can someone recommend an Unschooling forum?

[dancer67]

Not a yahoo group, but a forum similar to this one, that offers information, and you can post questions?

 

One that is fairly active?

 

Thanks

[Tangerine]

Mothering.com has a forum for "Learning at Home and Beyond" with a subforum for unschooling. It isn't quite so expansive as this, since the mothering community is much broader in terms of topics covered.

 

http://www.mothering.com/discussions/forumdisplay.php?f=50

[Oakblossoms]

I second the Mothering board. It's great!

[LittleIzumi]

All the actual "unschooling" boards seem to be insanely slow. We have a classical unschoolers social group here but it is also rather slow sometimes. I'd think Mothering is your best bet.

[dancer67]

Thank you!!:001_smile:

[IsabelC]

http://www.liberatedlearning.info

 

http://www.joyouslearning.info

 

http://www.sandradodd.com/unschooling

 

The first two are Australian based, the last one US based.

 

There are many more (Google them!) but those are the only ones I've really been on much.

[Hillary in KS]

I don't know..... I think this forum resembles an unschooling forum most days. :lol:

[specialmama]

Unschoolers forums don't have a lot of action because everyone's waiting for someone to show an interest in something... :lol: oh man, there's got to be a joke in there somewhere, and if I weren't in excruciating pain and awake way past bedtime, then I bet I'd find it! I'm so close it hurts! :lol:

[asta]

Unschoolers forums don't have a lot of action because everyone's waiting for someone to show an interest in something... :lol: oh man, there's got to be a joke in there somewhere, and if I weren't in excruciating pain and awake way past bedtime, then I bet I'd find it! I'm so close it hurts! :lol:

 

I was trying to think of a polite way to say something along the lines of "oh my, you're brave to wander into those waters..."

 

 

a

 

 

(not the unschooling waters, the unschooling FORA waters...)

[Ginevra]

Unschoolers forums don't have a lot of action because everyone's waiting for someone to show an interest in something... :lol: oh man, there's got to be a joke in there somewhere, and if I weren't in excruciating pain and awake way past bedtime, then I bet I'd find it! I'm so close it hurts! :lol:

__________________

 

:lol::lol: That is the joke! Way to spot it out!

[Mrs Mungo]

Going to Mothering is a nice break for me since I'm a raging conservative there. :lol:

[specialmama]

:lol::lol: That is the joke! Way to spot it out!

 

:w00t: bahaha! Thanks! I sort of tried :lol:

[Corraleno]

I was trying to think of a polite way to say something along the lines of "oh my, you're brave to wander into those waters..."

(not the unschooling waters, the unschooling FORA waters...)

 

I was thinking the same thing! When I was first exploring homeschooling I joined lots of different lists/usergroups to get an idea the different approaches. One of the first threads I read in an unschooling forum, the OP was complaining that her DH didn't like the idea of their son playing video games and eating candy all day, and various other members jumped in to assure her that she was doing the right thing and she should not give in to her DH's demands that she "dictate" what DS had to do or eat. A newbie innocently questioned this and was attacked, called a troll, and immediately driven off the board. I was :eek:

 

In another unschooling group, a mom posted that her teenage boys were mad at her because she never taught them math. She said she just laughed at them and said it was their own fault because they never asked for it. :blink:

 

I know unschooling can be a terrific approach for some families, but most of the groups & lists I looked at just seemed like a bunch of people looking for validation that letting their kids do nothing but play Grand Theft Auto all day not only constituted good mothering but useful schooling as well ~ and woe betide anyone who dared to suggest otherwise!

 

Jackie

[EthiopianFood]

I was thinking the same thing! When I was first exploring homeschooling I joined lots of different lists/usergroups to get an idea the different approaches. One of the first threads I read in an unschooling forum, the OP was complaining that her DH didn't like the idea of their son playing video games and eating candy all day, and various other members jumped in to assure her that she was doing the right thing and she should not give in to her DH's demands that she "dictate" what DS had to do or eat. A newbie innocently questioned this and was attacked, called a troll, and immediately driven off the board. I was :eek:

 

In another unschooling group, a mom posted that her teenage boys were mad at her because she never taught them math. She said she just laughed at them and said it was their own fault because they never asked for it. :blink:

 

Wow, what forums were these? Also, just to play devil's advocate, I think the APPROPRIATE unschooling response would be to say, well, if you want to learn math, how can you do that now? I guess I would also say that if her kids have that attitude in the first place, then they never learned a MAJOR skill that unschooling is supposed to teach, i.e. taking responsibility for your own learning, and knowing how to find information when you need it.

[LittleIzumi]

I was thinking the same thing! When I was first exploring homeschooling I joined lots of different lists/usergroups to get an idea the different approaches. One of the first threads I read in an unschooling forum, the OP was complaining that her DH didn't like the idea of their son playing video games and eating candy all day, and various other members jumped in to assure her that she was doing the right thing and she should not give in to her DH's demands that she "dictate" what DS had to do or eat. A newbie innocently questioned this and was attacked, called a troll, and immediately driven off the board. I was :eek:

 

In another unschooling group, a mom posted that her teenage boys were mad at her because she never taught them math. She said she just laughed at them and said it was their own fault because they never asked for it. :blink:

 

I know unschooling can be a terrific approach for some families, but most of the groups & lists I looked at just seemed like a bunch of people looking for validation that letting their kids do nothing but play Grand Theft Auto all day not only constituted good mothering but useful schooling as well ~ and woe betide anyone who dared to suggest otherwise!

 

Jackie

 

There is a difference between unschooling and radical unschooling, and extremes can be taken in any learning style. I think most unschoolers are working very hard to educate their children--like jumping all over that question about math!! Besides, they can't want to learn about something if they don't know about it! This is why I haven't really tried to join any of the slow unschooling forums--the main postings seemed to be about radical unschooling and I'd be tossed out on my bum for using bits of curricula and some structure (because *I* need it, lol) :lol:

[prairie rose]

Yup, huge difference between unschooling, radical unschooling and downright not schooling. We've unschooled in the past. It was great, when I had the time to put into it. We read books a lot and investigated everything. I made sure language arts were covered daily even if we were just discussing grammar mistakes they or others made. I made sure they practiced writing on a regular basis and would go through the revising process with them. Math was easy to include in every day things when they were young. We played games with math and had them help with or do the math in cooking and travel. At night after they were in bed, I would spend time researching different bunny trails we could explore with their most recent interest and always maintained a running list of skills that we were working on and what could be introduced next. Most unschoolers I knew were like this. No one used curriculum but everyone had a plan and kept introducing new ideas into their children's lives. It was a lot of work but I enjoyed it...that is until it became too much and I decided that I needed someone else to do some of the planning. ;)

 

I think I participated in the Mother Unschooling forum from time to time but when we were unschooling I was usually too busy either learning with my kids or doing the legwork to make sure we always had new ideas coming in to spend a lot of time on a forum. My biggest support when we unschooled came from other local unschoolers.

[Caraway]

Going to Mothering is a nice break for me since I'm a raging conservative there. :lol:

 

 

:lol: Me too. Between there and here I can almost feel like there is a middle ground.

[coffeefreak]

Going to Mothering is a nice break for me since I'm a raging conservative there. :lol:

 

:lol:

[coffeefreak]

Sometimes we're unschoolers. Like today. Right now, we're watching a Phineas and Ferb marathon my dad burned for us, and logging each episode on a 3x5 index card. I'm tired of the girls wanting to watch one certain episode and fighting over which of the 4 marathon discs it's on.

 

But later, my left brain mind will win the struggle and we will do school, in our schoolroom, and accomplish the 3rs. That's why I like these forums. We're all kinds here. I think everyone's welcome and no one fits in a box.:D

 

Blessings!

Dorinda

[EthiopianFood]

It was a lot of work but I enjoyed it...that is until it became too much and I decided that I needed someone else to do some of the planning. ;)

 

I'm not sure if you're still checking this thread, but I had to ask: how did this transition go? Do your children still enjoy school? Are they independent learners? Are they learning as much? What are you using now for curriculum? :001_smile:

[tdeveson]

Going to Mothering is a nice break for me since I'm a raging conservative there.

 

:lol::lol::lol:

[WishboneDawn]

I was thinking the same thing! When I was first exploring homeschooling I joined lots of different lists/usergroups to get an idea the different approaches. One of the first threads I read in an unschooling forum, the OP was complaining that her DH didn't like the idea of their son playing video games and eating candy all day, and various other members jumped in to assure her that she was doing the right thing and she should not give in to her DH's demands that she "dictate" what DS had to do or eat. A newbie innocently questioned this and was attacked, called a troll, and immediately driven off the board. I was :eek:

 

In another unschooling group, a mom posted that her teenage boys were mad at her because she never taught them math. She said she just laughed at them and said it was their own fault because they never asked for it. :blink:

 

I know unschooling can be a terrific approach for some families, but most of the groups & lists I looked at just seemed like a bunch of people looking for validation that letting their kids do nothing but play Grand Theft Auto all day not only constituted good mothering but useful schooling as well ~ and woe betide anyone who dared to suggest otherwise!

 

Jackie

 

On the flip side I used to be a radical unschooler and was involved in the old Unschooling.com forum with others, including Sandra Dodd. It was made pretty clear when you joined what we were about and that newbies should read posts for a week or two in order to see if we were the forum for them but inevitably we'd have people who'd jump in looking for good "unschooling" math curriculums or wanting their hands held when they decided radical unschooling was a bit too scary. It got old after awhile.

 

I never found my fellow posters rude though. They were a lot like many of the women here in some respects. They took it for granted that posters were mature women who deserved good criticism and didn't put a lot of stock in the endless handholding that goes on on some boards. So we got a reputation for being snarky. Oh well. We also explored a lot of neat territory in radical unschooling that wouldn't have been explored otherwise.

 

I'm obviously not a radical unschooler anymore but I learned a lot on that board (and Sandra's email list).

[Faithr]

I think I was scarred for life by the unschooling.com forum. I had the audacity to question whether my kids actually had learning disabilities. Whew that was nasty!!!! I never went back. I think the difference at the WTM board is that there is true diversity. You can be a WTMer or a CMer or be relaxed or even an unschooler and you will not get hounded off the boards. At the US forum you had to be politically correct OR ELSE. I found it a bit amusing, after my wound healed, that folks who were so into letting their kids find their own way were so hard on their fellow parents who dared to question! A real disconnect there! Of course this was about 11 or 12 years ago.

 

I still borrow lots of ideas from unschooling but I decided to go my own way and then I found a nice group of Catholic unschoolers who were way more tolerant. I try to combine LCC with lots of free time for the kids to follow their interests.

[Jenny in GA]

I used to be on Unschooling.com too! I have many of Sandra Dodd's conference CDs. I still enjoy her as a speaker, even though I'm clearly not unschooling anymore.

 

We left unschooling because, after many fights, my husband flat-out insisted on it. Now I'd so glad that we did.

 

When we were unschooling, my oldest was only five and six years old, so I think that worked well. (I also was not quite as radical as most of them, which I thought was either a failing of mine or possibly just a personality difference.) But now when I sometimes read the unschooling boards, or talk to my one unschooling friend, I think, "No way is that our thing!"

 

For example, my friend recently told me that she truly had no problem with her teen sons wanting to play World of Warcraft for as much as six hours a day, every day, if they wanted to. They learn a lot by playing it, she told me. She also said once that, in the morning, she'll say to her sons, "What would you like to do today?" and it's perfectly acceptable -- and common -- for them to say, "Nothing."

 

That's the big thing in the unschooling community -- they learn by everything, and all learning is equal.

 

No wait, that's not true: They learn the most by what interests them. So if watching Sponge Bob for hours a day is what interests them, they will learn more if you let them do that than if you gave them a math or writing assignment. Their words, not mine.

 

I had dug out one of my old unschooling conference CDs, and it struck me how different these folks really were from me:

 

The speaker had a daughter who was almost six. Since they followed the girl's own sleep and eat schedule, the parents often find themselves making her macaroni and cheese at one in the morning, and the like. The speaker said, "It's a pain, but I find that if I just do it and don't complain, it goes much smoother."

 

The same speaker also talked about how her daughter would not let anyone brush her hair, and how she had a "wad" that they were embarrassed about, for about a full year. Finally, the girl announced that she wanted her "wad" to get cut off. The parents happily got the scissors and "discovered several inches of sticky hair underneath that needed to washed." EWW! When I listen to that now, it sounds like borderline neglect.

 

The point of the story was that the girl eventually did decide to take care of her hair, and it was more meaningful because it was her own choice.

 

So anyway, it's pretty wild. It cracks me up that I used to be there, and now I'm here! How different can you get?

 

And they are very dogmatic, although it's true that you are "warned," so to speak. I do like Sandra's stance that "supporting" someone, especially a stranger, is not about cooing and coddling and telling them that they're a good mom, and whatever they're doing must be right.

 

Jenny

[coffeefreak]

The speaker had a daughter who was almost six. Since they followed the girl's own sleep and eat schedule, the parents often find themselves making her macaroni and cheese at one in the morning, and the like. The speaker said, "It's a pain, but I find that if I just do it and don't complain, it goes much smoother."

 

The same speaker also talked about how her daughter would not let anyone brush her hair, and how she had a "wad" that they were embarrassed about, for about a full year. Finally, the girl announced that she wanted her "wad" to get cut off. The parents happily got the scissors and "discovered several inches of sticky hair underneath that needed to washed." EWW! When I listen to that now, it sounds like borderline neglect.

 

The point of the story was that the girl eventually did decide to take care of her hair, and it was more meaningful because it was her own choice.

 

So anyway, it's pretty wild. It cracks me up that I used to be there, and now I'm here! How different can you get?

 

And they are very dogmatic, although it's true that you are "warned," so to speak. I do like Sandra's stance that "supporting" someone, especially a stranger, is not about cooing and coddling and telling them that they're a good mom, and whatever they're doing must be right.

 

Jenny

 

:001_huh:

Dude. The inmates were running the asylum in that case. YIKES!

[asta]

To me, it was all just too much like the late 60s, early 70s gone very, very bad.

 

 

a

[forty-two]

I find radical unschooling sites to be inspiring - they remind me that the best way to "train up my children in the way they should go" is by first training myself up :tongue_smilie:. I need to be living the life I want my kids to lead, and whipping myself into shape - leading by example - is a far better use of my time than is nagging others ;). And I find I have more to talk about with unschoolers than most non-classical homeschoolers.

 

But I'm still not an unschooler, though I sometimes want to be, despite having core philosophical differences. I use lots of unschool-y ideas, though.

[Jenny in GA]

And I find I have more to talk about with unschoolers than most non-classical homeschoolers.

 

 

Could you elaborate on that?

 

It seems like classical homeschooling and unschooling are almost polar opposites. Why would you have plenty to talk about with those homeschoolers, but not so much with homeschoolers that don't fall into either camp?

 

Just curious,

Jenny

[WishboneDawn]

I find radical unschooling sites to be inspiring - they remind me that the best way to "train up my children in the way they should go" is by first training myself up :tongue_smilie:. I need to be living the life I want my kids to lead, and whipping myself into shape - leading by example - is a far better use of my time than is nagging others ;). And I find I have more to talk about with unschoolers than most non-classical homeschoolers.

 

Yup. I think that's one of the biggest things I got from homeschooling. It starts with the parents and recognizing their roles in how their kids behave, approach learning, etc. No sense in whining about your kids' behaviour on the old Unschooling.com board for instance if you weren't willing to take a cold, hard look at how you were behaving around them.

 

To put my two cents in on Jenny's question I'd think maybe it's because some non-classical homeschoolers just don't seem as passionate. They purchase their CLE, ACE, or Abeka curriculums and then talk about their kids' accomplishments. With classical HSers or unschoolers I can and have talked about Homer, algebra for fun, Campbell's Biology text and the virtues of the Harvest Moon video games.

[forty-two]

Could you elaborate on that?

 

It seems like classical homeschooling and unschooling are almost polar opposites. Why would you have plenty to talk about with those homeschoolers, but not so much with homeschoolers that don't fall into either camp?

 

Just curious,

Jenny

To put my two cents in on Jenny's question I'd think maybe it's because some non-classical homeschoolers just don't seem as passionate. They purchase their CLE, ACE, or Abeka curriculums and then talk about their kids' accomplishments. With classical HSers or unschoolers I can and have talked about Homer, algebra for fun, Campbell's Biology text and the virtues of the Harvest Moon video games.

:iagree: This.

 

My hs'ing approach - LCC/traditional classical - isn't all that common outside of classical lists, and in all the curriculum talk, no one - in my limited experience, as I don't spend much time on general lists/forums b/c of it - ever seems to talk about the curricula I'm interested in. As well, there just isn't that much talk about theoretical issues, homeschooling or otherwise, just nuts and bolts advice that doesn't apply now, and - b/c of differing hs'ing and parenting styles - probably won't ever apply.

 

But unschoolers talk about all sorts of things, and about life in general. As well, my parenting philosophy and general outlook on life matches up well with that held by most unschoolers, so that is a strong point of commonality.

 

(Quick disclaimer: I know precisely *one* hs'er irl, who goes to my church, and is relaxed/eclectic, with a special needs kid. We are good friends, but don't discuss hs'ing much except as it comes up in talking about our kids. All of my experience with the hs'ing community is online, mostly on classical lists and unschooling lists.)

[LittleIzumi]

 

For example, my friend recently told me that she truly had no problem with her teen sons wanting to play World of Warcraft for as much as six hours a day, every day, if they wanted to. They learn a lot by playing it, she told me. She also said once that, in the morning, she'll say to her sons, "What would you like to do today?" and it's perfectly acceptable -- and common -- for them to say, "Nothing."

 

 

:lol: If dd says she wants to do "nothin'" then she gets to take a nap, as that's the only way to truly do nothing. She usually finds something better to do instead. :D (Although for her alternative to be playtime is perfectly acceptable for me right now.) She likes learning too much to go a whole day with really "nothing."

[Faithr]

Can I digress and tell a funny story about my now 17 yo son? A couple of years ago he got to play World of Warcraft. I think his dad finally allowed him to play it (is it rated M?) but after playing it for it two hours, he decided he didn't want to ever play it again because he realized he'd never be able to stop. He saw his life being sucked away by it.

 

And my 14 yo basically lost a friend via World of Warcraft. His friend was allowed to play World of Warcraft before he was and his friend got so into that it is all he talks, lives, breathes.

 

Anyway, this is something I have trouble with in unschooling the fact that all learning is seen as having the same value. I just think this is a very relativistic way to approach things. There are objectively some things that are more important to know than other things! So I don't think playing a videogame for hours on end is as rich, character developing, mind-expanding, etc as other things. One might very well learn some good and positive things from video games and it might segue into learning other things. BUT it is often not a very efficient way to do things and it is very hit or miss if it actually does lead to something greater. We've only got so much time on this earth and only so much time to prepare to become independent and I do think you need to get some basic learning under your belt. Also I didn't like my kids being seduced by and then basically raised by pop culture which to me is what unlimited tv/gaming becomes. And it made my kids so concerned with their own entertainment above all else. To me it really skewed values.

 

So while I probably let my kids watch way more tv/play computer/videogames a lot more than other folks, I still don't let it be unlimited. It just isn't healthy for a growing boy to be sitting around the house all day entertaining himself. It is such a 1st world issue. Any other place the kid's time would be way more valuable because he'd have to be actually producing things and helping out his family. I mean I think this kind of issue is a result of being too rich and having too much leisure time.

[IsabelC]

I find radical unschooling sites to be inspiring - they remind me that the best way to "train up my children in the way they should go" is by first training myself up :tongue_smilie:. I need to be living the life I want my kids to lead, and whipping myself into shape - leading by example - is a far better use of my time than is nagging others ;). [.....]

But I'm still not an unschooler, though I sometimes want to be, despite having core philosophical differences. I use lots of unschool-y ideas, though.

Ditto.

[IsabelC]

You might also be interested to check out this blog

http://yes-i-can-write.blogspot.com/

For some stuff from the POV of somebody who was unschooled, with a few links to others.