Unschooling Comment Turned Post.
Dec. 9th, 2010 07:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crazychicknladyYou know how sometimes you're responding to a post by someone and realize that by the time you're done you've written something long enough to be a post in and of its self. Well, even if you don't know how that is, I did that today in response to an unschooling vs structured homeschooling discussion on the homeschooling section of The Pioneer Woman's website (thanks to my sis for pointing me there).
Here it is:
Unschooling is _not_ benign neglect. Just because a parent left a child to their own devices (as several people mentioned about their own homeschooling experiences), does not make it unschooling.
Unschooling done well involves a _lot_ of time spent with one’s children. You don’t just figure out what your kid likes, gather the resources and then set them loose – you find out what your kid likes, gather the resources, and then spend a lot of time doing it _with_ them. You also try to anticipate what your kid might like and get that for them, too. The main thing is you have to be prepared to be wrong and let go of the idea if the child isn’t interested at that point.
The activities will look different than standard schooling, however. My kids spend a lot of time on the computer playing free flash games, on the wii playing video games, and on the TV watching shows and DVDs. The key is, I play and watch _with_ them and value what the kids value, and as a result I can see the learning.
Unschooling assumes learning is always happening – if a kid is in the middle of a repetitious boring assignment they _are_ learning, it may just be a different lesson than the parent expects.
I was a straight A (in AP classes, too) student, I also thought many of my college classes were optional when I attended for the first few years [someone in the comments had claimed the lack of discipline in her homeschooling led her to be undisciplined at college and as someone else pointed out, lots of people end up undisciplined in college, sometimes in response to it being their first experience with freedom]. My grades suffered accordingly. I have a BS in Human development and a minor in Math. I stink at risk taking, and couldn’t sell myself to get a decent paying job if I wanted to – even though I was a success by schoolish standards. I don’t remember most of what I learned in school – thank goodness for Google. I was emotionally scarred from poor treatment by other students, I have a hard time standing up to authority figures, even when they are in the wrong, and I have a very hard time self motivating to learn new stuff.
If my kids have gaps in their knowledge, but come out of this experience having had a fun, loving childhood, and retaining their natural love for learning and have a stronger sense of who they are and what they love than I did, I figure we’ll be way ahead in this life thing.
Personally, anyone homeschooling (by whatever method) is doing great by their kids as far as I’m concerned, since they have gotten them out of the toxic environment of school (read the seven lessons school teacher by John Taylor Gatto, an award winning teacher: http://www.newciv.org/whole/schoolteacher.txt ). Our kids need our time more than anything, and homeschooling can give them a caring, supportive environment which traditional schooling can never successfully emulate.
Here it is:
Unschooling is _not_ benign neglect. Just because a parent left a child to their own devices (as several people mentioned about their own homeschooling experiences), does not make it unschooling.
Unschooling done well involves a _lot_ of time spent with one’s children. You don’t just figure out what your kid likes, gather the resources and then set them loose – you find out what your kid likes, gather the resources, and then spend a lot of time doing it _with_ them. You also try to anticipate what your kid might like and get that for them, too. The main thing is you have to be prepared to be wrong and let go of the idea if the child isn’t interested at that point.
The activities will look different than standard schooling, however. My kids spend a lot of time on the computer playing free flash games, on the wii playing video games, and on the TV watching shows and DVDs. The key is, I play and watch _with_ them and value what the kids value, and as a result I can see the learning.
Unschooling assumes learning is always happening – if a kid is in the middle of a repetitious boring assignment they _are_ learning, it may just be a different lesson than the parent expects.
I was a straight A (in AP classes, too) student, I also thought many of my college classes were optional when I attended for the first few years [someone in the comments had claimed the lack of discipline in her homeschooling led her to be undisciplined at college and as someone else pointed out, lots of people end up undisciplined in college, sometimes in response to it being their first experience with freedom]. My grades suffered accordingly. I have a BS in Human development and a minor in Math. I stink at risk taking, and couldn’t sell myself to get a decent paying job if I wanted to – even though I was a success by schoolish standards. I don’t remember most of what I learned in school – thank goodness for Google. I was emotionally scarred from poor treatment by other students, I have a hard time standing up to authority figures, even when they are in the wrong, and I have a very hard time self motivating to learn new stuff.
If my kids have gaps in their knowledge, but come out of this experience having had a fun, loving childhood, and retaining their natural love for learning and have a stronger sense of who they are and what they love than I did, I figure we’ll be way ahead in this life thing.
Personally, anyone homeschooling (by whatever method) is doing great by their kids as far as I’m concerned, since they have gotten them out of the toxic environment of school (read the seven lessons school teacher by John Taylor Gatto, an award winning teacher: http://www.newciv.org/whole/schoolteacher.txt ). Our kids need our time more than anything, and homeschooling can give them a caring, supportive environment which traditional schooling can never successfully emulate.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-12-10 05:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-10 04:07 pm (UTC)In the years I have known you, you single-handedly have done more to educate me on unschooling than anything I have read or explored elsewhere. And because of your influence, I have really eased up on what and how I teach.
I was a mediocre student, but I can razzle dazzle myself in the job market if need be. Grades do not equate to success. Ask Bill Gates. Or ask Thomas Edison.
One of the big items that comes to mind when I think about homeschooling vs. unschooling is something you touched upon in your post. My kids hate repetitive worksheets. They would do them, but their goal was to see how quickly they could finish them so they could go play/build a fort/play video games/dolls/legos, etc. Instead of phonics worksheets, they are primarily learning to read by actually reading instead.
Polly loves music. I have never had to get on her about practicing her piano because she wants to learn. I don't have to find "school-like" critical thinking exercizes for Buckaroo because he will plop himself in front of my FB account and play Globs or other brain teaser games.
It has been interesting to watch my children progress as I relaxed our homeschool methods. Though we are a long way from traditional unschooling, I can honestly say that incorporating a lot of what you have taught me (through action not instruction) has been a value to my family and my children's overall education.
Keep it up.
no subject
Date: 2010-12-11 02:03 am (UTC)