Comments on: This kitchen will be the death of us http://www.thiswomanswork.com/2005/04/25/this-kitchen-will-be-the-death-of-us/ dawn friedman's blog Mon, 01 Dec 2008 22:11:10 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc By: Kath http://www.thiswomanswork.com/2005/04/25/this-kitchen-will-be-the-death-of-us/#comment-12895 Kath Tue, 26 Apr 2005 23:45:29 +0000 http://thiswomanswork.com/?p=1517#comment-12895 The journey of being at home with the kids has been an interesting one. I marvel at how far I have come. From school at home, to eclectic, to unschooling, to child led. Now it is just so much a part of our lives that it doesn't really have a name. (But that is only in the now.) The best thing we do for both kids and the stay at home adult is organize and attend a weekly park day. There is a central one that has a playground where we meet when the weather is warm and it also has a heated shelter with indoor picnic tables and flush toilets for winter. (I use the term organize very loosely here. It means that I make sure that news of it is in the calendar of events each month and other than that I leave it alone.) PS. have you read Inside Transracial Adoption? If so what did you think of it? The journey of being at home with the kids has been an interesting one. I marvel at how far I have come. From school at home, to eclectic, to unschooling, to child led. Now it is just so much a part of our lives that it doesn’t really have a name. (But that is only in the now.)
The best thing we do for both kids and the stay at home adult is organize and attend a weekly park day. There is a central one that has a playground where we meet when the weather is warm and it also has a heated shelter with indoor picnic tables and flush toilets for winter. (I use the term organize very loosely here. It means that I make sure that news of it is in the calendar of events each month and other than that I leave it alone.)
PS. have you read Inside Transracial Adoption? If so what did you think of it?

]]> By: corrie http://www.thiswomanswork.com/2005/04/25/this-kitchen-will-be-the-death-of-us/#comment-12894 corrie Tue, 26 Apr 2005 20:31:43 +0000 http://thiswomanswork.com/?p=1517#comment-12894 I think you said it best - "there is no unassailable truth about education." I'm glad you are able to educate Noah in the way that works best for you. I am glad your neighbors are able to educate their kids in the way that works best for them. Etc, etc, on and anon. I think you said it best - “there is no unassailable truth about education.”

I’m glad you are able to educate Noah in the way that works best for you. I am glad your neighbors are able to educate their kids in the way that works best for them. Etc, etc, on and anon.

]]> By: chris http://www.thiswomanswork.com/2005/04/25/this-kitchen-will-be-the-death-of-us/#comment-12893 chris Tue, 26 Apr 2005 20:21:32 +0000 http://thiswomanswork.com/?p=1517#comment-12893 I had a really long comment full of all my wisdom (you'll just have to believe me ;-)), but then my battery went dead on mylaptop and I lost it all. So now I'll just give a really lame, I agree. We've been unschoolers, we've had curriculum, we've muddled along and so far everyone seems fine. And the only reason we swing back and forth between these various things is because of me and my own needs. On a completely unrelated note,I have a friend who has password protection on her blog only for certain entries. I had a really long comment full of all my wisdom (you’ll just have to believe me ;-)), but then my battery went dead on mylaptop and I lost it all.
So now I’ll just give a really lame, I agree. We’ve been unschoolers, we’ve had curriculum, we’ve muddled along and so far everyone seems fine. And the only reason we swing back and forth between these various things is because of me and my own needs.

On a completely unrelated note,I have a friend who has password protection on her blog only for certain entries.

]]> By: shannon http://www.thiswomanswork.com/2005/04/25/this-kitchen-will-be-the-death-of-us/#comment-12892 shannon Tue, 26 Apr 2005 19:36:28 +0000 http://thiswomanswork.com/?p=1517#comment-12892 Even the most regimented educational systems are really so very arbitrary. When I look back over my own education, which was fabulous--but entirely by accident--I realize how at any stage something could have gone an entirely different way and I could have ended up somebody else. Partly this is because my interests are so wide-ranging that I can imagine many different outcomes. But all of my education decisions were made by factors outside my (or my parents') control or else in ways that were seemingly petty or arbitrary at the time. So I guess if unschooling is marked by a sort bouncing around from interest-to-interest on the part of the child then it's no more arbitrary than school would be. And who's to say what arbitrary bounce is better--the one that puts a Baptist kid in Catholic school because the local first grade PS burned down a month before the fall semester or the one that sends a six year-old to the library for every book on lizards that was ever written? Life is long, the world is big, there are infinite things to know. It's all kind of unschooling, when it comes right down to it. Even the most regimented educational systems are really so very arbitrary. When I look back over my own education, which was fabulous–but entirely by accident–I realize how at any stage something could have gone an entirely different way and I could have ended up somebody else.

Partly this is because my interests are so wide-ranging that I can imagine many different outcomes.

But all of my education decisions were made by factors outside my (or my parents’) control or else in ways that were seemingly petty or arbitrary at the time.

So I guess if unschooling is marked by a sort bouncing around from interest-to-interest on the part of the child then it’s no more arbitrary than school would be. And who’s to say what arbitrary bounce is better–the one that puts a Baptist kid in Catholic school because the local first grade PS burned down a month before the fall semester or the one that sends a six year-old to the library for every book on lizards that was ever written?

Life is long, the world is big, there are infinite things to know. It’s all kind of unschooling, when it comes right down to it.

]]> By: LisaV http://www.thiswomanswork.com/2005/04/25/this-kitchen-will-be-the-death-of-us/#comment-12891 LisaV Tue, 26 Apr 2005 03:57:13 +0000 http://thiswomanswork.com/?p=1517#comment-12891 Dawn do you have to give Noah any kind of standardized test or prove to your district you are educatiing him? Just curious, we would have to here. I agree with you on the testing thing. Some people are good test takers but retain little knowledge beyond that. Our 7th graders had quizzes this year on Africa, they have never had anything like that. Some of them really got into it and loved the feedback, others could not have cared less. Dawn do you have to give Noah any kind of standardized test or prove to your district you are educatiing him? Just curious, we would have to here.

I agree with you on the testing thing. Some people are good test takers but retain little knowledge beyond that. Our 7th graders had quizzes this year on Africa, they have never had anything like that. Some of them really got into it and loved the feedback, others could not have cared less.

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