Oklahoma Nesties
BoyMom21
member
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
FFFC/Vents/AW
Re: FFFC/Vents/AW
I've done a kick-ass job of keeping the apartment clean, on top of the laundry etc., which is very surprising. The whole "set a timer for 30 minutes and be productive" thing has really helped.
I'm not ready for school to start - then I feel guilty for saying that because maternity leave will start in like, five weeks.
I lost my balance and fell in my apartment complex parking lot on Wednesday. Everything's fine [after a three-hour stint in the maternity ward to check contractions], but my ego's still bruised and my ankle hurts from road burn. I feel like such a klutz.
This past week I have been really slacking on keeping the house clean. I have been so exhausted when I get home that I only had enough energy to make a quick meal, clean up, and get M ready for bed. DH though has been a huge help even though I know he's tired too.
M has also been very challenging this week and it's getting me thinking that maybe it might not be too made to be one and done. I can't imagine trying to take care of 2 kids and still have energy to anything else. Worse part is I don't stay home with her all day. Ugh, it's just been a bad week.....
I'm considering "unschooling." Ok, I'm not really considering it necessarily, just learning more about it. Someone told me about it a long time ago, and I thought it sounded pretty crazy and totally not for me. Last night I was talking to my CF coach and he was telling me that's how they teach their kids. It still seems pretty radical to me, but everything else I do is radical so why not ?
I know that's flameful because I have so many friends here who are teachers! The idea has just been introduced to me in a different way and so it's something I'm open to learning more about. I want to fully understand all my options when the time comes for C to start school.
I know some of you don't know what that is so here is a link: http://www.holtgws.com/
I'm turning into such a freaking hippie! When I want to ditch indoor plumbing for an outhouse, someone slap me.
I know nothing about unschooling, so I can't really form an opinion one way or the other. But a legitimate question--does unschooling still have some type of a co-op system? Would you still be part of the homeschooling community, or is this completely different? And most importantly...when would you have a break from the kids? It seems like a huge time commitment with little relief for you...would you have some help/a support system that would allow you to get out for a bit? (I'm selfish and I need a few hours a week alone)
I really have no idea! Yesterday is the first time I've given it a second thought so I'm just in the beginning of learning about it.
I would probably be a part of some sort of group, no matter what type of homeschooling we decide to do. I'm really not sure what is out there. I'm sure I would probably still work for my dad and my mom and MIL would still keep/"teach" the boys a couple of days a week so I could catch a break that way.
What is drawing me to it is encouraging them to learn about what they LOVE and DESIRE to learn about. That's exciting to me.
From what I understand, you are exposed to math. Perhaps just not in the traditional way. Like, instead of doing a worksheet where you count the dollar bills, quarters, etc to determine how much money there is you would go with your mom to the grocery store and count out the money to the clerk or count back the change. Even today, Cooper was doing math. He wanted to take 3 toys in the car and I told him he could only take two, so he put one down. Subtraction. I'm teaching him a lot more than I realize even though it's not structured. You expose them to different things and you'll know what they're interested in and what they're not.
Honestly I thrive on structure so I'm nowhere near saying this is what I want to do. In fact, right now, it freaks me out a little. But, seeing these kids who were brought up this way and how intelligent they are.... is somewhere intriguing. The whole thing is intriguing to me. Exploring options! And yeah, I totally get what you're saying. Which is why I'm glad I have 1-2 years to decide what to do!
When you are home schooled do you still follow some sort of curriculum? Does the state require you to take/pass any kind of competency exams? I'm just curious cause the website said that some children may not learn to read until they are ten but may learn a ton about astronomy (or whatever subject) at an earlier age. So I'm wondering how that would play out if there was a requirement.
It varies from state to state. In Oklahoma, the only real requirement for homeschooling is that you have 180 days of instruction. Everything else is left pretty open, and there are no testing requirements.
I know several unschoolers, but none with kids old enough for me to gauge whether I think it has been effective. We tried a looser "unschool-ish" type approach for DD when we first started homeschooling, and it was definitely not effective for her. She definitely needs more structure, or all she would be learning about would be the contents of YA dystopian novels. I think that unschooling probably works for some kids and doesn't so well for others, just like other educational methods.
ETA: I do admit that I give a pretty big side-eye to "radical" unschooling. I was really bothered by it from the first time I encountered parents who were doing it when we began homeschooling, and it was a big struggle to have our families continue to hang out comfortably when some friends of ours decided to become radical unschoolers.