Hippie Advantageous Lifestyle Practices !

Well, it's something to work towards! It's time for the hip to hop to it and get this idea rolling.

 

While group homeschooling is a great idea groups of people hardly ever form a concensus on everything. When my older kids were of elementary age we formed a community school in the hills of Southern Humboldt. Since we were all liberal pot growing hippies we thought we would have no trouble forming a cohesive group and teaching our children well.

As with any group of people, even a small one, leaders emerge, personalities vary and conflicts arise. In this case teaching and discipline methods were disagreed on, and what curriculum to teach was disagreed on. Though our kids ended up learning the small community school really wasn't a success.

I guess my point is once you get even three people together, particularly when it involves your kids, disagreement and conflict will occur. Not that it can't be worked through, it's just never ends up being that smooth.

In the end I prefered homeschooling with my wife, trading tutoring skills and being involved with a playgroup for social interaction.

 

No one said it was easy. But it's better than the concentration-camp public schools.

 

I don't know what kind of public school you attended...but my experience was not that horrific. Stop being so dramatic.

 

Yeah.

I wouldn't compare public school to a concentration camp.

 

Yeah, yeah. I'm sure you and your "brilliant professor" father lived in a really bad part of town. Face it: you're a child of privilege, and your experience is hardly the norm. Most kids don't get to go to the kind of school you went to.

 

A huge portion of schools are just bad, but they're not concentration camps. That's a horrible comparison. At least "underpriveleged" kids in America get to attend school. People in some places will never be able to.

If there were no public schools, I would be plainly shitfucked. My family wouldn't be able to afford thirteen years of private school. My parents aren't teachers. Everyone deserves the same chance at some kind of education.

 

Education? There is a huge difference between "education" and "credentials" I'm afraid. Our culture does not value "education" whatsoever. What this society values are "credentials." Do you have a diploma? Do you have a degree? If you can put up with years of bullsheet public school, you can probably put up with a corporation.

As far as "education" goes, try telling the personnel director at the company you're trying to get a job at that you are well-educated. You know a good bit of history, of social sciences, of the fine arts, of music, of literature, of philosophy. See how far that gets you. Go educate yourself and read Anti-intellectualism in American Life by Richard Hofstadter.

 

I agree with freewheelin' franklin. Schools are about creating people that become socialized to fit in, and work at "meaningful" jobs when they get older, which make them unhappy and completely stressed in order to support a system which is failing. Lots of folks work so they can get "benefits" from big insurance corporations who do everything they can to get out of paying their claims when they do have medical problems. You can't convert the masses (it's not worth the energy) but what we CAN do is find like-minded folks who share the same views. Even that is a challenge..but you work together and help each other in finding "teachers" or craftspeople who are willing to take the time to share the abilities and knowlege they have. I'm saying this, and I AM a teacher in a school..but it is a Waldorf school which is out of a lot of common folks ability to pay. My dream is to find someplace where a solid commune is happening where a preschool/Kindergarten teacher is needed. I'd be there in a heartbeat. I'm willing to bet there are lots of others, like me, older hippies (men and women)who would like a chance to try the communal scene again. Wiser now, we'd have a lot to offer. Then questions like homebirth and breastfeeding could be shared from ladies who have been there and are not socialized to accept mainstream values wholesale and unquestioned.
Peace, Love and Flowers
OmGanesha

 

Yah, there's a lot of great private schools out there, but they are, as you said, out of reach for most of the population. And the key word here is PRIVATE school; the public schools are a mess. We need to start working on building more comm...er...intentional communities, where kids can learn that they can be something besides another cog in the machine.

 

Wow you really don't know me to make that kind of judgement.
My family when in Poland were teachers, before I was born.
They came to America poor...my dad worked as a security guard at a factory and my mom babysat the neighbor's kids.
My dad had a stroke so he went back to poland for cheaper treatment when I was 11 and died(age 71) July 2006.
I went to the basic public school.
I live on food stamps(link card), I get free lunch in school, and my only health insurance is from the state. We even get a free turkey from the state on Thanksgiving. And canned food every now and then.
I'm the poorest of all my friends, except my bf who lives in a trailer.
My mom's room is the living room in our apartment because we can't afford three bedrooms, but we had to move to a different apartment because of bankruptcy.
My first job was when I was 14 getting 4.70 an hour at a pizza place because my mom never gave me money.

Priveleged?

Don't make snap judgements.

The only reason I called him a "brilliant" professor is because when he died that's what everyone called him. My aunt always told me he was brilliant, she wanted to pound it into my head that he was better than a cheap security guard. And I know he was.

 

Whoops! Well, I sure missed that one! Well, when I'm proven wrong, I admit it. My humble apologies for thinking you are a snob...

 

accepted *hugs*

 

Loveminx, I feel you are a kindred spirit, and you look so much like my third born daughter, Amiel. I feel you are a wise, sensitive, and a very "rich" person.


Your childhood has some similarities to our family history, and from reading your thoughts and opinions on the forums, I would say you have led a "privileged life", one "rich" in valuable life lessons, and I can see you have become independent, world wise, and someone who has a potent desire to communicate and be understood. You seem very mature.

It is often easy to make snap judgements here on the forum, and misinterpret others moods, tones, and words. It's great that you have learned how to work out bumps in the road, with such ease.

And...................
For those who have a good foundation, public school won't break them down, but I like the idea of a cooperative alternative program of some sort, now becoming more popular and accessible to more hippie type students, where they even have gardening, and farm animal care, more down home life lessons, balanced with a good cirriculum.

 

Thank you, A.B.E.
Your kind words really made my morning today. ^_^

I am rich.
Rich to be able to talk to someone like you.
Full of great ideas...
with words that ring sweet and true.


I still believe breastfeeding is right, and I don't think it makes you a cow. It's a natural bonding process for mother and child. It's amazing what our bodies can do!

The homebirthing sounds much more relaxing but I don't trust myself not to have complications. Knowing me, something will go wrong lol...

I never really thought to homeschool my kids...but I think I will now.
I like what you said about gardening and home life.
Being able to teach outside and not just stuck in a classroom...sounds wonderful.
I could be kneeling by my tomatoes with my children and at the same time teaching them history lessons...
I can teach them anywhere...take them all around the city and even to the beach
Fill their heads with everything under the sun. ^_^

 

I have been considering homeschooling for my future children (don't have any, as of now). But how does it work? Are there any guidelines that may help? Also, I know my partner and I will be the teachers, but I'm not confident in my ability to teach.

 

You obviously know how to write. I'm sure you know basic math. Once you teach a child how to read, then you can learn together. Lots of homeschooling pages on the web for ideas.

 

Thanks. It's just an idea. I still haven't mentioned it to my fiance, but we are planning to have kids and we've been talking about how we're going to raise them. I also heard about the Waldorf school and I'm interested in learning more about it, but there's only one school in the Philippines as far as I know, and it's in Manila .

 

Most birthings proceed without incident,(there are exceptions), and with a midwife present, you can confidently birth at home, or at a birthing clinic of some kind. Approaching the birthing process as natural, helps you to just relax and let nature take its course.

Hospitals are a place for sick people, and I would be much more afraid of germs. Hospitals go according to procedure, and don't allow for the spontaneousness necessary for a comfortable birth, or a slow, quiet, aftertime.

The procedure at a hospital is to take baby away, wash them, weigh them, test them for a few things etc. NO WAY ! I held my babies for a couple of hours before I even got around to cutting the cord or washing them up, and wouldn't have it any other way. Right after birth, the baby is so open, and all I could do was hold it snugly in my arms, whisper it's name, and stare at the little face so new to this big world. !

We had a midwife for the first two of my five birthings, then it was just my life partner, and small children who assisted me on my big day. That was the way I enjoyed my birthings best, natural, and comfortably homey, best for baby too.

 

I'd love to be like you but I'm a wimp...
I want drugs to ease the pain!
I want security of knowing a million people are around me and know what to do.

The only way I'd ever give birth naturally is if one of my friends or an older lady I trust...were there and helped me through it...
A midwife isn't good enough, it might as well be a doctor...

But I'd love to have it at home because then I could play my fav music to help me get through it...
Like when I had to change my eyebrow jewelry it helped that my bf played "Always look on the bright side of life" from Monty Python...