Couchsurfed with an unschooling family of two tween-aged boys. They were sooooooooo polite, gracious, good with the kids, helpful around the house without being asked, set the table, made pancakes in the morning, cleaned up the kids' mess, helped carry our luggage - then spent their free time reading or working on their robotics stuff. Told us about living on a sailboat for three years, doing roadtrips around the country, going to museums, taking art classes and music lessons and culture lectures, can't wait to travel to Europe again, volunteer in the community maintaining the trails, etc. Was so awesome to meet a "real live unschooling family" and see how well its working for them.
I don't think I'll be able to do 100% willy-nilly unschooling - I need some kind of structure in my life. Even if its just a weekly checklist - did something related to math, science, history, arts/culture, language, etc. Will definitely do lots of museums and roadtrips, "projects" or "reports", reading, "internships", etc.
So exciting!
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Unschooling Homestead Commune Locale - NW
Summary of the NW roadtrip...
WASHINGTON
Nixed Twisp/Omak/Okanogan - too small, dumpy, white-trashy.
Winthrop would be fun with the cute Western theme, located right at the eastern mouth of the North Cascades, but it seems expensive and there's not a decent sized ski resort or hospital nearby.
Lake Chelan - decent size hospital, nice enough town in terms of appearance, huge 50-mile lake for recreating, only a 2-tow-rope ski hill, expensive lake-side properties but reasonably priced in the hills.
Wenatchee - didn't get to see the town, but heard there's a big hospital and a decent sized ski resort with relatively inexpensive season passes, and presumably decent mountainbiking, on a wide river good for recreating, don't know about property prices, kind of in the middle of nowhere (long drive to Seattle or Portland).
Bellingham - also didn't get to see this place but it was recommended by two people after they heard our plan - college town, close to the border (aka skiing at Whistler) and the coast (aka beach and SJIslands) and the North Cascades (aka hiking, camping, etc)
OREGON - no income tax and the most lenient homeschooling regulations in the country!
Hood River Valley- (my top pick!) - 1/2way between Hood River and Mt Hood - 20 miles from the Columbia River Gorge, 20 miles from all the camping/backpacking/hiking/skiing/mountainbiking around Mt Hood, access to all the awesome waterfall hikes along the Gorge, and 1 hour from Portland; awesome outdoorsy atmosphere, huge properties with endless orchards, nice newly renovated hospital, very few chain stores, etc. Mt Hood ski pass $499.
Bend - Not that impressed - too much sprawl, not enough character, and in the middle of nowhere (3hrs from Portland!) - plenty of recreation options, however, on Mt Bachelor and the lakes
Sisters - strict housing laws (only one per property), but a cute western-style downtown, access to two ski resorts, less commercialized than Bend
WASHINGTON
Nixed Twisp/Omak/Okanogan - too small, dumpy, white-trashy.
Winthrop would be fun with the cute Western theme, located right at the eastern mouth of the North Cascades, but it seems expensive and there's not a decent sized ski resort or hospital nearby.
Lake Chelan - decent size hospital, nice enough town in terms of appearance, huge 50-mile lake for recreating, only a 2-tow-rope ski hill, expensive lake-side properties but reasonably priced in the hills.
Wenatchee - didn't get to see the town, but heard there's a big hospital and a decent sized ski resort with relatively inexpensive season passes, and presumably decent mountainbiking, on a wide river good for recreating, don't know about property prices, kind of in the middle of nowhere (long drive to Seattle or Portland).
Bellingham - also didn't get to see this place but it was recommended by two people after they heard our plan - college town, close to the border (aka skiing at Whistler) and the coast (aka beach and SJIslands) and the North Cascades (aka hiking, camping, etc)
OREGON - no income tax and the most lenient homeschooling regulations in the country!
Hood River Valley- (my top pick!) - 1/2way between Hood River and Mt Hood - 20 miles from the Columbia River Gorge, 20 miles from all the camping/backpacking/hiking/skiing/mountainbiking around Mt Hood, access to all the awesome waterfall hikes along the Gorge, and 1 hour from Portland; awesome outdoorsy atmosphere, huge properties with endless orchards, nice newly renovated hospital, very few chain stores, etc. Mt Hood ski pass $499.
Bend - Not that impressed - too much sprawl, not enough character, and in the middle of nowhere (3hrs from Portland!) - plenty of recreation options, however, on Mt Bachelor and the lakes
Sisters - strict housing laws (only one per property), but a cute western-style downtown, access to two ski resorts, less commercialized than Bend
The New Global Student
Good book though it spent too much time trying to convince me why its a good strategy - just preaching to the choir. General recommendation, assuming we don't care if our kids don't go to an Ivy League school - take community college classes ASAP, graduate early, study/travel abroad for a year or two, then apply to colleges without having to submit a high school GPA, SAT or ACT score, with a more unique "personal statement", fluency in another language, and a more mature world perspective.
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