Getting some good reads

On 9.5.2018, Gail writes: "....the book takes you back to those days"  and then goes on to say: "we really enjoyed it...… wonderful book with wonderful stories"

.............and from the Los Angeles Times:

Ms Healy, an author who writes about such topics as this one, has cited several specialists who believe that kids should have some free time to explore their own world.

It appears that the school system has become so top heavy that it has resulted in consuming the time of the children in addition to the valuable time of the teachers, all who are suffering from overload of administrative "stuff".

and the backside:

If the reader can not read the expanded view, try this link to the newspaper article.  It doesn't have the sailboat chalk picture (neat, huh?) but the story is there and readable.

Ms. Healys article

Unstructured Time Readers

We now have about six months of readership data on the book Unstructured Time.  Its really too early to characterize the readership, but some early data seems to indicate that readers can be in two groups.  Those who are older and those who are younger.  Hah, this is not a risky way to group the readers as nearly everything can be sorted out by young versus old.
But anyway, here is the take on the matter.
The older people really like the read. They tell us that it all brings back their memories of how they played and worked as children and they go on to say that this time of their development was valuable to them.  They think that some of the learnings from that life style are lost in todays times.  The authors realize this too, but they also realize that the rural environment, with its unstructured time probably missed some aspects for development due to its relative isolation.
The younger people who read the book are not enthusiastic readers.  They appear not to relate to this type of unstructured life, because to them, its all rather hypothetical.
So, this represents a challenge to us to consider how such a topic can be presented to the younger audience to assist them in their identifying themselves with this aspect of child development.

Unrelated, but nevertheless a good read is a book rediscovered in my library.  The title is FROM THE LAND AND BACK  by Curtis Stadtfeld.  It is a book written about farm life in the 1950s and how technology changed all that.  Look for it in your local library.

Observations on the road

We stopped into our favorite coffee shop the other day, on the way home from talking to the people at Reclaimed Space.  The coffee shop owners are a young couple with a 2 year old boy.  We got into the conversation of unstructured time and it was apparent that she was tuned into the importance of not controlling the little kids minute by minute activity.
She relates this story:  The family does not have a television service, so the TV set is viewed only on occasions of viewing a pay for play movie.  Because they have no TV service, the little kid is often about the house amusing himself.  She said "he can play for hours with blocks and other simple forms as toys".  However, on occasions he has stayed with his grandparents for several days at a time and they do have television and,, yes, it is on all the time.  During up time, they of course have it tuned to stuff for the kid.  On returning home, the mother reports that the little kid is unable to play by himself for more than 15 minutes without getting antsy.  After several days, this wears off and he again can play for long periods of time by himself.
No wonder so many kids have ADS.

Reading an old book by Carl Sagan, titled The Gardens of Eden, p. 202, there is this small paragraph which deals with unstructured time:

Unstructured Time, the book, is available

After many months of writing, rewriting and editing, the book made it through the prnter.
We think it turned out pretty good and should provide some interesting reading and thought provoking points about unstructured time for children.

Here's the cover, you can buy it at nq99hq store on Etsy.com:

Preface of the book

Preface

The stories and the discussion in this book are about unstructured time-----time that a child might have when not directed by an adult.  Urbanization and changes in the social environment have caused a significant reduction in unstructured time in the last 60 years for most children.

The authors had a lot of unstructured time in their youth. We spent much of that time exploring the world around us and learning from those experiences. Our world was rural, mostly farming country, located in Ada Township.  The time was the 1940s and 1950s.

The centerpiece of the book is a collection of short stories written with the objective of capturing those experiences 70 years later.  We believe that these experiences were important for our development into adults. 

Ahead of the stories, we discuss the concept of unstructured time by providing our assessment of its value to the development of children.  The discussion following the stories section is our opinion of how unstructured time was as successful as it was in the 1940s. For those who care to dig deeper into this subject, rest assured, there is no lack of opinion by others as well.

The book was edited by typical readers who gladly volunteered their work to help assure a readable text.  Thanks to them, the text should be both enjoyable and informative.

The Book is at the Printer

We finally made the last few corrections and additions, then struggled through the proofing process and now we are looking forward to a box of books to show up before the end of the year.

The book ended up at 178 pages with some 15 pages of photos.  It probably will not make the best seller list, but it will be a good read.