :-) See the Unschooling Voices main page for details.
Thanks so much for understanding. I love the submissions I've received so far!
A big THANK YOU to those who linked to Unschooling Voices #8. If I forgot anyone, leave the link in the comment section and I'll add it right away.
Please take a few minutes to visit the following blogs (and websites). I bet you find some new ones that you didn't know about. :-)
1. Kelly Lovejoy, coordinator of the Live and Learn Conference who mentioned Unschooing Voices in her article in Connections.
2. Mary Nix, editor of Home Education Magazine's blog.
3. Why Homeschool
4. Robins Blue Skies
5. Mandaroo
6. Relaxed Homeschool
7. Apple Stars
8. A Typical Homeschool
9. Mom is Teaching
10. KS Homeschool
11. Dare to Know
12. The Lilting House
13. The Varela Family
14. Doc's Sunrise Rants
15. Life Without School
16. Sea, Sand and School
17. Sandra Dodd
18. Life With my Sweeties
Here's the link with details for participating in Unschooling Voices #9. Submissions are due on or before April 30th.
Don't forget you can share the link to your blog on the Unschooling Squidoo Lens. At last check, we were #84 in the education category.
Related Tags: unschooling, unschool, unschoolers, unschooling voices, unschooling carnival, unschooling blogs
Welcome!
There were two (always optional) questions for this edition.
(#1) Use the letters U-N-S-C-H-O-O-L to write about unschooling. Use what ever method you want, for example you can use each letter like "U is for...N is for.."or you can have each letter start a new sentence or paragraph or try writing an acronym.
(#2) A topic that comes up on the unschooling e-mail groups a lot is TV/computer/video games and how hard it is for parents to let go of control in those areas. What has been your experience?
This month we had 13 participants and 19 submissions. Welcome to the new bloggers! :-)
As you click the links that take you to the different blogs and sites, I encourage you to comment on the ones that you particularly enjoy (tell 'em we sent ya!) or maybe offer some words of wisdom to someone at an unschooling crossroads. As you read, keep in mind that everyone who participated is at a different place in their unschooling journey.
Schuyler starts us off with an insightful post about why quitting doesn't mean failing. She says "I can remember clearly being asked if I wanted to be a quitter. I didn't then, but I'm absolutely fine with it now. If I didn't quit things I wouldn't have time for all of the amazing things my life is full of in this moment".
Here's a two part post from Cindy where she shares an honest look at her sons first experience with formal education with a community college program and what it did for her own unschooling journey. I especially like this part "My job is to trust the process while stretching the thoughts and reactions that society's expectations for this age at this stage in this generation face".
Next is a post I enjoyed so much that I asked Holly to submit it here. It's an excerpt from a letter she wrote to the superintendent of her school district after resigning from her job as a high school teacher, which explains why she decided to unschool.
One of the questions this month was about screen time (tv/computer/movies/ videos) and why this seems to be one of the hardest areas for a lot of unschooling parents to let go control of.
Robin's submission touched on a lot of my own thoughts and I find that this statement from her post"...because we have a relationship based on mutual trust and respect, instead of power and control, they trust our opinions..." speaks volumes about the unschooling lifestyle.
Tracy submitted a post on television, that speaks for a lot of us at one point or another on our unschooling journey. She had this to say "Though I've long considered myself an unschooler, letting go of restrictions on television time was something I really struggled with. It took me a while to understand that by putting restrictions and guidelines on television, I was increasing its value... something like a scarce resource that had to be taken advantage of while it was available".
Here's Laura's post on letting go of media control. I especially liked this part "It does take trust. But I completely trust my children. I know that they will learn what they need to know when they need it. I’m just here to facilitate that journey. Oh, and learn a whole lot on the way!"
Another voice on this topic is Cher. She ends her post with this; "They’re all tools, waiting to be used, to be explored, to be delved into. Kids don’t need controls on them, they need help using them and being adept at using them, and they need a guiding, honest hand. Like apprentice carpenters who need help learning how to use the tools of their trade; the hammers and nails and saws and drills and more, kids need the same help using the tools of their trades. Not restrictions or controls, but a guiding hand'.
Melissa sent in two posts....the first is about "how unschooling the TV brought algebra into Josh's life". I found this post very familiar because my eight year old daughter wants to learn algebra after watching Apollo 13. The second is a great list (I'm a list lover!) of what children can learn from video games. Don't forget to take her poll at the bottom of the post.
Schuyler also adds her second post this edition on this topic. She says it's "a history of my life with video games. It includes a bit on overcoming a fear of them and fully embracing a life that includes dancing and laughing and rolling up the sun and pairing up with Goofy and Donald to save the universe from Organization XIII". (I'm lovin' the visual on that!)
Dayna Martin starts off our word play with an acronym she and her family came up with.
U - Unaccepting
N - Nonsense
S - School
C - Could
H - Have
O - On
O - Our
L - Lives
I lifted Schuyler's off her video post because I thought it was fantastic.
U - Unschooling,
N - Not
S - Schooling
C - Can
H - Help
O - Overcome
O - Obstacles
L - (to) Learning
The prize for the most creative post goes to Mandy. She submitted a picture of a page from her daughter's altered book that she did the word play on. Great job on the book! I'm looking forward to seeing the one for your other daughter. Also, thanks to Mandy, we now have our own Unschooling Voices flickr tag which will come in handy for the next edition.
Also check out Kim's, Melissa's, Cher's and mine. If anybody else wants to take a shot at it, send it in and I'll include it next month. It was kinda fun doing it. :-)
This submission from Allan is not particularly about unschooling, but posts that speak about the ramifications of school may help someone who is thinking about removing their children.
If you post a link to this months installment on your blog or site, please let me know (by leaving a comment here) so I can thank you with a link back. :-)
Please note: The main page for UV has been moved. Please update your bookmarks. Unschooling Voices
The next edition of Unschooling Voices will be out on May 1st. If you'd like to participate, click the Unschooling Voices main page for details. The new (and always optional) question for the month, plus past editions, can also be found there.
I wanted to create a blog-ring for those of us who participate in Unschooling Voices, but haven't made the time. Until I do, please add your unschooling blog (or website) to the Unschooling Squidoo Lens. It's been steadily moving up the ranks and starting to get a lot of visits from people wanting more information and understanding about unschooling. These "lens" (as squidoo calls them) were created to be a jumping off point for people new to a particular topic. Theres spots for you to add unschooling blogs, websites, etc and add your thoughts on unschooling. If you have trouble adding it, post here and I'll do it for you.
Until next month. :-)
Related Tags: unschooling, unschooling voices, unschool, unschoolers, unschooling carnival
The next edition of Unschooling Voices will be out on April 1st. Please have your submissions in before then so I have time to put it together. :-)
Here is the link with all the details. If you'd like to answer the question for the month, you'll find it at the bottom of that page, along with past editions.
I'm enjoying the ones I received so far so keep them coming! :-)
This edition was supposed to be out on March 1st but as I posted here, some family issues had to be taken care of. Thank you all for your e-mails and comments. They meant a lot to me.
Related Tags: unschooling voices, unschooling carnival, unschooling, homeschooling
*updated post on bottom*
I'm going to have to hold off on putting it together this month (March edition: #8) due to some issues in our family that need my focus and time. My mom is in the hospital and things with Cimion are very stressful right now. Unschooling Voices is something I put a lot of pride into and I don't want to just slap it together.
Keep sending in your submissions and I'll have #8 out on April 1st. Here's the link to read past editions or get information on how you can participate. Thanks for understanding.
*update* I know I was vague in my original post and I decided to add a few more details because it's such an important part of our adoption journey (which I documented on this blog).
At the time we adopted our children they were 5, 8 & 11. They're now 8, 11 & 14. (They're biological siblings) The older two suffered severe abuse and extreme neglect while still in their birth home and emotional trauma in foster care (they were is foster care for four years) and they both came to us very angry and hostile children but over time (and with a lot of help) my middle child has overcome a lot of the obstacles that stood in her way of having a happy life. My oldest has not and instead has continued on his downward spiral. Over the last few months he has increasingly become more violent, angry and aggressive...mostly towards me. I was prepared for this early in our adoption process....having talked extensively with his caseworkers and therapists about how *in his mind*, the love from a mother equals pain and abuse and he will do all he can to push me away to protect himself from my "love".
I'm not sure where we'll go from here. We're just as committed to him as they day we became his parents, although we know we cannot be responsible parents to any of our children while living with someone full of anger and agression.
Please keep Cimion in your thoughts. Through this whole ordeal, my heart goes out to him because he struggles with psycological issues that were put upon him by the same adults who should have had his best interest at heart.
Please also keep my mother in your thoughts. She's been my rock for so long and it's very hard to see her health declining. She's the ultimate optimist, always looking at the bright side and always grateful for each new day. I've learned so much from her and my husband and daughters adore her. She was supposed to come out of the hospital but she fell in their bathroom and needs to stay longer now.
Thank you for leaving such thoughful comments. It really helped me to read them and I appreciate your taking the time to write it.
Thank you to the following bloggers for linking back to Unschooling Voices #7. If you're not listed, please leave the link in a comment and I'll be sure to add you . Thanks so much!!
This month I'll be working on an Unschooling Voices blog ring. I'll have more information about it with Unschooling Voices #8.
Wired for Noise
Avec Mes Zebres
Trictomania
Life is Learning, Learning is Life Year-round
Why Homeschool
Throwing Marshmellows
Dare to Know
Just Enough and Nothing More
Zamozo on Unschooling
Related Tags: unschooling, unschoolers, unschool, homeschool, homeschooling, homeschoolers, unschooling voices, unschooling blog carnival
Welcome!! :-)
As you click the links that take you to the different blogs and sites, I encourage you to comment on the ones that you particularly enjoy (tell 'em we sent ya!) or maybe offer some words of wisdom to someone at an unschooling crossroads. As you read, please keep in mind that everyone who participated is at a different place in their unschooling journey.
If you post a link to this months installment on your blog or site, please let me know (by leaving a comment here) so I can thank you with a link back. :-) I'll be creating a blog ring just for participants of Unschooling Voices which will be available when the next edition comes out.
This month's (always optional) question was on deschooling…either yours, your child’s or both. Tell us about it. What is/was it like? Personally, I found that I needed to deschool more than my kids. Do you find that to be true?
This edition of UV had 19 participants and 21 submissions
Let'st start off with our five e-mail submissions. They were from Laura, Raquel, Karen, Sherry and Kim.
Sarah sent in her submission with thoughts about her own deschooling process.
Meredith, (whose posts I enjoy reading on Unschooling Basics) blogs about deschooling along side her 13 year old stepson.
Nancy submitted two (I love it when participants send in more than one) blog posts. The first , she says "reflects my thoughts about all the resources that are available to new and potential homeschoolers and how that ties in with being obsessed about learning". The second "is a collection of random thoughts I recognized after attending my first homeschool convention last summer". Nancy also had this to say "I consider myself to be in the process of deschooling. My
children are still preschool age, so we are exploring many things. I hope to continue this exploration through our entire homeschooling time".
Beth shares her honest thoughts about her deschooling journey.
Sally writes about "how we have de-schooled (and de-universitied) simultaneously with our eldest daughter, who is now in Delhi instead, and how it has strengthened our relationships and our intention to avoid schooling her younger siblings, who have never been to school".
Cher has a "couple of thoughts from the summer about our experiences with deschooling. We found it doesn't follow a hard and fast rule, but like everything else about unschooling, is a completely individual journey"!
Mandy writes about "our journey from public school, to eclectic homeschooling, to charter, to unschooling. And how as a mother the deschooling has been more of an obstacle for me rather than for my children. Deschooling math was the biggest obstacle for my daughter, who I recently heard, after playing with her Bratz laptop, "Mom, this makes learning fun!"
Chris submitted two very thoughtful and interesting blog posts on deschooling. Here is one and the other is here.
Melissa writes very openly about "deschooling me".
Rachel says "this is about our transition from school to feeling comfortable with unschooling with young children. Trusting the process but not seeing the process work. Waiting and changing our approach. Experiencing a new way to parent. Watching peace trickle in. Recovering love."
I'll bring up the rear on this months topic with a post about my deschooling path and how it started.
Now on to the three rebels who didn't post about the topic of the month. :-)
Summer aka Mama Chaos submits an article she wrote titled "Unschooling:What is it and is it Right for You"?
JoVE writes about "paradoxes of unschooling".
Kim blogged about her top ten homeschooling mistakes.
I really enjoyed reading everyone's submissions this month and I think this was a great edition. Thank you to everyone who participated. I hope to see all of you again next month.
Unschooling Voices # 8 will be out March 1st. I've posted two questions, one is something fun and the other is an topic that comes up often. To add your voice (and read past editions), please click here.
To help people find out more about unschooling, I created a Google Co-op and a Squidoo page on Unschooling. You can add the link to your unschooling blog or site to both pages.
Also add the unschooling sites you like visiting. It's brand spanking new and I've added a little bit to both sites for now but I'll be adding more next week. If you see any mistakes or such, please let me know. The Squidoo "lens" (as they're called) is more interactive. If you can, please add a link from your blog or site. Thanks!
Related Tags: unschooling voices, unschooling carnival, unschooling, unschoolers, unschool, homeschooling, homeschoolers, homeschool
Unschooling Voices is a monthly collection of writings (mainly from blogs) on the topic of unschooling.
Details:
You can submit up as many posts as you'd like.
They can be old or new posts.
You can even submit a post that you read on someone’s else’s blog (don't forget to ask their permission).
While most of the submissions are from blogs, Unschooling Voices welcomes all kind of information of interest to the unschooling community such as web pages, press releases, news stories, interviews, etc.
We'd also love to hear from the unschoolers themselves. Share your children's stories, pictures, art work or web sites.
Submissions from new and seasoned unschoolers are equally welcomed!
FYI:
Your blog doesn't have to be an "unschooling blog" to participate...just the post you sent in. Not every blogger who unschools has unschooling as the main focus of their blog.
I’ll suggest a topic question each month (if someone else is hosting, they can use their own question) for those who may like a specific topic to write about but you don’t have to use it. Or you can, and also send in something else. We're real flexible...when in doubt, send it in. :-) You can also answer questions from past months at any time. Just jump right in.
Just in case it comes up, anti-unschooling (is that even a word?) posts will not get through. Someone who is trying to understand unschooling and wanting advice on their doubts is fine. This is also not the place for posts about curriculim, unit studies, lesson plans or "making" children learn.
If you can link to this post somewhere on your blog or website or it would help to get the word out and be very appreciated by all of us who participate.
If you've participated before and would like to host an edition of Unschooling Voices on your blog or website, please leave a comment here.Editions:
Issue #1 July '06
How did you and your family come to unschooling?
On podcast
Issue #2 August '06
Do you extend the principles of unschooling (trust, freedom, etc) into any other areas of your child's life?
Issue #3 September '06
(submitted by Laurie) "I would love to hear other unschoolers thoughts regarding allowance or payment for odd jobs or whatever you want to call it. I see a major benefit from the kids managing their own money but I’m not sure that I want to pay an “allowance” to the kids every week. But if I pay per job, do I pay to have them clean their room or do I only pay for odd jobs? Anyway, I’d love to hear the other thoughts/ideas/methods other unschoolers incorporate".
Issue #4 October '06
Unschooling Math: If you’re like me and went to public school, you grew up being taught math from a text book. Now, as an unschooling parent, how do you live math when you’ve been conditioned to think of math in school terms. How do you go from one to the other?
Issue #5 November '06
On the topic of support in unschooling...how much do you have from family & friends? Are there other unschoolers near you or do you belong to an offline unschooling group? How important is having that support?
Issue #6 December '06
What interesting activites, projects or experiments have your kids done this past year? We've gotten some really cool ideas from other unschoolers so tell us what you've done in 2006! (Please remember this is an unschooling carnival.....don't submit something that smells like school. LOL)
Issue #7 February '07
The topic is deschooling…either yours, your child’s or both. Tell us about it. What is/was it like? Personally, I found that I needed to deschool more than my kids. Do you find that to be true?
Issue #8 April '07:
There are two topics this month. Answer both, one...or neither and blog about something else (#1) Use the letters U-N-S-C-H-O-O-L to write about unschooling. Use what ever method you want, for example you can use each letter like "U is for..., N is for..". Or you can have each letter start a new sentence or paragraph or try writing an acronym. (#2) A topic that comes up on the unschooling e-mail groups a lot is TV/computer/video games and how hard it is for parents to let go of control in those areas. What has been your experience?
Issue #9 June '07:
How has unschooling changed YOU? Yes, it’s about the kids, but is it ONLY about the kids? I sometimes think unschooling has changed me more than them. What are your thoughts? Also, here another short, just-for-fun question this month; share two photos that show what unschooling currently looks like in your house at this time.
Issue #10 November '07
Two questions again - please remember they're always optional. First, what advice would you have given to yourself early in your unschooling journey? Second, ask your kids to take pictures of their favorite ________ (favorite whatever; person, place, thing, etc). Don't forget to share them on our flickr group.
Issue #11 January '08
Unschooling through the ages: How, if at all, does unschooling look different as your child ages and grows. Is it different now than it was a few years back? What role does age play in unschooling?
Issue #12 Feb. '08
This months two questions were submitted by Kim at Relaxed Homeskool, where issue #12 will be hosted. Answer both, one or neither.
1)Write the unschooling manual for a newbie in 400 words or less- have fun!
2)Take the Unschooling Images challenge and describe your unschooling experience using pictures. Here's the questions but you can add more or change them at will:
*Your favorite resource
*One field trip they loved and learned on
*The game they love so much they don’t realize it is educational
*What you’ve “strewn” lately
*Everyday task where they pick up lots of info
* A resource you have always wanted to purchase for the children but keep putting off
*What your kids think school is really like
* Best place to unschool
Related Tags: unschooling voices, unschooling carnival, unschooling blogs, unschooling, unschool, unschooled, unschoolers
