Logrolling unschooler on the radio

SUNDAY, MARCH 29, 2009

Evie hits the airwaves
A few weeks ago we were at a log rolling tournament in Oconomowoc. A man from WI Public Radio was there as a field reported for the WBUR (Boston) show "It's Only a Game." He was doing a story on log rolling.

He took a lot of pictures, interviewed some coaches including Evie's. He also asked who they thought he should interview. They all pointed at Evie. She was articulate, funny and expansive. The radio story includes only a snippet of her but you can listen!

It's Only a Game: Logrolling To fast forward to her part hit "Listen to the Show" and drag the progress bar until there are about 8 minutes left of the show. (Embedding just her part proved too taxing for my brain.)

How did a Boston radio show learn about log rolling in WI? Enter Scott's mom! She happened to sit next to the show's host, Bill Littlefield, at a WBUR dinner. They got to talking, she bragged about her granddaughter, he got intrigued, she did an amazing follow-up job and BAM, log rolling makes public radio!

POSTED BY LYNCH FAMILY AT 3:03 PM at http://circletheworld.blogspot.com/2009/03/evie-hits-airwaves.html

Unschooling Passions

"I've shared some of the wonderful and interesting places that exploring Joseph's and Alyssa's diverse interests have taken them. Are you still worried? Do you still think your child's interest can't possibly take them to so many new and different places? Even if your child's interest is just one TV show, it can open up the world."

by Pam Laricchia, the article "Unschooling Passions" in The Journal of Unschooling and Alternative Education.

Here are two of the graphics from her article which are inspiring and self-explanatory on their own:
click to enlarge

"Endless Summer"

Endless Summer
By Sarah Karnasiewicz
Salon.com


The article isn't new, but I didn't want to lose this quote if it disappears:

"When you buy a curriculum and set your kids down five days a week, except in the summer, all you're doing is playing school at home," says Sandra Dodd, a mother of three unschooled children from Albuquerque, N.M., and an outspoken unschooling advocate. "Most home-schoolers, especially Christian home-schoolers, believe that schools are too liberal and too lax," she explains. "On the other hand, unschoolers believe that schools are too inflexible. Our objections to school are 180 degrees apart from their objections. And so we are not only not on the same team, but school is actually closer to what they're doing than we are."

New York Times articles (three of them)

Here are some recent articles about unschooling from the NY Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/16/garden/16unschool.html?scp=5&sq=unschooling&st=cse

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/26/education/26unschool.html?scp=1&sq=unschooling&st=cse

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C01E1DD113EF93AA15752C1A9609C8B63&scp=2&sq=unschooling&st=cse


Joanna

Parliamentary approval of video gaming

Schuyler Waynforth wrote:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/feb/12/computer-games-eu-study

Apparently experts were called in and the European Parliament has decided that video games are good for children. I think the actual report isn't out yet. Hopefully it'll get airtime when it does come out.

Schuyler

That's because the Puritans, Huguenots and Anabaptists left Europe. Unfortunately, I live where they built an anti-child culture in which children are just bad, and fun is a sin. (that was an editorial comment from Sandra Dodd)

If the U.S. Senate (advised by the education and child welfare experts) voted that video games were harmful, it wouldn't make it so, and so it's not a vote of the European Parliament that makes them good, either. Still, I love government legislation of value-to-children (who can't vote). At least they gathered expert advisors from many countries and listened to them.

A few conferences

This isn't an exhaustive list, but

March 7, 2009, Tempe, Arizona
Home Education Network of Arizona is holding a one-day conference on homeschooling. Several speakers are unschoolers.
http://www.hena.us/conference.html

September 10-13, 2009, San Diego/Del Mar, California
Good Vibrations Conference
http://goodvibrationsconference.com/

Newest news:
October 2-4, 2009 Toronto Unschooling Conference
This will be the fourth Toronto conference!
http://livingjoyfully.ca/conference/

Homeschooling Sees Dramatic Rise in Popularity

From "The Heritage Foundation" on January 28, 2009
http://www.heritage.org/Research/Education/wm2254.cfm

"In December, the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics released new estimates on the number of American families homeschooling their children. The new report shows the growing popularity of homeschooling. In view of this trend, it is important that federal and state policymakers safeguard families' right to educate their children at home."

The article provides results of surveys on reasons people choose to homeschool, demographic information, benefits of homeschooling, and anticipated trends. It supports protecting homeschooling rights.