Go to life, not school.
I think the carnival is picking up steam. You’ll notice more entries than in the previous carnivals, and you’ll also notice many bloggers who are new to the carnival, which is wonderful. Welcome!
I’d like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. It’s my favorite holiday–no consumerism; lots of gratitude (and food); home, hearth, and coziness; and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. My mother raised me to adore the Rockettes, and I’ve tried my best to carry on the tradition.
And now, without further ado, the November 2009 edition.
Life at Home
Rainbow Rivers Journey presents her first carnival post, Life at Home, which contains this delightful and intriguing sentence: “We have wiped out our belongings to pretty much a shell, a blank canvas we can dance through and weave a new cloth of interests and new possibilities with.”
Rana presents Dad’s doing his part at Free to learn an loving it. Hooray for Dad!
Heather Newman presents Working at Play at Daily Cuppa Joy. Lucky Heather says, “My boys spend their days playing, lost in their imaginary worlds, exploring ideas for hours at a time.”
Kate, a carnival newcomer, presents How We Do It at Simply Mother. She explains, “I just did a series introducing the whys and hows of our homeschool, which, as far as I can tell, is pretty much unschooling. (I heart John Holt.) This last post gives the run down on what our days are like, and encouragement for how simple and lovely it is.”
Raechelle, another newcomer, presents Favorite time of day at Adventures in Homeschooling. She reports that “After a year of more traditional homeschooling, we decided to take a month of experimenting with unschooling. It is going so well that Unschool October will be lasting a few more months.” We’re glad to hear that, Raechelle!
At The Stone Age Techie, Karen presents Sewing Up Some Fun, in which she perceptively realizes that her son likes to sew because “there is a small element of danger in using a sewing machine.”
Out in the World
Idzie presents NBTSC 2009, about Grace Llewellyn’s legendary Not Back to School Camp, at I’m Unschooled. Yes, I Can Write.
Lisa presents her first carnival post, Pumpkins, peppers and patience at Mrs. Hannigan’s Home for Girls. You absolutely must see the frog on the baby’s nose!
Jessalynn presents Living on Maui: Waimoku Falls at Meadow Musings. Thanks for joining us, Jessalynn.
Inspirations
John Anyasor presents Should I or Should I Not? The Curse of Indecision, in which he asks “Who said I had to pick one thing?”at HiLife2B. Welcome to the carnival, John.
Laura Grace Weldon, another carnival first-timer, presents Calling Out the Buccaneer-Scholars.
Samantha, yet another newcomer, presents Mario World, about bringing “current passions into all facets of life,” at ninth street east.
The Whole Mama presents her first post here, What? You Have No Rules?, which discusses the all-important “rules vs. principles” idea.
Dark Nights of the Soul
Barbara Cameron presents The writer at work, in her own time at Three Girl Pile-Up. In this post, Barbara admits that sometimes it’s hard “to trust that [her daughter] will learn what she needs when she needs it.” But there’s a happy ending. Welcome, Barbara.
Encounters of the School-y Kind
Pamela Jorrick presents Not Back to School at Blah, Blah, Blog (What a great name!). Welcome to the carnival, Pamela.
Beginnings
Sara McGrath presents Radical unschooling and homeschooling from “Mother Anarchy” at Unschooling Examiner. Sara says, “This post . . . leads the reader through my early days of unschooling and otherwise unconventional parenting.” We’re glad you joined the carnival, Sara.
Passages
We’re in a time of passage here at our house, since our daughter has turned sixteen and is studying for the written test she needs to pass to get a driver’s permit. So, while she learns about “no passing” lanes and blood alcohol levels, we think back to the days of strapping her into her car seat and tucking a blanket around her legs for those long drives home from relatives’ houses on cold winter nights.
Miscellaneous
YES! Magazine recently published an article by John Taylor Gatto called Take Back Your Education. It’s a worthwhile read, of course, and you can find it here.
***Heartfelt thanks to all who submitted posts, especially all of the newbies. We look forward to discovering your blogs. This is a good thing we’re all doing here, so please keep submitting.
To contribute a post to the next edition of The Carnival of Unschooled Life — which will be here at The Expanding Life on December 1, 2009 — use the carnival submission form. December’s carnival will not have a theme, just the usual categories, which are described here. Holiday-related entries are acceptable. Past posts can be found on the blog carnival index page.
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