Katie is still so glad she is in school. She does have alot of homework many nights. Sometimes she is doing it for hours...much of the time while multi-tasking (texting, skyping, watching a show). She is so proud of herself for having almost all A's so far this quarter. (All are A's except one B+).
Good morning,
ReplyDeleteDon't remember how I found myself in your blog but I am looking forward to reading more about how things are going with your daughter in middle school. I have 2 girls (13 & 11) who decided in March that they'd like to sign up for school. In September. I go from forcing myself to breathe deeply and relax to singing that don't worry, be happy song, unhappily in my head.
another Laurie
Hi other Laurie! It helped me to read and talk with other unschooling parents whose children also tried out school. Have you read Ronnie Maier's blog about her daughter (who was schooled and then unschooled) trying out about six weeks of ninth grade? Here is her blog address:
ReplyDeletehttp://zombieprincess.blogspot.com/search/label/school
Another unschooling mom, Marcia Simmonds, wrote about her son who just went to high school this past fall. Here is her blog: http://livefreeinharmony.xanga.com/
To read all of the relevant posts, go to the tags on the left side and click *School Journey* or search for Sept 9,2010 and the posts start from there. There are about 12 different posts.
I think Marcia will be speaking about this topic at the Northeast Unschooling Conference in MA this August.
The main thoughts that I go back to when I am having a tough moment are that I trust my daughter to know what she needs and wants in her life, that I want to support her in doing the things she is interested in (even if those things are different than my interests or different than I'd choose), that I trust her (she does make so many great choices, and the ones that aren't so great she learns from), that she is in school by choice and is getting something from it (Maybe to prove something to herself and certain friends? No matter what, it is important to her and I know attending school is fulfilling something of importance to her.) and she would be welcome to go back to unschooling anytime. I am still in the whole process of getting used to it all, but it isn't as bad as I thought it would be. In fact, because I see she is happy and excited to go, I am happy for her. :)
Laurie
Oh Wow, I do appreciate your reply Laurie!
ReplyDeleteI will peruse the blogs you mentioned, and will try and get my own daughters to blog about their experience (a tall order for sure) or do what you're doing and write it myself (you know, as a help to others). But **small whine** I want to be in the place your at and I sure as h*ck hope that my girls will be excited and happy after 2 months in.
Looking forward to more from you,
other Laurie