Stacey

I am writting a research paper on "Unschooling" and am focusing on the
social barriers and misconceptions that unschooling parents face. I
thought it would be best to hear you opinions and experinces directly
from you(if you don't mind sharing them).
I came upon the subject because I have been looking into homeschooling
curriculum for my six year old and ran into Holt's concept of the
natural learner (which I love). However, my family is full of teachers
who are not supportive of the concept of homeschooling much less
unschooling. (I myself am studing be become a teacher) That made me
wonder...what hurdles would I face if I decided to unschool my child?
So here I am. I realize this is not really the place for beginners
but I thought that for the perimeters of my paper, more experienced
parents would have more to offer in terms of information.

Deborah Greenspan

Stacey,





I'm not an unschooler. I am looking into the possibility of it. We
Homeschool through a public charter and have had many unpleasant surprises
from well-meaning teacher relatives and strangers. They all think it's OK to
challenge you or your kids' intelligence, socialization or lonliness
quotient, level of knowledge, and logic.



The school teacher relatives were the worst. Fortunately, they cornered my
older and more articulate dd to challenge. They found out what a huge
mistake they made. She got an A in logic from community college at 14 yo.



I'd be interested in reading your paper.





All the best,



Deborah



_____

From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
On Behalf Of Stacey
Sent: Saturday, February 10, 2007 4:09 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [AlwaysLearning] Information would be appreciated



I am writting a research paper on "Unschooling" and am focusing on the
social barriers and misconceptions that unschooling parents face. I
thought it would be best to hear you opinions and experinces directly
from you(if you don't mind sharing them).
I came upon the subject because I have been looking into homeschooling
curriculum for my six year old and ran into Holt's concept of the
natural learner (which I love). However, my family is full of teachers
who are not supportive of the concept of homeschooling much less
unschooling. (I myself am studing be become a teacher) That made me
wonder...what hurdles would I face if I decided to unschool my child?
So here I am. I realize this is not really the place for beginners
but I thought that for the perimeters of my paper, more experienced
parents would have more to offer in terms of information.





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Gold Standard

>>am focusing on the
>>social barriers and misconceptions that unschooling parents face.<<

>>more experienced
>>parents would have more to offer in terms of information.<<

Hi Stacey,

I would suggest perusing www.sandradodd.com, where unschooling information
is plentiful. Answering such a general question would take a lot of time and
effort, and when this information is already available online, it seems an
easy way for you to get what you're looking for.

For us, I don't recall social barriers outside of ones any homeschooler may
encounter (people asking "how do you socialize if you're not in school" and
"what curriculum do you use"). But that was never a barrier...often an
opener for sharing information. Of course, there are lots of misconceptions,
but they weren't mine so it was never a problem for us.


Jacki

Joyce Fetteroll

On Feb 10, 2007, at 7:08 PM, Stacey wrote:

> I am writting a research paper on "Unschooling" and am focusing on the
> social barriers and misconceptions that unschooling parents face.

As for social barriers, there isn't any way for non-homeschooling
people to know how we homeschool unless we tell them. I tell people
that we follow her interests and that seems to satisfy them.

Unschoolers in the Bible-belt, though, often have problems since the
majority of homeschoolers are schooling at home for religious
reasons. Finding people who are comfortable around unschoolers can be
a challenge for them.

The misconceptions are legion. I've been responding to those for
years and collected a lot of answers at:

http://joyfullyrejoycing.com/

Joyce

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