Just wanted to say Hi

[sunshinesc]

:wave:

Lorna directed me to this forum. I'm very thankful she did so and my daughter will be joining soon. I'm a mom of 3 (15 yo, 14 yo, & 5 yo).

We have been trying to find a local support group but no luck so far. We have decided to start our own group for whole families to get together in the evenings and weekends. This way we aren't leaving DH out of the activities. I'm not sure how to go about finding others in our area but then again I guess any area would be welcome.

We are also starting down a new homeschooling path. We have been reading lots of information on unschooling. Does anyone else here unschool? It's a big lifestyle change and a hard discission to make.

Charlene

[Dianna]

:wave:

Lorna directed me to this forum. I'm very thankful she did so and my daughter will be joining soon. I'm a mom of 3 (15 yo, 14 yo, & 5 yo).

We have been trying to find a local support group but no luck so far. We have decided to start our own group for whole families to get together in the evenings and weekends. This way we aren't leaving DH out of the activities. I'm not sure how to go about finding others in our area but then again I guess any area would be welcome.

We are also starting down a new homeschooling path. We have been reading lots of information on unschooling. Does anyone else here unschool? It's a big lifestyle change and a hard discission to make.

Charlene

Charlene, welcome to our forums! Where do you live? Maybe we have some members who live in your neck of the woods. :smile2:

Regarding unschooling, my oldest son was almost totally unschooled for most of his life. It worked well for him, but he wanted more structure as he got older - especially in high school. For my other children (so far), we've found that a combination of methods work best for our family - more structured for the skill areas (math, writing, foreign language) and self-learning (unschooling) for the content areas of science, social studies, reading, literature, whatever.

A great book about unschooling is Mary Griffith's Unschooling Handbook. Have you read it?

Again, welcome aboard! We're glad to have you with us! :smile2:

Warmly,
Dianna

[sunshinesc]

We live at the top of Easley in Dacusville. Another support group suggested I put flyers out at the local grocery stores. I might try that.

My daughter loves being unschooled. She so excited about life now. I can already see the changes in her. I haven't read Mary Griffith's book, thanks for recommending it to me.

Charlene

[SChomemomof3]

Glad to see you got here. What is Sam doing in school now? How is it different than what you all did before? Do you have anyone signed up for the group so far?

Lorna

[sunshinesc]

Samantha's day's are alot different now. Before I would say "time for school," and we would gather our notebooks, pencils, workbooks/textbooks, or whatever else we would be using that day. We would then do assignments, read together and talk about the subject matter. Now I never use the word "school". Sis usually gets up somewhere around noon and gets something to eat. We usually sit together and chat about anything she wants to (something new for us). Then she might watch some t.v. or play video games. Since starting unschooling my daughter hasn't quit moving.... She is designing a flower bed for the front of the house and knows which type of flowers will go where. She planted herbs, planned and cooked complete dinners three times, she went shopping on her own twice, she started cross stitching, she watches cooking shows (she even has her favorite chefs now), she plans outing with friends, she started and manages an online penpal group for unschoolers, she is learning Spanish and she almost always says yes when I ask her to do something, knowing she has the option to say no. Her attitude toward the family has changed drastically. She talks with us about friends, her feelings, or anything that is on her mind. Sorry this got so long winded but it just amazes me what she has chosen to do in just two weeks. Another thing that amazes me is that she has always struggled with learning math and yet the majority of her activities involve math and she has willing learned it in order to accomplish the goals she set for herself, she doesn't even struggle with it. I guess we are considered radical unschoolers because we decided to take on the unschooling philosophy and apply it to our whole life. No rules or punishments, just trust and respect. There are still things DH and I are learning and applying but on the whole we are all alot happier and have more fun now.
Charlene

[Dianna]

Charlene, that's wonderful to hear! I'm so glad it's made such a change in your daughter. Have you ever visited Sandra Dodd's website at: http://sandradodd.com/ ? She has a lot of unschooling information on her site that you may find helpful as you continue.

Dianna

[SChomemomof3]

What is she using to learn Spanish?
Her flower garden sounds nice. Are they up against your house?

Lorna:wave:

[sunshinesc]

Dianna,
Yes, I love Sandra Dodd's sight and also Joyfully Rejoicing too. I think I've just about read everything there is on both sights, plus I'm in two email groups with Sandra. Another website I've just discovered is The Natural Child Project. My hubby and I have been practicing the "Ten Steps that Transform Anger into Compassionate Connection". After reading through it about 5x's we decided this could help any communication that you might have with anybody. I know just about every unschooler says this but I'll say it anyhow. I just wish we had started unschooling sooner.


Lorna,
She uses this CD called "Passport to 35 Languages". She loves it. She can hear the words and repeat it back and it tells her if she is native or foreigner. LOL It has alot of great features like; being able to click on objects in a picture and it telling her how to pronounce it, being able to learn whole phrases, it has flash cards, a matching game, a dictionary, and 35 other languages that she could learn. It is very visual and hands on learning. To me the next best option to learning with this CD would be to get someone who speaks the native language to teach her.
Her flower bed will be right in front of our front porch. She ordered the flowers yesterday and can't wait for them to come in so she can start planting them. Her herb garden is in flower pots in our living room. Three of the pots have really grown but she forgot to label them, so until they are fully grown she can't tell what they are. :lol:

Charlene