From an article on Ritalin dosing:
"But for many children, problems manifest only in the school setting; they do quite well without medication on weekends, holidays, and vacations. For such children at such times, Ritalin seems unnecessary. ..."
--Dr. Lawrence Diller
So the kids are normal when they are not in school and suddenly abnormal in school?
Wow.
Full article: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/medicating/drugs/diller.html#ixzz1a0XUyLdb
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Monday, September 19, 2011
THIS is Socialization?
A question many ask me when they first think of taking their kids out of school: "But won't they miss the social life?" To this I say that if I had no other reason for wanting to keep kids out of school (and I have many), the social life would be reason enough.
John Holt
Growing without Schooling
Issue #1
Archived issues available at: http://www.patfarenga.com
John Holt
Growing without Schooling
Issue #1
Archived issues available at: http://www.patfarenga.com
Friday, September 9, 2011
What's So Good About Unschooling?
"...Unschoolers in general have more of a strong sense of who they are and confidence in their own identity."
--Idzie Desmarais
Blog: I'm Unschooled. Yes I Can Write
--Idzie Desmarais
Blog: I'm Unschooled. Yes I Can Write
Sunday, September 4, 2011
This About Sums it Up
"I hope that someday the legend of The First Day of School will be just a dim memory from an unenlightened time."
-- Wendy Priesnitz
-- Wendy Priesnitz
Saturday, March 6, 2010
What If?
What if, throughout your life, you got to choose what you turned your attention to?
What if nobody told you what you "should" know, and nobody chastised you if you didn't know it?
What if you chose to learn about science because it served some deeper need for you, rather than having to learn about science because is was part of a curriculum?
What if you had no fear of being wrong or looking stupid?
What if you were able to try new things to solve problems, and no one "corrected" you when you took a different path?
What if you never thought you were "bad at math" because the way it was taught to you literally made no sense?
What if you had no anxiety about numbers and it was fun to see what they could do?
What if you could interchange numbers and letters and no one said you couldn't do that?
What if you used language in conversation with adults or peers, and read or wrote because you needed or wanted to?
What if you said please and thank you because it felt good and right to you, and because you knew it would make someone feel good, and not because someone prompted you to?
What if you could eat when you were hungry and not because it was officially "lunchtime"?
What if you had more than 20 minutes a day to play in the fresh air?
What if you could learn about things you cared deeply about, and didn't put time into things that would never serve you?
What if you could take a nature walk on a Tuesday morning?
What if someone actually thought you had value as a person, even though you were not an adult?
What if you could take as much time as you wanted to think about/work on/investigate something and not stop because the bell rang or the lesson plan ended?
What if you could just "hang out" if you needed some time to think (or not think)?
What if you could pick up and go anywhere you wanted to, when you wanted to, and you didn't have to wait for "spring break"?
What if you went to the beach and gathered coquinas and rescued a crab and no one told you you were learning something?
What if you could run around the backyard in the Florida sun at 2 o'clock in the afternoon on a weekday?
What if you didn't have to worry about being part of the "in" crowd (or worry because you weren't)?
What if you didn't have to fight with your parents about homework?
What if you got up in the morning after you had had enough sleep, instead of because you were awakened at 7 a.m. based on someone else's schedule?
What if you could get together with kids of your own age if you wanted to, rather than because that's how you were "grouped"?
What if you were not afraid of life but thought it was an adventure?
What if you thought that you actually had real choices to make in your own development?
What if you could decide what you wanted to do to make a living because you loved doing it, instead of because that's how you could make the most money?
This is what unschooling/natural learning means to us.
What could it mean to you?
What if nobody told you what you "should" know, and nobody chastised you if you didn't know it?
What if you chose to learn about science because it served some deeper need for you, rather than having to learn about science because is was part of a curriculum?
What if you had no fear of being wrong or looking stupid?
What if you were able to try new things to solve problems, and no one "corrected" you when you took a different path?
What if you never thought you were "bad at math" because the way it was taught to you literally made no sense?
What if you had no anxiety about numbers and it was fun to see what they could do?
What if you could interchange numbers and letters and no one said you couldn't do that?
What if you used language in conversation with adults or peers, and read or wrote because you needed or wanted to?
What if you said please and thank you because it felt good and right to you, and because you knew it would make someone feel good, and not because someone prompted you to?
What if you could eat when you were hungry and not because it was officially "lunchtime"?
What if you had more than 20 minutes a day to play in the fresh air?
What if you could learn about things you cared deeply about, and didn't put time into things that would never serve you?
What if you could take a nature walk on a Tuesday morning?
What if someone actually thought you had value as a person, even though you were not an adult?
What if you could take as much time as you wanted to think about/work on/investigate something and not stop because the bell rang or the lesson plan ended?
What if you could just "hang out" if you needed some time to think (or not think)?
What if you could pick up and go anywhere you wanted to, when you wanted to, and you didn't have to wait for "spring break"?
What if you went to the beach and gathered coquinas and rescued a crab and no one told you you were learning something?
What if you could run around the backyard in the Florida sun at 2 o'clock in the afternoon on a weekday?
What if you didn't have to worry about being part of the "in" crowd (or worry because you weren't)?
What if you didn't have to fight with your parents about homework?
What if you got up in the morning after you had had enough sleep, instead of because you were awakened at 7 a.m. based on someone else's schedule?
What if you could get together with kids of your own age if you wanted to, rather than because that's how you were "grouped"?
What if you were not afraid of life but thought it was an adventure?
What if you thought that you actually had real choices to make in your own development?
What if you could decide what you wanted to do to make a living because you loved doing it, instead of because that's how you could make the most money?
This is what unschooling/natural learning means to us.
What could it mean to you?
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Blogging On (and in) My Mind
It is a little hard for me to believe that I haven't blogged since August! I guess I've been a little busy....
I don't know if other bloggers experience this, but I find that I do a lot of blogging in my head. It's kind of a neat phenomenon, I have a profound thought (well, a thought anyway), and as I think about it, the words come together as if I were blogging about it.
The words flow as if I were writing it down, but this occurs only in my head, usually pretty late at night, as I sit in the boys' room while they fall asleep and I have the only quiet moment(s) I get all day. Sadly, the wonderful blogs that I have composed in this virtual way never made it to the actual blogosphere - primarily because I fall asleep in their room and awaken only to drag myself to my own bed to fall back asleep.
So, sadly, I am left with some random thoughts:
I found myself very disappointed when I overheard a mom who I thought was an unschooler (an assumption I have stopped making about people that are in the Unschoolers group we participate in, regardless of the group name) having a discussion with a school-at-home mom in our group about curriculums and "teaching" methods.
Another (so I thought) die hard unschooler has her son go to co-op classes that sounded decidely schoolish (but I could have misheard this one).
And this came just when I could have used a little reinforcement about the unschooling life and the sense it makes (I actually never waiver from this, but it doesn't hurt to have some support about it). I must have been feeling slightly insecure, though, because I was really bothered by their display of insecurity. I guess I still think that we are on the forefront of a fundamental change, and how will change occur when even the "outliers" all just fall back on the same old patterns and behaviors?
Another random thought is about how schools have become necessary because we have set up this economy that requires that both parents work (usually) in order to have some kind of decent life. It also occurs to me that school is necessary (perhaps) for "disadvantaged" kids, because many of them would not get exposure to certain technologies or other elements if it were not for school. That is not to say we shouldn't change what school looks like, though.
Random thought #3 (related to the previous one) is about tradeoffs, and is it really necessary to scale back dramatically to manage an unschooled life? I have been thinking about this one a lot lately as I try to juggle working (from home) and spending time with my boys when they need it. Many people in my online groups and even the physical ones live pretty sparsely - and even advocate this. But is it necessary? I think not, but I must say I don't have a lot of evidence for my point of view. I just read something recently that said the recession has forced everyone to look at "what really matters" - I know this has happened at least once before in my lifetime, because I remember the stories about people fleeing to remote regions to live the "simple life".
Random thought #4 is about work and money and happiness - this discussion came up the other day and I think I can summarize it this way: I was brought up with the idea that you should find work to make as much money as possible so you will be happy. I now believe that it is better to find work that makes you happy, and then money will follow (or not, but at least you're happy anyway). This is not a new theory, of course, but it remains one that is difficult for people (even me) to embrace, probably because we are taught pretty early on that our own happiness is unimportant.
Perhaps more on those random thoughts in another blog - hopefully one in print instead of in my mind.
I don't know if other bloggers experience this, but I find that I do a lot of blogging in my head. It's kind of a neat phenomenon, I have a profound thought (well, a thought anyway), and as I think about it, the words come together as if I were blogging about it.
The words flow as if I were writing it down, but this occurs only in my head, usually pretty late at night, as I sit in the boys' room while they fall asleep and I have the only quiet moment(s) I get all day. Sadly, the wonderful blogs that I have composed in this virtual way never made it to the actual blogosphere - primarily because I fall asleep in their room and awaken only to drag myself to my own bed to fall back asleep.
So, sadly, I am left with some random thoughts:
I found myself very disappointed when I overheard a mom who I thought was an unschooler (an assumption I have stopped making about people that are in the Unschoolers group we participate in, regardless of the group name) having a discussion with a school-at-home mom in our group about curriculums and "teaching" methods.
Another (so I thought) die hard unschooler has her son go to co-op classes that sounded decidely schoolish (but I could have misheard this one).
And this came just when I could have used a little reinforcement about the unschooling life and the sense it makes (I actually never waiver from this, but it doesn't hurt to have some support about it). I must have been feeling slightly insecure, though, because I was really bothered by their display of insecurity. I guess I still think that we are on the forefront of a fundamental change, and how will change occur when even the "outliers" all just fall back on the same old patterns and behaviors?
Another random thought is about how schools have become necessary because we have set up this economy that requires that both parents work (usually) in order to have some kind of decent life. It also occurs to me that school is necessary (perhaps) for "disadvantaged" kids, because many of them would not get exposure to certain technologies or other elements if it were not for school. That is not to say we shouldn't change what school looks like, though.
Random thought #3 (related to the previous one) is about tradeoffs, and is it really necessary to scale back dramatically to manage an unschooled life? I have been thinking about this one a lot lately as I try to juggle working (from home) and spending time with my boys when they need it. Many people in my online groups and even the physical ones live pretty sparsely - and even advocate this. But is it necessary? I think not, but I must say I don't have a lot of evidence for my point of view. I just read something recently that said the recession has forced everyone to look at "what really matters" - I know this has happened at least once before in my lifetime, because I remember the stories about people fleeing to remote regions to live the "simple life".
Random thought #4 is about work and money and happiness - this discussion came up the other day and I think I can summarize it this way: I was brought up with the idea that you should find work to make as much money as possible so you will be happy. I now believe that it is better to find work that makes you happy, and then money will follow (or not, but at least you're happy anyway). This is not a new theory, of course, but it remains one that is difficult for people (even me) to embrace, probably because we are taught pretty early on that our own happiness is unimportant.
Perhaps more on those random thoughts in another blog - hopefully one in print instead of in my mind.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
A Shift
I was reading over some of my past posts and I noticed an underlying tone of frustration or even anger. I wasn't consciously aware of that when I wrote them, but I've had little shift over the last couple of days that allowed me to see it that way.
And I started to ask myself why I was so mad. And the thoughts that came up were like "I feel like I have been tricked" or "I feel like I've been lied to" or "I feel like I didn't before have the benefit of all of the knowledge I now have, so my decisions were not informed and I may have made other choices".
And when I posed a question to an unschooling group, I found another new perspective (or one that I understood but forgot). I had asked what the group thought of joining an organization to fight for change in our public school system. I was still feeling that though I had experienced what I would call a breakthrough in understanding, not everyone else had, and I felt it was somehow my responsibility to move them toward it (kicking and screaming, perhaps?) so they wouldn't feel tricked as well.
One member said "I began to realize that "fighting against" or "fighting for" are the same thing for me...and within each is a the notion of resistance and repelling energies. I noticed that when I thought of having to figure out how to "save" someone or something or some idea the energy of saving felt heavy...but the idea of sharing felt much lighter and better to me."
This statement and my watching a movie ("Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium" - I'm not kidding, you have to see this movie) have gotten me back on track. I will enjoy the journey, and when I can share, I will, passionately and, hopefully, convincingly, as I still remember that it took only a page full of words on the web to open my mind to the possibilities as though a great flashlight had been shined on my truth.
And I started to ask myself why I was so mad. And the thoughts that came up were like "I feel like I have been tricked" or "I feel like I've been lied to" or "I feel like I didn't before have the benefit of all of the knowledge I now have, so my decisions were not informed and I may have made other choices".
And when I posed a question to an unschooling group, I found another new perspective (or one that I understood but forgot). I had asked what the group thought of joining an organization to fight for change in our public school system. I was still feeling that though I had experienced what I would call a breakthrough in understanding, not everyone else had, and I felt it was somehow my responsibility to move them toward it (kicking and screaming, perhaps?) so they wouldn't feel tricked as well.
One member said "I began to realize that "fighting against" or "fighting for" are the same thing for me...and within each is a the notion of resistance and repelling energies. I noticed that when I thought of having to figure out how to "save" someone or something or some idea the energy of saving felt heavy...but the idea of sharing felt much lighter and better to me."
This statement and my watching a movie ("Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium" - I'm not kidding, you have to see this movie) have gotten me back on track. I will enjoy the journey, and when I can share, I will, passionately and, hopefully, convincingly, as I still remember that it took only a page full of words on the web to open my mind to the possibilities as though a great flashlight had been shined on my truth.
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