I got my Christmas present early. I don't know if it was just my begging and pleading or if he just wanted his too, but either way it works out for me. There is a tiny little problem though. I have a bad pixel on my brand spanking new iBook. This is something that would have taken me months to notice but Mr. Monkey noticed right off the bat and had a small fit over it. Then I got to thinking about how wonderful Apple's technical support is about replacing defective things quickly and had a small fit too. When my other powercord shorted out it took about six weeks to talk them into sending me a new one. All because I mentioned the word "shock" in my description of what happened, it became a federal case that had to be researched and decided upon for weeks. Anyway, I still love it. Even flawed. That is the kinda girl I am.

I have been in contact with an unschooling member of our support group and am excited about getting to mingle and get some input. I know that not all of you, maybe none of you, will approve of or understand this seemingly natural progression. I wanted child led learning from the very start. I wasn't convinced it was acceptable or normal to be so relaxed about things. It isn't really socially acceptable to be more concerned about finding out what your children want to know instead of what they need to know to be "at grade level". At this point, I just really don't care anymore. I would like to get to know some other people who don't care.

People, in general, when they first meet children or when they are visiting a "school aged" child that they haven't seen in awhile seem to always ask them the same thing. "What grade are you in?" and "Are you getting good grades?" They don't ask them what they are interested in or whether or not they are happy. I always wonder why, when we go back to the "school at home" thing, we are all cranky and fighting and crying and miserable because it is boring as all hell, and what we really want to be doing we can't because we have so much work to do to.

Deep down I think I am more confident about the whole thing than I am willing to admit. I think that all my internal struggling has been the fear of getting into trouble for doing what comes naturally. Every day I see the great things that come from my children when they are handed unlimited resources and given creative freedom and unlimited time to be curious and explorative. I see sparkle in their eyes and smiles on their faces. In a perfect world this is what everyone would see in their children. That would be one of the more important things in a child's life, not what grade they are in. I wish people would sit back and watch their children a little more, and control their learning process a little less. They might gain a new perspective. Protecting them is a different story. I think people don't protect the innocence of children the way they should. I think young children shouldn't have to carry burdens of adult problems. That may go against the fundamentals of unschooling in that you aren't giving them the entire life experience. I think that should come with emotional maturity. I think there are some issues children shouldn't have to deal with until they are mature enough to handle them. I don't think that you should lie to them about things to protect them, but I don't think you should go out of your way to expose them to mature issues just for the sake of doing it. That is my two cents for all it is worth.

Okay well, that was my rant for today. I think I am just gearing up for the holiday visiting we will be doing this weekend.

Posted by gwendolyn on December 20, 2001 at 10:44 AM