Good Morning America - Unschoolers Respond

So I admit I've been under a rock for 2 weeks, but for those who were horrified by the Good Morning America piece on April 19, here's a nice list of response links collected by the Blog of the Zombie Princess.

Home School to Home Business?

I'm also wondering if anyone out there has ever listened to this 14-CD set called Home School to Home Business? or anything else like it? I am dying to set up a *family-run* home business, and would love to get my hands on some inspirational information!

Out of a Rut

I haven't posted much lately - things got even more chaotic for a while there, and Kenny went out of town for a long time and took the computer, and all kinds of other things.

The good news is that we have decided that we are not moving to the farm town where Kenny has been working. The neutral news is that we have no idea where we're going next, or when, or what either of us will be doing or what kind of place we'll be living in.

Hopefully this will be a big turning point in our lives - the point at which we finally got on board and started doing all the things we love to do, but have been putting off because we were too busy waiting for something else.

Awesome Book! By David Albert

Well, after 6 years or more of being on this "unschooling journey" (with my child - before that I was on one with myself, but I didn't know it yet) I have finally been introduced to David Albert's book Homeschooling and the Voyage of Self-Discovery.

Thanks to my sister, who has only been homeschooling for a few months.

I do not know how come none of my friends know about this book - or why the ones who do never mentioned it, but I must say it is a must-read!!

Very inspirational and funny. And it manages to be hard-hitting (doesn't beat around the bush about the government or the history of schools) while also being totally entertaining and fairly light-hearted.

I'm in a hurry, as usual. And those of you who know me know how I hate to review books in any useful way. I can just say, READ THIS BOOK!

Unschooling in Small Towns

Well, thankfully I had a revelation lately, one day when chatting with a new friend of mine, and we got to chatting about various towns in the Midwest that might be better for unschooling in, and Ashland, Wisconsin came up. Now I know that moving to Ashland would not solve all my problems, but a lightbulb when off in my head - aha! That is what is missing from my life! Outdoor recreation people/activities! And we've been looking at land for about 10 years, my husband and I, and we've almost exclusively looked in Southern WI and MN, because that is where he has been thinking he'd like to live, because there is great visibility for storm-watching, and there is no Lake Superior (one of my favorite things in the world) to "mess up" the weather.

So we went up to Ashland last weekend, just to see if I would feel more comfortable there, and the city itself definitely could use a little beautification, though not too much more than the one I'm in (Viroqua). But the exciting thing was that there were BIKE TRAILS. And there is a giant lake!! And a REAL COFFEE SHOP!!! Wow!!! And ads up for drumming, martial arts, outdoor recreation for children, and various other things I can't remember. But they were exciting.

Anyway, my revelation is that if I'm not going to be in a big city, I need to be in a town that at least offers the kinds of things I am passionate about. Duh, right? Well, I guess I didn't realize how un-passionate the rest of the U.S. population is about things like public gathering spaces and outdoor recreation. Thank God I have now seen the light. Now to figure out what I'm going to do about it.