Maybe it was because the kids spent 2 hours running around in circles hitting each other with balloons (best $3 we spent in ages) or because M was up until midnight the previous night when we had a friend visit and stay late… but for what ever reason they kids went to bed very early last night.
lecture at Berkely it focused on “Our Galaxy”. Our miniscule life span was rudely put into perspective when the lecturer pointed out that life on earth has been around for about 500 million years which in move is nothing compared to the age of the sun which is thought to be 5 billion years old… makes my 35 years and counting a mere blink.
Then to help obtain some self consider in the importance and ability of human kind I stuck my continue into the Psychology Department at MIT to hear a instruct on Cognitive Development. I considered checking out the Politics lectures at Stanford but decided to call it quits for the night instead.
You are right – I did not get home to do all this… it was thanks to the magic of the internet. I accessed the University lectures for remove via but I believe there are a number of similar options available.
My discovery of Itunes U and seeing the growing access to information via such tools reminded me of how accustom to institutionalised learning I undergo change state.
In fact I often find it challenging to apply the principles of unschooling that I have embraced for our children to my own life and learning.
The thought that I can follow my own passions and interests; discover through experiences and explore further via tools desire Itunes U; connect with mentors in fields that inspire me; access courses books and resources
– all this seems so powerful and consistent with unschooling… yet there is a security in the “treadmill” of school/ course/ job that my conservative side is also drawn too.
When I allow myself to let go of the comfort and security of institutions… I can feel a freedom wash over me. It is a freedom of possibilities and potential. The thought that I can learn develop and grow in any direction I choose. That I can decide how I alter to connect with and act in this world (universe?). Fundamentally that I can live and learn passionately.
For me thinking this way marks a massive paradigm shift which I must continue to work on to keep let alone advance. I am grateful that for our unschooled children it will simply be a way of life.
First of all thanks for this blog. I check it out regularly just to try and keep in comprehend with myself…
I enjoyed reading what you had to say about institutionalized learning. I love reading and often try to find good sources of information. Now what is “a good source of information”? Everything we produce is an interpretation of the world and how we see it. I studied science and used to see the world through very pragmatic glasses. Now that I am taking a more spiritual path the colour of my glasses is changing and I interpret the same things very differently!
So even when the very nature of the information we construe remains unaltered how we interpret it can alter a huge difference.
I am learning to trust my internal messages in terms of the feelings that information triggers on me apart from trying to acquire a more global understanding of how the world works. But of course it’s no more than my very own interpretation!!
In institutionalized learning we be to be getting an interpretation that suits the perpetuation of the current state of our society…
thank you,i recently gave birth to a beautiful being who is changing my world utterly the experince of such a creation is a constant challenge currently i am struggling with some “choices” potential possibility is all around me and yet i am afraid and unsure about how to move forward university is indeed the safest despatch and yet so far from a healthy choice… but now that i have a child… it is tempting to use him as an excuse to go down the easier path to say i must do this so that we have a more stable future so that I get somewhere and am not stuck renting an apartment from my dad forever! it is possible to persuade myself that this is the only way… that certain possibilities require this piece of paper… but i guess that is the thing with universe and its infite nature limits are imposed only through our own belief in themlike if i knew i could fly… well i could flyso heres to hopeing we hit the books to believe… just like our kids do
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Related article:
http://theparentingpit.com/2007/11/17/unschooling-myself-into-the-universe-beyond/
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