unschooling blog

Discussion in 'Homeschooling in the News' started by ABall, Aug 25, 2006.

  1. ABall

    ABall Super Moderator

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  3. Syele

    Syele New Member

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    I have only 2 problems with unschooling...
    1. I don't really have the means to have lots of learning materials just lying around to be ready at a moments notice. That would make some things hard for the kid.
    2. Most kids are completly unmotivated in at least one area (if not more).

    I think it' s great when kids are motivated to go learn things on thier own. In the blog, I thought it was cool the kids decided to invent teleportation devices. But what happens when a kid who loves to read spends their entire childhood reading everything under the sun but isn't interested in numbers so never learns more than very basic addition? Right now we are "unschooling" science and History because I think she is too young to get formal in those areas. She has learned oodles of Science and met all the science standards for Kinder,1st and most of 2nd grade for science. All I did was help her look up things she requested help looking up. She is totally uninterested in History and hasn't learned any of it at all. If I unschooled Sami completely I can easily see her excelling in many areas and yet not knowing a stich of History when she was ready for college.

    Anybody here have the sort of kid that would not neglect a subject if left to learn on their own? I'd like to meet a kid like that!
     
  4. GLOWAcademy

    GLOWAcademy New Member

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    ty for the link ABall
     
  5. Emma's#1fan

    Emma's#1fan Active Member

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    I had considered unschooling before but am not sure if I have what it takes. I enjoy the structure of having an estimated time for school and knowing I have the supplies to teach what is in the books.
    It is kind of like me wanting to be a vegetarian. I love the idea but when I drive by KFC, Oh, the smell of fried chicken makes my mouth water. :D
    Patty
     
  6. MelissainMi

    MelissainMi New Member

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    OK that is/was funny! :lol: :lol:

    Im not too sure on the whole unschooling thing, Im with Syele, on the motivation part of it. Madison would have NO motivation if I just let it be we need some type of structure to our household.
     
  7. AmyU

    AmyU New Member

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    I agree my son would choice not to do somethings and I would fear he would not learn everything he needed to.
    I know some people that unschool and I really don't like the way things are going with their children. They are my sons age and can't even read yet. The boy doesn't care. But the girl in the family has said to me that she wishes she could. I think it is kinda sad. I don't think all unschools are this way or I hope. I allow my son to explore what he chooses but also I want him to learn other things that he would not do on his own. Like reading and writting. If I didn't tell him to do it he wouldn't. Just my opinion.
     
  8. Syele

    Syele New Member

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    I think the point is supposed to be that kids will begin to search things out for themselves if you don't "make" them. I think if you Fill your house with books of all sorts, paper, pen, art supplies, and science kits. and remove TV computer games, and other "mindless" forms of entertainment, kids will eventually get bored and start using the things provided in an entertaining way.. and they will learn from it. However, even if I was locked in a library for the rest of my life with no other option of what to do, I'd sleep before I'd choose to study certian subjects.

    Some kids just have that personality to persue learning, Sami is like that. She wanted me to teach her to write and she was only 2 1/2 When I wouldn't teach her she would go practice it herself when I wasn't looking. She picked up her pencil numerous times when writing an S but it was an s none the less. I was faced with a delima.. did I say "That's a Beautiful S honey!" and leave it at that, or do I begin to show her the correct way to write an s as well as the other letters. Maybe had I left her alone she might have figured out S's were easier without picking up her pencil in a few months, or it might have been years, or she may have just invented her very own writing system.

    I guess I would have a problem with her having invented her own writing system if it was the only way she knew how to write. Kids really have only so long before they have to Go out of our homes and off to College or carreers. And we have alot of things to impart to them. Waiting a few years to show her the right way to do something seems like missed time that she could have long figured it out by now. And then when we finally do get to showing the correct way, wouldn't we also have to unteach the wrong way, in order to teach the correct one? That would take even more time. And as for the fun of it all. Sami ended up making her own "font" anyways. She knows it is for fun and I let her write that way for whatever she likes except if she is writing for writing practice. (Her font she calls 'Princess Writing" and it includes lots of dots on letter ends and flowers.) All of that to say I don't think I took away any of her love of learning or made her miss any important lesson because of this.

    If a kid takes until they are 12 to begin to understand how to read on their own... will they have time to be well read before college? Some kids will take that long. There are illiterate adults in this world!

    Every kid I have Taught in classes and every kid that has come to my haouse for daycare and the ones I babysat over the years.. they all wanted me to teach them things. They wanted to understand things easily!

    The unschooling idea seems to be "Don't force kids to learn, they will do it on their own anyhow." That is true they will but a good teacher, a mentor, an appreticeship will take them to heights they couldn't have gotten to alone.

    Look at some of the people considered the greatest thinkers.. they were usually students of other gret thinkers! If everyone starts from scratch each time, less knowledge will be gained overall.

    Self-learning isn't bad unless you exclude other forms of learning entirely, IMO. I encourage Sami to choose what she wants to work on, to work on things without me and to know how to find answers indepentantly. I won't always be with her and I want her to feel learning something new each day is just as imporat as an adult as it was as a child. I hear people say "Kids go to school to learn and that is their job, I go to work and fo my job there." That comment makes me sad.. You have a job so you don't have to learn anymore? Very sad!

    Anyways, I'll stop preaching now. LOL Here's some more articles on unschooling:

    http://www.unschooling.com/library/essays
     
  9. Katie

    Katie New Member

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    Unschooling does have structure when done properly. Visit the Moore Foundation's Website and find out more about unschooling.
     
  10. Syele

    Syele New Member

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    Thier stuff looks interesting, but it dosn't look at all like the unschooling that I've read articles about or like the family I know that unschools. Moore Foundation seems to be more about not making things so formal and keeping it stressfree, where the other unschooling sites and articles I read are all about it being completely child-led and unstructured learning.

    I think there are probably as many styles of unschooling as there are homeschooling. ;) I bet lots of people think their favorite is the proper way. I think as long as kids are progressing and learning everyday.. not ignoring subjects, it's being done properly. That's why I said I sure would like to meet a kid that likes all subjects and studies all of them on their own. I wasn't being sarcastic. I really would!
     
  11. Emma's#1fan

    Emma's#1fan Active Member

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    It is kind of interesting, after reading some sites on unschooling, how much of these things we already do. For example, giving the children money to spend at the stores or having them learn about fruits and veggies in the store; using the scale with the fruit in it to teach measurement and adding. Unless a homeschooler is a sit down and only use a curriculum type of person, I think most of us on this site allow our children to learn in ways that are beyond the book and in ways that interest them. Em's learns measurements by cooking and digging holes for plants or about science through natural conditions but at the same time I can't help thinking that using books of some form do help to instill the things they learn on a daily basis. Life is a learning experience from waking up to going to bed, our children learn beyond the books on a daily basis as well.
    I am sure there is some form of stucture when a parent is unschooling properly but for me, I think we still need books as well. I really do think that the way many of us parents homeschool is a medium between the public system and unschooling. It works for us and Em's seems to enjoy it.
     
    Last edited: Aug 31, 2006
  12. Katie

    Katie New Member

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    Well said! I think we all do at least some form of unschooling, afterall thats what homeschooling is all about. Being able to individualize the needs of each child, whenever and however the occasion arises.
     
  13. Emma's#1fan

    Emma's#1fan Active Member

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    What we have done for a while now, is we go to the store, early so we do not inconvenience anybody, and I allow Em's to pay for whatever it is she is buying. Then she gets to count the change and add it to her piggy bank. Sometimes, we go places and she asks,"What does that say?" Right away I tell her that she can read it herself. Of Course she follows up with, "Moooom!";)
     
  14. AmyU

    AmyU New Member

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    I agree most of us do both, unschool and traditional schooling. I think the word for it is Eclectic homeschooling. Which is a mix of both unschool and traditional.

    I don't think it really maters as long as our kids are learning . But now and then I think you run across that group of hs that don't learn what they need to or the parents aren't teaching them. And thats what gives us the a bad name. I believe you have to water the seed to make it grow.
     

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