latest blog - from the Dallas Observer
Daniel MacIntyre
I posted this at
http://key-words.blogspot.com/2005/10/another-wonderful-unschooling-article.html
- Just thought I would pass it along.
from the Dallas Observer:
http://www.dallasobserver.com/Issues/2005-10-27/news/feature2.html
Glenna Whitley discusses her Children's educational choices:
When the twins were born, Linda assumed she would resume her
career in marketing to afford the best education money could buy. In
Denver, when the boys were 3, she finagled them into a
pre-kindergarten that fed into an exclusive private school.
On the first day, Austin went in with an astronomy book. But when
he asked the teacher when they were going to study astronomy, she
looked puzzled and said, "I think you study that in college." Linda
says Austin grabbed his brother by the hand and told the teacher,
"Thank you very much, but we're going home to study astronomy."
...
When the boys were 6, she read them a book on the cave art of
Lascaux. "They loved it," Linda says. It started the boys' fascination
with history. "We went from there to the Hittites and the Sumerians
and the Macedonians." From ancient history they got into military
history, their current obsession.
...
A few years ago, the boys took a reading test. "They wanted to
know where they were," Linda says. "They look at their friends in
school and wonder internally whether they measure up." Graded by mail,
the test showed they were reading at the level of college sophomores.
Linda and Dan feel their job as unschoolers is that of guides.
What are the boys missing out on? Can they use a board game or outing
to feed into one of their interests? She took them to a book signing
where they got to talk to Mario Livio, author of The Golden Ratio,
about Fibonacci numbers. They do math by shopping for groceries or
figuring out the area of a room. They play Elemento, a board game
based on the periodic table.
"My job is to put things in their path in a way that can be
engaging," Linda says. "You have to be ahead and think of
opportunities for them. We do read the 'great books,' but if they
aren't interested in one, I'll go get the tape and we'll listen in the
car." Also in the car: tapes from The Teaching Company on great
battles of the ancient world, the theory of evolution and comparative
religion. Right now they are listening to From Yao to Mao: 5,000 Years
of Chinese History.
I think this is a wonderful description of how to approach unschooling
in general. Way to go Glenna!
--
Daniel
( Blogging at http://key-words.blogspot.com/ )
http://key-words.blogspot.com/2005/10/another-wonderful-unschooling-article.html
- Just thought I would pass it along.
from the Dallas Observer:
http://www.dallasobserver.com/Issues/2005-10-27/news/feature2.html
Glenna Whitley discusses her Children's educational choices:
When the twins were born, Linda assumed she would resume her
career in marketing to afford the best education money could buy. In
Denver, when the boys were 3, she finagled them into a
pre-kindergarten that fed into an exclusive private school.
On the first day, Austin went in with an astronomy book. But when
he asked the teacher when they were going to study astronomy, she
looked puzzled and said, "I think you study that in college." Linda
says Austin grabbed his brother by the hand and told the teacher,
"Thank you very much, but we're going home to study astronomy."
...
When the boys were 6, she read them a book on the cave art of
Lascaux. "They loved it," Linda says. It started the boys' fascination
with history. "We went from there to the Hittites and the Sumerians
and the Macedonians." From ancient history they got into military
history, their current obsession.
...
A few years ago, the boys took a reading test. "They wanted to
know where they were," Linda says. "They look at their friends in
school and wonder internally whether they measure up." Graded by mail,
the test showed they were reading at the level of college sophomores.
Linda and Dan feel their job as unschoolers is that of guides.
What are the boys missing out on? Can they use a board game or outing
to feed into one of their interests? She took them to a book signing
where they got to talk to Mario Livio, author of The Golden Ratio,
about Fibonacci numbers. They do math by shopping for groceries or
figuring out the area of a room. They play Elemento, a board game
based on the periodic table.
"My job is to put things in their path in a way that can be
engaging," Linda says. "You have to be ahead and think of
opportunities for them. We do read the 'great books,' but if they
aren't interested in one, I'll go get the tape and we'll listen in the
car." Also in the car: tapes from The Teaching Company on great
battles of the ancient world, the theory of evolution and comparative
religion. Right now they are listening to From Yao to Mao: 5,000 Years
of Chinese History.
I think this is a wonderful description of how to approach unschooling
in general. Way to go Glenna!
--
Daniel
( Blogging at http://key-words.blogspot.com/ )