Rainey":398aymek said:
So this post is to say how proud I am of my son who has finally set up his own website for the instruments he builds.
Wow, that is incredibly stunning work!!! Hubs is a guitarist, so I showed the site to him. He said "They are pretty, but how do they sound?" so we watched the video of the guitar being played, and I am happy to report, he approves. :mrgreen:
macksmom98":398aymek said:
And I believe that if we all worried less about a 4 yr college education and concentrated on what we like doing and are good at we would be a more productive and happier nation.
Amen to that.
Stephanie":398aymek said:
My middle son, when he was 15, asked to be allowed to take the GED and stop being schooled. He wanted to go on to college. When he went to take the test and was awaiting the test to begin, he questioned the teacher about what the average score was on the test. If I remember correctly, the highest possible was 200, and the teacher said that she had never seen anyone get much over 120. Respectfully, my son told her that he would do much better than that. She didn't believe him. He scored over 190.
Way to go!!!
My youngest, Colliepup, has only taken one test in his life. It was for his hunting license (when he was nine, so not yet eligible to get it) and scored 97%.
SoDak Thriver":398aymek said:
The curriculum that made me feel so free then feels like a cage now and I'm ready to take that step and add some "unschooling" to our day.
We unschool! I highly recommend it.
SoDak Thriver":398aymek said:
Math? Well, that's not going to get done unless we sit down with a workbook. :lol:
My kids use workbooks if and when they want to... but actually just learn math through daily living mostly. Queenpup learned fractions by baking.
heritage":398aymek said:
A week or two ago my ILs were talking about college and my oldest chimes in (quite loudly) "Well, I'm not going to college" - the room went silent, all eyes on us :shock: .
:lol: Good for him. It isn't a prerequisite, but people sure are brainwashed into thinking you need to amass a huge debt in order to be successful in life.
Rainey":398aymek said:
By the time my first child was 6 we had to buy a dictionary of word origins (in the old days before you could find all that info on the internet) because she was driving me nuts asking why do we call it x and I often didn't know.
I love exploring word origins- especially the Latin roots. "Tri is the Latin word for three, which gives us words like tricycle, triangle, tripod..." and so forth. Knowing the Latin roots gives you a key to decoding unfamiliar words.
heritage":398aymek said:
I want to branch off... I want nature study to be a HUGE part of our day... I want, I want, I want... I just suck and implementing it
The problem there is your mindset; "I just suck at
implementing it."
Forget about implementing- take advantage of opportunities as they arise. Found a chrysallis in the garden? Stick it in a jar and see what hatches! Hiking near a pond? Collect some frog spawn and bring it home.
MaggieJ":398aymek said:
I liked to call it the Flint, Steel and Tinder method. The child's mind, coming into contact with new ideas and subjects, strikes sparks. I did my best to ensure the tinder was there to catch them. Then I fanned the flames gently. A surprising number took hold.
That is unschooling in a nutshell.
heritage":398aymek said:
my youngest is melting down over water
How about adding a slice of lemon or orange to his water? Or mint sprigs? We like herbal teas, especially the berry flavored ones. I make a concentrate and keep it in the fridge (takes up less space than a pitcher of tea) and we just add water to it once it is poured in a glass.
Rainey":398aymek said:
We started when it wasn't so well known and my two are all grown up but i'm still interested to hear how it's working for other people. And I like to see where kids' interests take them.
Thanks for sharing- it's nice to hear from others who now have adult home schooled children. I especially like hearing how creative their career paths are!!!
Mine are 19, 17, and 13.
I pulled my two eldest from school when they were about to go into 3rd and 4th grade. The whole concept of sending them off to school went against my mothering instincts- I had raised them all since birth, being a stay at home mom, and suddenly someone else was raising
my kids for a big chunk of the day.
And the homework! There was hours of it, so what in the world were they doing during their daily incarceration?!?
At first we went through a charter school (only to mollify Hubs- I wanted to unschool from the beginning) and I didn't like that because we were just bringing government schooling into our homes. The only benefit I saw to it was the lack of peer pressure and bad behavior that is picked up in school.
Colliepup, my youngest, has never been in a school at all, except for a month or two doing the charter school kindergarten program. The absolute inanity of the curriculum really clinched it for me- he finished the math textbook in less than a month- largely because it had exercises such as "Color the square red. Color the triangle yellow." and other such drivel. Those are things that are learned in the daily course of living, and in my opinion it is a colossal waste of time to have anyone sit around and do that type of "work".
Firstpup would have done fine in a traditional school setting, in an academic sense. Queenpup, on the other hand, shut down completely, and this continued with the charter schooling. There were subjects (math in particular) that she simply was not ready for, and it didn't matter how I tried to approach it she just didn't get it. It made me frustrated and angry since I was always a good student, and here she was just not grasping any of the concepts.
I knew that I was on the path to ruining her forever if we continued and that was when I put my foot down with Hubs and told him we needed to unschool. Both he and his family thought I had gone off the deep end. Taking them out of school was bad enough, but to have no curriculum?!?
"How will they learn? Kids are lazy, they are just going to sit around playing video games and watching TV all day! How will they ever be able to hold a job if they don't learn to be on a schedule now? How will they be socialized? You are making the biggest mistake of your children's lives!"
In answer to the above questions;
How will they learn?
The same way everyone learns before and after compulsory schooling- by pursuing their interests and doing their own research... whether through books, online information, or finding a mentor.
Kids are lazy, they are just going to sit around playing video games and watching TV all day!
Kids are NOT lazy. They are hardwired to learn- this is why little ones drive their parents to distraction with all of the how and why questions. Think of what they learn before pre-K, all on their own. They learn to crawl and then walk. They learn a language, without any flashcards or workbooks. They learn how to feed themselves, open cabinets and doors, throw a ball, dress themselves, build a block tower, and the list goes on and on and on.
Are there times they play video games or watch TV? Certainly. Those things come and go in waves, just as we pursue most of our interests. But they are much more likely to read, and do so daily.
How will they ever be able to hold a job if they don't learn to be on a schedule now?
Err... money, the great motivator?
This one came up early on in our unschooling. A friend would often pop by the house to visit and was appalled because Queenpup would be asleep at 10 or 11 in the morning. Why? Because she was up until 2 or 3 a.m. the night before.
Reading. :roll:
Last year both Queenpup and Firstpup worked at a huge cattle ranch here that has a "Guest Ranch" during the spring and summer months, and have just started again this year.
Queenpup is a child counselor and guides a bunch of kids through their daily activities. Firstpup started as a field hand moving irrigation pipe in the hay fields, but soon became a jack of all trades. He works in the kitchen and dining room, cleans the pool and grounds, redid a concrete path, paints outbuildings, and generally does whatever is necessary. His boss is constantly scrambling to find more work for him because he finishes his assignments so much faster than is expected.
Queenpup also has a large client base for ranch/pet sitting. Two of her clients have her stay overnight at their homes when they are away. She cares for their dogs, cats, horses, goats, donkeys, chickens, ferrets, and plants.
Colliepup finds work weedwhacking, painting fencing and outbuildings, and has seasonal work at a dog boarding and training facility.
How will they be socialized?
This question amuses me, because it is so backwards.
The fact that children are grouped by age in a compulsory school setting is one of the most damaging aspects of the system in regard to their development. The only time in life that we interact with a group of peers based solely on age is when in school.
Is it any wonder we see such problems with bullying and other undesirable behaviors, when we put a bunch of kids with little life experience in packs? There is no opportunity for them to benefit from the wisdom and experience of their elders, or the "elders" to find joy in helping those younger than themselves and helping them with their studies.
We have a large community of homeschooled kids in our area, and they interact with all age groups. They are kind to one another, and always willing to help those that are younger than themselves or developmentally disabled.
You are making the biggest mistake of your children's lives!
Well, apparently not.
People constantly tell us that our kids are the smartest kids they have ever met.
One of our neighbors commented "Your kids are good even when they don't have to be." That one completely threw me for a loop- "Huh? What do you mean by that?!?" She answered "Even when nobody they know is watching, they are always so polite, respectful, and helpful. They aren't good just because they think it will get back to you if they aren't."
As a matter of fact, we hear those same sentiments from everyone that interacts with our kids. Even complete strangers will comment "Your kids are homeschooled, aren't they?"
Their work ethic is also legendary in our community... every year there is a huge fundraising rodeo for the local schools, and the kids (and Hubs and I) do a lot of volunteer work. Meanwhile, the students that actually benefit from the money generated by the event want no part of it. It is like pulling teeth to get them to put in an hour or two working the snack bar or helping to serve the breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Contrast that to Colliepup who complains that they wont let him work
enough.
Firstpup actually has a paid gig at the event as well, keeping the trash in the camping area and general event collected, and making "dump runs" with the bins. A local ranch hand asked one of the board members in charge of the event "Who is that kid? He is working harder than anyone here. I want him on my team."
They also help at the monthly food giveaway, packing the boxes of food and carrying them out to people's cars... and Queenpup helps at the annual Christmas craft event at the church where the kids make gifts for their families.
Miss M":398aymek said:
I believe that a college education used to be a good thing. I believe it is still necessary for some fields, particularly engineering-related fields.
Today there is a pervasive myth that a college education is necessary for everyone, but that simply is not true. They cite numbers touting how much greater an income college educated people have- but those numbers are skewed by very few academic degrees, such as those in medicine, engineering, or law. Students that choose more esoteric studies are usually simply saddled with a huge debt to repay with no practical application for their degree.
Firstpup wants to be a mechanical engineer, so he found the Kahn Academy online and started studying higher math after a chance meeting a couple of years ago in a grocery store with an older gentleman (complete stranger) who happened to be in that same field and asked Firstpup about his math skills. Good thing he found "Kahn", because once the alphabet gets involved in mathematics, my brain shuts down the same way Queenpup's did! :lol:
Firstpup is 19 now, and is taking a couple of classes at a community college. When he took his entrance exams he tested so high in language arts that they only have one course- "Expository Composition"- that is suitable for him. He kind of botched the math exam- he didn't know to skip over the portions he didn't know and continue with the things he did know- and was placed in a lower class than he needed to be in. When he took the pretest in the math class the first day, the professor came to him and told him he was in the wrong class and needed to be bumped up.
Queenpup wants to open a bakery so plans to just take some business courses in college- whether she gets a degree or not is up to her. She really wants to be a stay at home mom and wife, but feels like she should also have an income. She and I are looking into taking a food safety course so that she can start her business under the Cottage Food Laws and begin a home based business.
Colliepup hasn't yet decided what he wants to do- but he is only thirteen, so there is plenty of time.
Right now he has a fascination with tanks- who knows where that will go!
