<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><div>Begin forwarded message:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" color="#000000" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; color: #000000"><b>From: </b></font><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">Jessica Brown <<a href="mailto:nariah@gmail.com">nariah@gmail.com</a>></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" color="#000000" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; color: #000000"><b>Date: </b></font><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">September 21, 2010 10:28:57 PM EDT</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" color="#000000" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; color: #000000"><b>To: </b></font><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">HSC Serve <<a href="mailto:TC-HSC-L@cornell.edu">TC-HSC-L@cornell.edu</a>></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" color="#000000" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; color: #000000"><b>Subject: </b></font><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica"><b>Mentoring teens who need to "rise out" of school.</b></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" color="#000000" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; color: #000000"><b>Reply-To: </b></font><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">Jessica Brown <<a href="mailto:nariah@gmail.com">nariah@gmail.com</a>></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div> </div><div bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><div>I have been in touch with Sarabeth and she encouraged me to share this with this list. Please be in touch with her directly - I know nothing more than what she has written here. Thanks.<br> <br></div><div>J<div><br></div></div><div><br>Begin forwarded message:<br><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><b>From:</b> Sarabeth Matilsky <<a href="mailto:sara@cheeber.com">sara@cheeber.com</a>><br><b>Date:</b> September 21, 2010 4:57:27 PM EDT<br> <b>To:</b> <a href="mailto:TCunschoolers@yahoogroups.com">TCunschoolers@yahoogroups.com</a>, <a href="mailto:funschooling@yahoogroups.com"></a><a href="mailto:funschooling@yahoogroups.com">funschooling@yahoogroups.com</a><br> <b>Cc:</b> <a href="mailto:jonahmeyer@gmail.com"></a><a href="mailto:jonahmeyer@gmail.com">jonahmeyer@gmail.com</a><br><b>Subject:</b> <b>[funschooling] North Star Learning Center, and Mentoring Teens</b><br><b>Reply-To:</b> <a href="mailto:funschooling@yahoogroups.com"></a><a href="mailto:funschooling@yahoogroups.com">funschooling@yahoogroups.com</a><br> <br></div></blockquote><div></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><span>Hi All,</span><br><span></span><br><span>I just visited North Star in western Massachusetts </span><br><span><a href="http://northstarteens.org/">http://northstarteens.org/</a> . This is an absolutely, incredibly, </span><br> <span>indescribably amazing place. North Star helps teens and their parents to </span><br><span>bridge the gap between schooling and homeschooling, but it's not a </span><br><span>learning co-op, or even an "alternative school." Most particularly, it's </span><br> <span>for helping kids who are miserable in school, to get out. (See North </span><br><span>Star's 7 Guiding Principles, pasted below.)</span><br><span></span><br><span>Imagine a place that is a sunny, bright community center for 58 really </span><br> <span>happy teenagers who like to play ping-pong and study capoira and math </span><br><span>and current events and circus arts and gaming and travel and writing and </span><br><span>painting and play, and where there are comics on the bathroom walls, and </span><br> <span>where people are happy about Being Alive at 10 o'clock on Monday </span><br><span>mornings, and where there are tons of awesome mentors hanging </span><br><span>around...and you'll get a tiny taste of how cool North Star is. (It's </span><br> <span>like Not Back to School Camp, but four days per week!)</span><br><span></span><br><span>The amazing part is that most of these teens, so obviously thriving now, </span><br><span>were suffering terribly in school until very recently.</span><br> <span></span><br><span>I want to start a North Star in Ithaca! But I'm not quite there yet, and </span><br><span>I don't have Ken Danford's credentials, experience, or charisma.</span><br><span></span><br><span>But it got me thinking: I am totally qualified to mentor a homeschooling </span><br> <span>teenager on the topic of homeschooling, and so I've got a new, </span><br><span>grassroots goal for this year: I want to help a teenager rise out of school.</span><br><span></span><br><span></span><br><span></span><br> <span>Can you help me find this teenager? Please e-mail me off-list if you </span><br><span>know of a potential high-school rise-out who might benefit from an adult </span><br><span>homeschooling mentor in the spirit of North Star.</span><br> <span></span><br><span>I would not charge for my services, since this would be my first client, </span><br><span>and I'm thinking that I would meet with a teen and his or her family </span><br><span>once or twice per week to start.</span><br> <span></span><br><span>My Qualifications:</span><br><span></span><br><span>--I am a lifelong homeschooler, and a homeschooling mom.</span><br><span>--I have read and written extensively on the topic of homeschooling.</span><br> <span>--I can offer support for a family who is new to homeschooling, and who </span><br><span>has questions about how it all works in general, and how their teen </span><br><span>could learn, be successful, and thrive outside of school.</span><br> <span>--I have worked for Not Back to School Camp (as well as other teen </span><br><span>organizations) for over twelve years, and love working with teens.</span><br><span></span><br><span>Necessary Qualifications for a Teenage Mentor-ee:</span><br> <span></span><br><span>--Must be currently in school, but highly motivated to leave.</span><br><span>--Must be independent and capable.</span><br><span>--Must be in need of logistical, emotional, and/or creative support in </span><br> <span>order to rise out of high school.</span><br><span></span><br><span>Necessary Qualifications for a Teenage Mentor-ee's Parent(s):</span><br><span></span><br><span>--Must be willing to entertain the idea of their teen homeschooling, and </span><br> <span>be willing to work with their teen and me to make it possible.</span><br><span></span><br><span>Thanks for reading!</span><br><span>--Sarabeth Matilsky</span><br><span>607-330-1201</span><br><span></span><br><span></span><br> <span>----</span><br><span></span><br><span>North Star for Teens</span><br><span></span><br><span>Guiding Principles</span><br><span>Seven Principles that Inform Our Work at North Star</span><br><span></span><br><span>1 Young people want to learn.</span><br> <span></span><br><span>Human beings are learning creatures. We don�t have to persuade babies to </span><br><span>be curious and to seek competence and understanding. The same can be l</span><br><span>true of teenagers. Rather than trying to motivate teenagers, we support </span><br> <span>their basic human drive to learn and grow. Where obstacles � internal or </span><br><span>external � have gotten in the way of this intrinsic drive, we focus on </span><br><span>helping teenagers overcome or remove these obstacles.</span><br> <span></span><br><span>2 Learning happens everywhere.</span><br><span></span><br><span>Conventional wisdom says that children �go to school to learn,� as </span><br><span>though learning can only occur in places specially designed for that </span><br> <span>purpose. We believe that people learn all the time and in all kinds of </span><br><span>places. It doesn�t have to look like school or feel like school to be </span><br><span>valuable, and it�s not necessary to make distinctions between </span><br> <span>�schoolwork� and �your own hobbies� or �for credit� and �not for </span><br><span>credit.� As one teenager who had recently left school observed, </span><br><span>�Everything I do counts now.�</span><br> <span></span><br><span>3 It really is OK to leave school.</span><br><span></span><br><span>Many young people who are miserable in school � academically or socially </span><br><span>� stay because they believe that leaving school will rule out (or at </span><br> <span>least diminish) the possibility of a successful future. We believe that </span><br><span>young people can achieve a meaningful and successful adulthood without </span><br><span>going to school. We�ve seen it happen, over and over again.</span><br> <span></span><br><span>4 How people behave under one set of circumstances and assumptions does </span><br><span>not predict how they will behave under a very different set of </span><br><span>circumstances and assumptions.</span><br> <span></span><br><span>School success or failure is not necessarily a predictor of a child�s </span><br><span>potential for success or failure outside of school. An unmotivated </span><br><span>student may become enthusiastic and committed after she�s left school. A </span><br> <span>student who doesn�t thrive in a classroom environment may become </span><br><span>successful when allowed to learn through apprenticeships or in </span><br><span>one-on-one tutorials. When we change the approach, the structure, and </span><br> <span>the assumptions, all kinds of other changes often follow.</span><br><span></span><br><span>5 Structure communicates as powerfully as words � and often more </span><br><span>powerfully.</span><br><span></span><br> <span>It�s not enough to tell kids that we want them to be self-motivated, or </span><br><span>that we want them to value learning for its own sake, if the structure </span><br><span>of their lives and their educations is actually communicating the </span><br> <span>opposite message. Voluntary (rather than compulsory) classes, the </span><br><span>ability to choose what one studies rather than following a required </span><br><span>curriculum, and the absence of tests and grades all contribute to a </span><br> <span>structure that supports and facilitates intrinsic motivation and </span><br><span>self-directed learning.</span><br><span></span><br><span>6 As adults working with young people, we should mostly strive to �make </span><br> <span>possible� rather than �make sure.�</span><br><span></span><br><span>Most of the time, we can�t truly make sure that young people learn any </span><br><span>particular thing � learning just doesn�t work that way. A group of </span><br> <span>adults can decide that all fifth graders should learn fractions, but </span><br><span>when it comes to each individual child�s genuine understanding and </span><br><span>retention, we can�t actually make it happen or guarantee that it will </span><br> <span>happen. As adults, what we can do, however, is try to make things </span><br><span>possible for young people � provide access, offer opportunity, figure </span><br><span>out what kind of support will be most helpful, do whatever we can to </span><br> <span>help navigate the challenges and problems that arise.</span><br><span></span><br><span>7 The best preparation for a meaningful and productive future is a </span><br><span>meaningful and productive present.</span><br> <span></span><br><span>Too often, education is thought of in terms of preparation: �Do this </span><br><span>now, even if it doesn�t feel connected to your most pressing interests </span><br><span>and concerns, because later on you�ll find it useful.� We believe that </span><br> <span>helping teenagers to figure out what seems interesting and worth doing </span><br><span>right now, in their current lives, is also the best way to help them </span><br><span>develop self-knowledge and experience at figuring out what kind of life </span><br> <span>they want and what they need to do or learn in order to create that </span><br><span>life. In other words, it�s the best preparation for their futures.</span><br><span></span><br><span></span><br><span>------------------------------------</span><br> <span></span><br><span>Community email addresses:</span><br><span> Post message: <a href="mailto:funschooling@yahoogroups.com"></a><a href="mailto:funschooling@yahoogroups.com">funschooling@yahoogroups.com</a></span><br> <span> Subscribe: <a href="mailto:funschooling-subscribe@yahoogroups.com"></a><a href="mailto:funschooling-subscribe@yahoogroups.com">funschooling-subscribe@yahoogroups.com</a></span><br><span> Unsubscribe: <a href="mailto:funschooling-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com"></a><a href="mailto:funschooling-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com">funschooling-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com</a></span><br> <span> List owner: <a href="mailto:funschooling-owner@yahoogroups.com"></a><a href="mailto:funschooling-owner@yahoogroups.com">funschooling-owner@yahoogroups.com</a></span><br><span>Yahoo! Groups Links</span><br><span></span><br> <span><*> To visit your group on the web, go to:</span><br><span> <a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/funschooling/"></a><a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/funschooling/">http://groups.yahoo.com/group/funschooling/</a></span><br> <span></span><br><span><*> Your email settings:</span><br><span> Individual Email | Traditional</span><br><span></span><br><span><*> To change settings online go to:</span><br><span> <a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/funschooling/join"></a><a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/funschooling/join">http://groups.yahoo.com/group/funschooling/join</a></span><br> <span> (Yahoo! ID required)</span><br><span></span><br><span><*> To change settings via email:</span><br><span> <a href="mailto:funschooling-digest@yahoogroups.com">funschooling-digest@yahoogroups.com</a> </span><br> <span> <a href="mailto:funschooling-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com"></a><a href="mailto:funschooling-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com">funschooling-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com</a></span><br><span></span><br><span><*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:</span><br> <span> <a href="mailto:funschooling-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com"></a><a href="mailto:funschooling-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com">funschooling-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com</a></span><br><span></span><br><span><*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:</span><br> <span> <a href="http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/"></a><a href="http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/">http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/</a></span><br><span></span><br></div></blockquote></div></blockquote></div><br></body></html>