Aaron - If you can drum it you can strum it. I've been using that approach in my teaching for several years. I think there is way too much emphasis in classes and workshops on learning THE strumming pattern without which you cannot play some song. As you point out, I feel the strumming pattern comes from what the player feels from inside and which is consistent with the rhythm/ and time signature of the song. Funny story: I asked in one of my beginning classes what the students were listening to on their way to class. I assumed they were listening to music and was thinking of drumming on the steering wheel to the music as the approach to learning strumming. The response I got was "NPR." So I learned to ask that question in a different way.
John Leder
Aaron