I think here of Schumacher’s lovely story about the old shepherd’s advice to the young shepherd.  “Don’t count the sheep,” he said, “or else they won’t thrive.”

By this he meant that if you counted the sheep you would turn each real, live, unique animal into an abstraction or a symbol for a sheep, every one like every other,

sheep = sheep = sheep,

and so would begin to lose sight of them as individual sheep, and fail to notice whether they were remaining healthy, energetic, their best sheep selves.

–John Holt in Growing Without Schooling

issue #38 archived here

The ten in Nielsen’s family lived in two small rooms and a kitchen in half of a cottage that he describes, without rancor, as “a mere hovel.”  Yet in this tiny house were several musical instruments; when Nielson was six and in bed with the measles, his mother took from the wall a three-quarter sized violin and showed him how to play it.

–John Holt reviewing My Childhood by Carl Nielsen in Growing Without Schooling

issue 34 archived here.

Perhaps some homeschooling parents worry that there are only two types of time in a day–time spent directly with a child, when you do nothing else, or time spent directly with household tasks when the child must be out of the way.  Perhaps bending these times is a more realistic, fruitful approach.  It seems to work best for us anyway!

–Susan Richman in Growing Without Schooling

issue 34 archived here.

:: one of the few pictures of all of us together…celebrating Nico’s birthday ::

Since we seriously started to unschool, our attitude toward the kids has changed.  We haven’t had a real babysitter in weeks–seems the more time we spend with the kids teaching, exploring–the less we feel the need to get away from them.

As my attitude has changed to one of being here for my children, for my family, so has the quality of our life together.  We do more together, are not so rushed, enjoy each other more.

–Leslie Westrum in Growing Without Schooling

Issue #30 archived here.