Well, as I said in my last post… we are starting a homeschooling support group in our area. We are at the moment 5 families that homeschool…
However, I am the only unschooler.
The first meeting was last week… we went to the house of the seasoned homeschooler so that the “newbies” could ask questions and see her material. She is not only a homeschooler, but she loves collecting homeschool curriculum, books etc and is even starting a library in which people will be able to borrow material from her to compare different curriculums before buying. So, in her house downstairs she has a classroom set up (a large table for her kids surrounded by bookcases, posters a teachers desk etc…) and she has so much stuff… too much…
The other mom’s were loving looking at everything, asking questions, comparing stuff…. though my friend Isabelle was a bit overwhelmed by it all…
As for me… I was dissapointed by the meeting. I don’t want to talk about curriculum and what kids “need” to know by what age… I don’t want to talk about the logistics of how to school at home. Half the time I was there I could not relate at all to what the concerns were… the rest of the time the colourful workbooks had me wishing that Xavier was interested in that stuff…
I am going to tough it out a bit but I am a bit worried that it will not only be what I don’t want in a support group, but that it will make me doubt my choices and beliefs.
Sorry I’ve been gone awhile, but I wanted to comment on this. It’s just my opinion but I agree with your concerns that this may not be the best group for you. I too just joined a group and it seems to have a fair amount of unschoolers sprinkled around, but I feel out of place since all of the children seem to be 8 and older. I am the only unschooler with a baby and a toddler…except one other mama of a 9 month old. Well, that and one of the kids pointed at my forehead (I had two [pimples) and proclaimed loudly that “she has funny dots on her head” *sigh* I felt like I did in school all over…kids making fun of me *cringe* Anyway…my point is, maybe keep looking, because if these schooling at home kids are so used to their scheduled type of school, they may not make ideal friends for your boys and you need support that lifts you up, not a group that makes you doubt what you’re doing. Sort of the same as being in a homebirth support group when you’re really into UC isn’t it? =)
I would love to find another group but honestly there are none, that is the reason that we started a group here. That being said, I am wondering if having no support group would be better than having a support group that can not give support.
That is a Great analogy though… it is like being a UCer in a homebirth support group.. and you are right… it wouldn’t work…
oh… and I am so sorry by what happened to you… that is really sad…
Maybe start your own unschooling group and just search far and wide? There’s bound to be someone else relatively close by you. I know that’s easy to say since I live in a big city with lots of different parenting styles…though there are a lot of the “fake AP” here and that is just freaky to me.
Ahhh, the UCer in the homebirth group too. It’s really rough because, as you know, when you are UC/UP it’s very hard to listen to women talk about their midwives the way mainstream women talk about their OBs.
On the pimple thing, no need to be too sad, but thank you. I just found it was weird, and the mother just stood there next to him as if she approved, she said nothing….. Now I am personally so not in to humiliating/punishing you kids in public or in general really but perhaps she could have said SOMETHING, LOL. I know that if my kids said something to a person that might have been hurtful I would have at least attempted to have a talk with them about people and their feelings. Sorry, went off on a little tangeant there. =)
Again… easier said than done.
it was a big deal to find other homeschoolers in the area, unschoolers are just very rare here… There is one other mom that I know that is unschooling (she lives an hour away) and there is another that may be leaning toward unschooling.
Homeschooling is not well known in the french-canadian community, it is a “new” phenomena… so the variety of homeschoolers are pretty thin. Unschooling seems to be more of an “english” idea…
I do know that there are more unschoolers in the English support groups in Montreal but they do most of their activities in the western parts of Montreal or off island which depending on the place can mean a 2 hour ride.
I’m so sorry about the distance. I can’t complain as I’m not in your position. Maybe you can do some field trip type of activities with the homeschool group and make special trips and meet halfway with the unschoolers like once a month?