"Children do not need to be made to learn about the world, or shown how. They want to, and they know how." -John Holt

Thursday, February 07, 2008

"Mom, do unschoolers have to do gymnastics?"

Translation: "Aren't unschoolers so cool that we get to do gymnastics!?"

That's my random talker Bomey.

This week she was thrilled to wear her new leotard and even asked me if I "wanted her in piggies", translation: "Do you want to put pigtails in my hair?" When she was dressed to the nines, gymnast-style she proclaimed, "I look soooo cute!" See for youself:I must say she's the hippest gymnast there. And quite a natural on the beam. (Guess what Rich's next building project is!!)
Gabriel, I am told, is a "good listener". This is welcoming news as his ears don't work as well at home. Here he displays his talents at balloon kicking.
During the hour of class, Caden waits patiently for his siblings and will NOT let me put him down, even refusing to go into the playplace. The second they come out though, he is off and navigates the tunnels and webs, keeping up with the best of them.
Yes, unschoolers ARE so cool that we get to do gymnastics!

1 comment:

Sarah, Chris, Elijah & Sadie said...

You're inspiring me! Must look into gymnastics... Where did you get that shorty leotard? I LOVE it!

"By nature people are learning animals. Birds fly; fish swim; humans think and learn. Therefore, we do not need to motivate children into learning by wheedling, bribing, or bullying. We do not need to keep picking away at their minds to make sure they are learning. What we need to do - and all we need to do - is to give children as much help and guidance as they need and ask for, listen respectfully when they feel like talking, and then get out of the way. We can trust them to do the rest."
John Holt
"In the end, the secret to learning is so simple: Think only about whatever you love. Follow it, do it, dream about it...and it will hit you: learning was there all the time, happening by itself." -Grace Llewellyn
"What we want to see is the child in pursuit of knowledge, not knowledge in pursuit of the child."
George Bernard Shaw
Real, natural learning is in the living. It's in the observing, the questioning, the examining, the pondering, the analyzing, the watching, the reading, the DO-ing, the living, the breathing, the loving, the JOY. It's in the joy. ~Anne Ohman
"How could youth better learn to live than by at once trying the experiment of living?" -Henry D. Thoreau