Unschoolers

Well, quite honestly I don't think much of it. I think having a steady education is of utmost importance. Gaining experience by doing and seeing things can be accomplished by other means that taking such a laid back approach. I understand the allure, but I don't think I would endorse that for my child. But I like hearing about new things, and I find it very interesting.

Actually I hadn't heard of the term till now, so curious I followed the link. I think Holt was right. I think that everything is to text book today and they aren't out learning as much with hands on experience which is how they will learn to do things when they are older alot of times. I know no matter how much I read, learn or am taught I learn best when I experience myself hands on. So I think it is something that should be coming back into schools because computers are taking over in alot of things with teaching the children and I they need more hands on apporach to things.

I had not heard of that, but it fits in with a lot of what I have experienced. I feel I learned best in spite of my schools. I do not think that I would necessarily remove a child of mine from traditional school, but I do believe that they need a good amount of time to be encouraged in unschooling themselves. I am very tired,at this point, at having spent most of the year in class rooms where they are focused on State Assessments, because of No Child Left Behind. I do truly believe that schools need to be accountable for teaching, but I do not think that this is the way to measure what is learned. I think "doing" demonstrates learning. I think for that reason I agree with the idea of children learning outside the domain of regular schools.

Education is the most important, no matter how it's done. I dont think there's anything wrong about it. There just different ways of doing different things.

I am an unschooler. It's just a different method. My 7 year old had now read 20000 Leagues Under the Sea and is working on Treasure Island all because she wants to. My 9 year old is doing a study on Elizabethan England. I let them study what they want. they are also both helping me with a crafting business I am starting. It will help teach them math and economics. We live our lives and learn from everything around us.

I am a fan of unschooling because I have grown up in the public school system. I'm currently going through my college years wondering why I'm wasting every day attending classroom discussions with students who obviously don't read their assignments and try to bs their way through everything. I saw a clip on abc news about unschooling, and the reporters just didn't do justice to the concept. They only looked at two families and focused on the one that seemed to give the least bit of parent encouragement and facilitation. On the other hand, there is a one hour lecture by Astra Taylor that can be found on Youtube. This woman was unschooled and she went on to Brown University. She speaks about the profound influence of her education. She learned to see the world as her source of learning rather than the school books. I think unschooling's success may depend on the level of the parent's relationship with the child. Although parents don't teach their children, it seems that they really have an influence on how the child wants to learn. Some parents will put out certain books for their kids, some might not have tv in their house. If the parent goes out and buys the kids video games they are most likely going to play them. But if the parent goes out of his/her way to bring enlightening subjects or tools like microscopes and puzzles into the child's presence, the child will likely pay attention to it.