Live Free Learn Free Blog » What I Didn’t Mention…. <title> <link rel="stylesheet" href="http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/wp-content/themes/thirteen/style.css" type="text/css" media="screen" /> <link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS 2.0" href="http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/feed/" /> <link rel="alternate" type="text/xml" title="RSS .92" href="http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/feed/rss/" /> <link rel="alternate" type="application/atom+xml" title="Atom 0.3" href="http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/feed/atom/" /> <link rel="pingback" href="http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/xmlrpc.php" /> <style type="text/css"> </style> <link rel='archives' title='August 2007' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2007/08/' /> <link rel='archives' title='July 2007' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2007/07/' /> <link rel='archives' title='June 2007' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2007/06/' /> <link rel='archives' title='April 2007' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2007/04/' /> <link rel='archives' title='March 2007' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2007/03/' /> <link rel='archives' title='January 2007' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2007/01/' /> <link rel='archives' title='December 2006' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2006/12/' /> <link rel='archives' title='November 2006' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2006/11/' /> <link rel='archives' title='October 2006' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2006/10/' /> <link rel='archives' title='September 2006' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2006/09/' /> <link rel='archives' title='August 2006' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2006/08/' /> <link rel='archives' title='July 2006' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2006/07/' /> <link rel='archives' title='June 2006' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2006/06/' /> <link rel='archives' title='May 2006' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2006/05/' /> <link rel='archives' title='April 2006' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2006/04/' /> <link rel='archives' title='March 2006' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2006/03/' /> <link rel='archives' title='February 2006' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2006/02/' /> <link rel='archives' title='January 2006' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2006/01/' /> <link rel='archives' title='December 2005' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2005/12/' /> <link rel='archives' title='November 2005' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2005/11/' /> <link rel='archives' title='October 2005' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2005/10/' /> <link rel='archives' title='September 2005' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2005/09/' /> <link rel='archives' title='August 2005' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2005/08/' /> <link rel='archives' title='July 2005' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2005/07/' /> <link rel='archives' title='June 2005' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2005/06/' /> <link rel='archives' title='May 2005' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2005/05/' /> <link rel='archives' title='April 2005' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2005/04/' /> <link rel='archives' title='March 2005' href='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2005/03/' /> <link rel="EditURI" type="application/rsd+xml" title="RSD" href="http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/xmlrpc.php?rsd" /> </head> <body> <div id="headwrapper"> <div id="header"> <h1 id="title"><a href="http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog">Live Free Learn Free Blog</a></h1> </div> </div> <div id="wrapper"> <div id="content"> <div class="post" id="post-167"> <h2 class="posttitle"><a href="http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2006/07/31/what-i-didnt-mention/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to What I Didn’t Mention….">What I Didn’t Mention….</a></h2> <p class="postdate"> July 31st, 2006 at 3:21 pm (<a href="http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/category/unschooling-life/" title="View all posts in Unschooling Life" rel="category tag">Unschooling Life</a>) </p> <div class="postentry"> <p>From the comments in <a href="http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/2006/07/30/unschooling-and-the-cure-for-cancer/">Unschooling and the Cure for Cancer</a>:</p> <blockquote><p>“We talked about the curse, about comic characters (the porter) inserted into tragedies, about sets and stage dressings, about soliloquies, about envy and power and guilt, about language, etc., etc.”</p> <p>See, that’s what scares me about unschooling. There are a million topics like this one that I could never have an intelligent discussion about.</p></blockquote> <p>This is such a prevalent fear among people considering unschooling (or homeschooling, in general), but it really needn’t be.</p> <p>See, what I didn’t mention in the post was that I was reading through the Usborne and <em>Macbeth for Kids</em> books, too. We did Macbeth in high school at some point, but I can’t say I remember much of it. I knew about the curse because I used to be a theatre brat in my teens, and I remember some of the actors discussing it once. Even with my BA in English, I still don’t feel as comfortable with The Bard as I’d like, but I have no problem learning alongside Kenzie. We both know more about Macbeth today than we did when we woke up Saturday.</p> <p>I don’t have to know it all. I don’t even have to pretend that I know it all. That’s one of the great things about unschooling - I’m learning, too, and my son definitely notices. I am living proof that learning never ends, and he sees this (even at my oh-so-advanced age of 29) as completely normal. We regularly find ourselves looking things up that neither of us understands. And, quite often, he ends up enlightening me!</p> <p>For instance, we have bats in our yard after sundown. This is something we’ve never come across before. We’ve seen bats at the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.batcon.org/home/index.asp?idPage=122">Congress Avenue bridge</a> here in Austin (the largest urban bat colony in the world), and I’ve watched them at <a target="_blank" href="http://www.nps.gov/cave/">Carlsbad Caverns</a>, but we’ve never encountered them in our own yard, flying around and around our heads only a few inches from our eyes. So, Kenzie, my mother and I were discussing them. He knew much more about bats than his grandmother and I combined, so we happily asked him questions.</p> <p>This is the way it is with unschooling. I don’t know everything that comes up in our lives, and that’s fine. That’s the way life is. We find ways to learn what we need and want to know. Kenzie knows I can figure out most of the math he hasn’t grasped yet, and I know that, when I run into a mythological figure I don’t recognize in a story or poem, he can probably help me out.</p> <p>We’re both learning as we go along - from each other and from the world around us. </p> </div> </div>  <h3 id="comments">4 Comments</h3> <ol id="commentlist"> <li id="comment-126"> <h4 class="commentauthor"><a href='http://justenough.wordpress.com' rel='external nofollow'>Tammy Takahashi</a> said,</h4> <p class="commentdate"> July 31, 2006 at <a href="#comment-126" title="Permanent link to this comment">5:06 pm</a> </p> <p>Shana, this is exactly right. Unschooling is not a child-led model of learning. It’s a family-learning approach. You jump in all together. Learning is not “what kids do”. Learning is forever, and for everyone. <img src='http://www.livefreelearnfree.com/blog/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p> <p>All I have to say, is thank God for the Internet (and the library), and blogs like this one. </p> </li> <li id="comment-128"> <h4 class="commentauthor"><a href='http://relaxedhomeskool.com' rel='external nofollow'>Kim c</a> said,</h4> <p class="commentdate"> August 1, 2006 at <a href="#comment-128" title="Permanent link to this comment">9:21 am</a> </p> <p>I hear ya. That is my favorite thing about this journey, the chance I get to have a self designed education at my own pace! </p> </li> <li id="comment-130"> <h4 class="commentauthor"><a href='http://biggestethiopianflag.blogspot.com' rel='external nofollow'>dharmamama</a> said,</h4> <p class="commentdate"> August 1, 2006 at <a href="#comment-130" title="Permanent link to this comment">1:31 pm</a> </p> <p>Thanks for the follow-up Shana! </p> </li> <li id="comment-131"> <h4 class="commentauthor">TONI said,</h4> <p class="commentdate"> August 11, 2006 at <a href="#comment-131" title="Permanent link to this comment">8:50 am</a> </p> <p>Good for you! Funny I just had friends visit and the mom is a 7th grade teacher. I was telling her that the most irritating thing people ask me is if I am worried that the day will come when I don’t know enough to teach my son. Of course I am worried about that and so many other things, but we are learning together and have tons of resources available to us. So I asked her, “do you know everything you need to know to teach all your students everything every year?” She said no, of course not, I learn what I need to know as I go along. 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