I remember though, when I was a kid, we lived in the sticks near Huntington WV, and my dad worked at Ashland Oil in KY. I think it took him over an hour to drive to work.

We didn’t take vacations or go out to eat when I was a kid, and as a family now we have never taken an ‘out-of-town’ vacation. I don’t miss it, maybe because it was never a part of my life? We do day trips here and there, but other than going to weddings, funerals, reunions… we don’t travel long distances. If we get farther than 45 minutes from home, the kids start asking how long before we get back. Our favorite thing to do for vacation is to unplug the phone and live incommunicado for a couple of days. Very restful. And cheap.

There are effects on homeschooling and there isn’t really any way around that. Whether or not it effects your attitude toward homeschooling or anything is a different matter entirely.

I was mostly interested in how things have effected people’s homeschooling plans and what adjustments are being made. “Education” is a pretty top priority among homeschoolers and it is an easy area to justify extra expenditures that are not really necessary.

I guess I don’t see “woe is me.” Just people sharing how things are affecting them.

so I am confused about why gas prices would be a homeschooling issue but not an unschooling issue?

Sorry, I was unclear what I was responding to. When you stated “our power of story unschooling these days is pretty much the opposite of ‘woe is me’” I took it to mean that you attributed your attitude specifically to unschooling.

That is why I responded that I didn’t see that as an unschooling issue, but just one of general attitude and how we respond to challenges. I’m not an unschooler, and am not stuck on the negatives. Just curious what effects it all is having and if it has reached the point of having an effect.

We are in a unique situation living 120 miles from where my husband works, so I don’t know that gas prices necessarily effects everyone’s budget quite to the level it does us. But recognizing that isn’t the same as feeling sorry for myself over the whole thing.

I think there are huge benefits to be reaped by this minor stress on budgets. It forces people to re-evaluate their values, and it is forcing corporations to re-evaluate their needs to see if maybe employees might be able to work from home more.

That can only be good. We don’t need to be so focused on consumption and trying to find fulfillment and contentment outside ourselves.

After all, I read an interesting book about a group of people whose contentment shone through enough to have a significant effect on the lives around them…a group of Christians in a N. Korean prison camp.

We carry our contentment or lack thereof into every situation. It is internal, not external. But in our consumption driven economy, we tend to focus on the external. “If I only had….then I’d be happy.” But I doubt that changes no matter how high the gas prices go. Too many people see a middle class lifestyle as their right rather than something they have earned. There is not much appreciation for the incredible wealth we have.

Like Nance mentioned, “And, really, anyone who is getting any sort of vacation or travel this year is doing better than a lot of people.”

But really, the amount this affects our daily lives and expenditures shows just how well off we are as a country. Cars, fuel, etc., are simply taken for granted and we don’t think about it all that often.

One way gas prices might affect us is that I am saving for a new computer, and it may take me longer to do so as we stretch our budget to accommodate necessary travel.

And the headline is “Economic Woes and Homeschooling” so I (surprisingly?) thought that what this discussion is about, the current economic effects on our own home-educating, if any?

Dana said, “I don’t see it as an unschooling issue” but “unschooling” is simply how we homeschool — our family’s way of learning at home — so I am confused about why gas prices would be a homeschooling issue but not an unschooling issue? Again, maybe I’m misunderstanding but if so, I’ll need some help seeing where.

I don’t see it as an unschooling issue. Just whether or not you choose to be controlled by your environment or choose to take control of your response to changing conditions.

“Homeschooling” will not be affected any, nor with our children suffer any as a result of a few things being cut. I was really looking forward to our weekend trips, and now we are looking forward to trips to our backyard. Not quite the same, but sufficient.

Dana, my comment got long and wandered into power of story and sense of community, so I’m posting it at Snook — with art!