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I am a Tumalo (Bend) resident who has lived in Central Oregon for 20 years. There are a few positives of having destination resorts. Sunriver provides miles of biking, walking and running trails, as well as canoeing and great community events such as the Music Festival and the Pacific Crest Sports Festival. Their pools are open to the public, as are their parks. Inn of the Seventh Mountain offers ice skating, rafting, horeback riding and mountain biking to locals. Others, however, such as Pronghorn and Crosswater, shut out locals. If you are not a homeowner or a visitor staying on the property, you are not welcome. I guess the residents can't be expected to associate with the like of regular Bendites.

A negative thing resorts do is widen the chasm between the wealthy and the poor. Although they offer many jobs, few of these jobs pay a living wage. In fact, most are minimum wage jobs. These workers who are hired to serve the wealthy (who else can afford a home or a vacation at these resorts?) are unable to afford housing or provide a decent living for their families. While the resorts get more beautiful by their labor, the surrounding towns take a dive.

posted 4 years, 7 months ago
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What does unschooling offer that our schools can't? The chance to develope a life-long love for learning!

I have 5 children, and though I wasn't as liaise faire as some, I consider myself an unschooler for the most part. I will attempt to answer your questions, but first, I want to tell you that my oldest two had no problem getting into college. Once there, they excelled. The first graduated summa cum laude, and went on to get his masters degree. The second also recently got his masters in, of all things, education, and was awarded the school's highest honor for academic achievement. I chuckled at the thought of an unschooler receiving the School of Education's Graduate Dean's Award for Academic Acheivement." How ironic.

I made sure the children knew how to read and do basic math. We started reading when they showed readiness. Some were 6, one was 9, most were in between. The two that were "late readers" are now my best readers, devouring whatever they can from the library. Other than basic math facts from playing Legos, we generally began math at age 10.

Although there was no formal education before age 10, this does not mean they were not learning. Setting your own schedule means rich learning opportunities in nature (science, geography), in the kitchen (chemistry, math), in the grocery store (economics, nutrition), and huge amounts of time for reading aloud to the kids. Learning took place in the REAL world, rather than a fake, adult-contrived environment.

Our typical day looked like this: wake up early, have breakfast together. Then morning chores. We settled into "unschool" around 9 am. When they were young, this consisted of reading aloud to them, gardening, learning to sound out words if they were ready, and some basic math. The rest of learning was based on their interests. One loved mechanical things, Legos, music, and math/science. The next loved cowboys, Indians, pirates, and guns. So that's what we learned about. With most of the day available to pursue their interests, there was ample time for field trips, the library, or just laying on the floor pouring through the encyclopedia. Over the years we have all, including me, become avid history buffs. We learned history by reading great biographies.

Lunch was at 1:00 pm, and they were free to play, accompany me to town, and do afternoon/evening chores. Seeing the way children's lives are scheduled today, I am thankful that my children had so much "down time," to explore the woods, build forts, or develop a new skill like changing the oil in a car.

We made sure the boys had many work and service opportunities, and even founded a teen service club called "SOS", (Service Over Self).

When my older boys turned 16, they both chose to participate in high school sports, and they took some classes at the local community college, while continuing to unschool high school. Being able to get any "formal" type learning done by noon or earlier meant time for jobs, practicing music (a pianist and violinist), or reading. Not only was getting into college no problem, we find that colleges are seeking homeschoolers.

Today the oldest has a masters in piano performance, teaches piano, is a minister of music at a local church, has a successful internet business (methodbooks.com), and is starting a second one in web design with his brother.

The second son got his undergrad degree in history, his masters in education, and now teaches history at Sisters High School, and owns an internet-based web design business.

The third son is a sophomore history major at Walla Walla University.

Sadly, due to many unavoidable changes, I have had to return to work, and my two youngest sons have had to attend school from about age 10. Both private and public school have fallen way short of our unschooling experience. There is so much wasted time, and so much time spent on things of little interest or use to the kids. Much time is wasted on managing 30 students rather than meaningful learning. The "socialization" that happens is largely negative, and the other kids seem more interested in what TV show, video game, or movie is popular instead of what great book they've read or what great figure or event of history they are learning about.

We chose to not have TV, rarely watched movies, and yes, I have raised five sons without a Nintendo, X-box, PlayStation or computer games. They survived!! And thrived.

How can public schools learn from unschooling? By returning to the pattern of schooling when our country enjoyed nearly a 100% literacy rate: Don't start children in formal learning until they are 8-10 years old. Have school for 3-4 months a year. Then, get them involved in practical work at home and service to their community and their fellow man.

posted 4 years, 9 months ago
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