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"Un-schooling"

First impressions
What a crock of shit.
But i will think it though and get back to you moto
Another good thread for us parents to mull over :D
 
Yeah, this is a fine and dandy schedule for any child:
Welcome to the world of "unschooling" -- an educational movement where kids, not parents, not teachers, decide what they will learn that day.

"I don't want to sound pompous, but I think I am learning a little bit more, because I can just do everything at my own pace," said Nailah Ellis, a 10-year-old from Marietta, Georgia, who has been unschooled for most of her life.

Nailah's day starts about 11 a.m., her typical wake-up time. She studies Chinese, reading, writing, piano and martial arts. But there's no set schedule. She works on what she wants, when she wants. She'll even watch some TV -- science documentaries are a favorite -- until her day comes to an end about 2 a.m.

'Cause that's the way all of the rest of the world works. Do what you want, when you want, at your own pace. I know my employer lets me do that. All the utility companies, mortgage, and income tax bills are things I can take care of whenever I so chose. :rolleyes:
 
Her schedule is from 11-2. Giving twenty minutes to wake up and get oriented, not to mention the fact that she watches television if she wants to, she's only dedicating two hours a day towards learning a given subject. I'd love to see how she would fare on one of our state standards tests. I agree with Moto, the real world doesn't let you wake up at 11 everyday.:rolleyes: The parents apparently forgot who is in charge in that relationship. :rolleyes:
 
I have no idea where you're getting "she's only dedicating two hours a day towards learning a given subject"? There's no schedule. She can do what she pleases, when she pleases. She could go weeks with doing nothing, which I'm sure most 10 year olds would do.

From what I've seen, and heard from just about any parent out there, one of the most important things a child can have is clear and defined schedules and bounderies. Knowing exactly what, where, and when they need to be somewhere, or do something is critical for basic learning, and maturity.

This sounds like the ultimate in lazy parenting, not some new and wonderful educational theory.
 
To me one of the most important factors in a childs life is education and here in England thats starts with pre schooling at the age of 3.
It teachers them skills in life and how to interact with other children,there are bounderies in schools that children must meet and abide by.
It is certaintly lazy parenting to let your child by self taught.
How can a child taught in this manner be up to the same level as a child taught at school?
 
Some interesting unschooling links out there.
Clickety, click. They really don't like the "home-schooling" label, as they feel it's quite the opposite of that. Kind of like Montessori-mixed with anarchy style of learning.
 
SFG75 said:
Her schedule is from 11-2. Giving twenty minutes to wake up and get oriented, not to mention the fact that she watches television if she wants to, she's only dedicating two hours a day towards learning a given subject.

It says her schedule ends at 2 a.m., which gives her a 15-hour period of study, give or take. That's just what it says--I don't advocate it.

This reminds me of Rudolf Steiner's theosophy and related Waldorf schools, which are relatively widespread and about 100 years old. Bunch of doo, IMO. Some of them go so far as to say that kids shouldn't use paper with straight edges because it's 'confining.' The Steiner school near me had an outbreak of whooping cough because the 'forward-thinking' parents don't 'believe' in vaccinations. Crickey.:rolleyes:
 
It says shes awake from 11:00am until 2:00am....there's absolutely nothing stated about when, and how much she actually studies....
 
I'm glad to see someone caught the way most unschoolers do not wish to be associated with "homeschoolers." For the most part, 'unschoolers' tend to be people who have chosen home education for secular reasons, rather than the religious ones of most other homeschoolers. And for some reason, they tend to stay away from the conventions and other activites that homeschoolers in each state do every year.
Among homeschoolers there are several 'schools of thought' about the best way to educate, and we tend to pick and choose from each of these methods as we see fit for our own children. Most of us like at least SOME structure to our day, and would be very uncomfortable with the typical schoolday described in the original article. Yes, some homeschooled kids get to study Greek or pursue their artistic bents, but they still have to do math and science too.
 
This is an area of education that is very interesting. John Taylor Gatto wrote a book titled Dumbing us down. It was pretty much a bold argument against compulsory education. It's not an original thought, except that Gatto is a New York teacher of the year, not necessarily a disgruntled outsider who hates public ed. for the sake of doing so. John Holt is a respected education writer and former teacher. The "learning all the time" thesis is somewhat of his doing, due to the hyper-linked book and some earlier works of his. The older he gets, the more "out there" he is compared to your typical education professors and administrators. An interesting book that is a must have is The Teenage Liberation Handbook. It's a Bible of sorts for unschoolers. Like science and don't want the typical educational experience? "Apprentice" yourself to a professor or volunteer to help out in a lab. Once again, the effectiveness of it depends upon what the given kid wants to learn. I'm not certain what the answer is myself.
 
Motokid said:
It says shes awake from 11:00am until 2:00am....there's absolutely nothing stated about when, and how much she actually studies....


Pardon, merely correcting SFG's miscalculation.
 
Motokid said:
It says shes awake from 11:00am until 2:00am....there's absolutely nothing stated about when, and how much she actually studies...

Good point, if a kid isn't intrinsically interested in learning, then obviously, it's a failed plan. At the same time, a good number of kids who are behavior problems in public schools and who don't finish are highly intelligent. They get bored, act out, and then fail to finish school because they are too bored while the other kids learn at what to them, appears to be a snail's pace. So who makes the decision if that's the right way to go? I guess that it's for parents and kids to make on their own.
 
I think that may work with some kids, but not all kids are able to learn that way. I might do that with my (hypothetical) kids, but I would do it in addition to traditional schooling. Why?
I think I have learned a great deal outside of school, mostly because I read so much. It sounds similar to the idea of "unschooling" but my parents did not decide to do it, I did. But if I had only been "unschooled" I would never have bothered to learn math. If I don't learn math, I can't get into a good college and get a job.
There are definitely some good things about it, but kids who are "unschooled" will most likely never be forced to do things they don't want to do. This is not good, because as adults they will need to do things they don't like.
 
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