Unschooler's Emporium: A drawing for $50 in gifts!

S U M M A R Y

Contest / Scholarship

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The Unschooler's Emporium is working to spread the word about Unschooling and provide products for others.

http://www.theunschoolersemporium.com/

From the UE blog:

When we first started to homeschool, I knew there was no choice but to go all the way and become unschoolers. There I was, an exhausted, disillusioned, slightly-manic former teacher, and the thought of doing anything even remotely resembling school made me want to cower in a corner and wail, "NOOOoooooo! For the love of all things holy, don't make me do it! And great galloping goose nuts, don't make us do school at the kitchen table!" I'd had enough of teaching. There was a reason I left the system. Actually, there were several reasons. But the reason most relevant to today's post is how disgusted I was with having to make kids do things they didn't want to do. All the time. All the time.

That's what school is, you know. It's a systematized dumping of information upon unwilling students. It's a mass coercion that leads kids - and worse, parents - to believe kids will never know their multiplication tables unless they learn it right now. That they'll never learn how to be quiet unless they start to cooperate right now. That they'll never be able to form a coherent thought unless they practiceright now. Which is, naturally, quite ludicrous. And I have the kids to prove it.

In the beginning, it was a paradigm shift of great magnitude to reject this nationally-treasured pedagogical dogma. And that bit of new and profound perspective alone was enough cud for this here grrrl to ruminate on for quite some time. But the decision had been made. I could dwell all I wanted on how and why, but then... something a little more sinister appeared on my radar - how to tell my parents, who'd shelled out tens of thousands of dollars for my out-of-state degree at the #1 School of Education in the nation. And how to tell my husband, who'd been blithely satisfied with a teacher wife, a kindergarten child, and a daycare babe. And how to tell my colleagues I rejected everything about what they spent their life's energy doing. And how to reconcile this new philosophy with everything we'd built our life upon so far.

Yikeys. This wasn't going to be pretty.

But I really had no choice. By the time I quit teaching it had gone far beyond any cerebral level. This was gut feeling, folks. Raw intuition. And it compelled me to change. It compelled me to slam hard on the brakes, step out of the car, slam my head several times on the nearest guardrail, and ask, "Now where in the h*ll did I think I was going?"

And even though I didn't know where, exactly, to go from there, I still knew I had to go. I had to go. Something had turned on inside of me. Some place deep inside had gotten a taste and I craved more. I had always lived in my head, often analyzing and weighing and considering things far beyond what was necessary, to the point of obsession on certain occasions, but for once I felt I'd gotten an answer to a longing. A longing I knew I had, but didn't understand. Up until then I couldn't put a name to it. Up until then I didn't know what would sate it. Until then I didn't know why I couldn't just be content to stay on the mainstream, well-worn path, head up, eyes forward, shoulders back, and keep on going like I was supposed to. >.

I was going with my heart for a change. I always knew there was something lurking just over my shoulder, just out of view. If only I could get a glimpse..

Read more on the website: http://www.theunschoolersemporium.com/ue-blog/

RULES
:
To enter submit a blog post to Brenda@TheUnschoolersEmporium.com. I will confirm that I have received the email.
The blog post must be about one of the topics listed and be a minimum of 400 words.
The blog posts will be added to The Unschooler’s Emporium’s blog, for everyone to read. You can see the entries here.
A person may submit as many blog posts as they would like and will get entered into the drawing for each post submitted. (submit 5 blog posts, get your name in the drawing 5 times)
Anyone of any age can enter.
Credit will be given to the blogger with a link to your site in the blog post (if you send the link in the email with your blog post)
Drawing is running from August 1, 2010 to September 30, 2010.

Topics
:
- What does Unschooling mean to you? How has it changed your life?

- What do you love about Unschooling.

- How did you come to Unschooling?

- What was/is the most difficult thing for you to deal with when transitioning into Unschooling?

- What is a side effect of Unschooling that you did not expect?

- Write about some of the big Unschooling topics (socialization, tv, video games, bedtime, food, chores etc) and how they relate to Unschooling.

Sponsor:

Unschooler's Emporium

Sponsor's Goals:

Deadline:

2010-09-30

P R I Z E S

Total # of Prizes:

Low Prize:

Top Prize:

R E Q U I R E M E N T S

Applies To:

For Residents of:

Grades:

Other Requirements:

We will put everyone’s name in a hat on or around October 1, 2010 and pick one person to win $50 worth of products at The Unschooler’s Emporium (no cash value, if the items need to be returned there will not be a refund, we will only do an exchange). All of the $50 value must be spent on products, no change will be given. Shipping & handling is free on all items. Winner must use winnings in one order and within one month of winning the drawing. All blog posts that are submitted will be used at The Unschooler’s Emporium’s discretion. Need a minimum of 50 blog posts for the drawing to be valid or it will be cancelled and the posts that were received will stay on The Unschooler’s Emporium, so be sure to get everyone you know that likes to write to enter. We will put a video up on our youtube channel showing the drawing. We will also announce the winner via Facebook, Twitter, as well as email the winner and place in The Unschooler’s Emporium newsletter. Winner will be contacted with the details on how to claim winnings.

F O R M O R E I N F O R M A T I O N

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