A revelation about unschooling....I think?
Ren Allen
" None of that schooling helped in my adult life at all."
I meant to say something about this earlier, then Heidi brought it up.
The "thing" Kelly and I did at the conference, in our break out
session, was actually based on the "test" I talked about a while back.
A few of you asked about the questions on it, but I still haven't
found my original. Here's the conference version we did;
1) List all of the ways you've made money in your entire life (include
your younger years, small/side jobs, career paths etc...)
2) List all of the interests and hobbies you have pursued in the past
or pursue today. ALL of them.
3) List all of the things you'd like to learn before you die.... ALL
interests or topics you'd like to learn before you leave this earth (
or before you turn 90 or whatever).
After listing all of these activities, tally them up.
Then, go through your list and make a notation somewhere for every
activity you got proficient at by attending school.
Makes you REALLY say "none of that schooling helped in my adult life
at all" eh?!
My original also had something about listing all the degrees you've
earned and whether or not you were using them today. If you were using
them, the next question was; "Do you LOVE your work? Are you
passionate about what you do?"
In one talk I did, someone actually had 2 or 3 items they said were
learned in school (that was out of 23ish I believe). After he gave me
that total I started questioning him.
It turns out that one of the passions "learned in school" was a love
of other cultures and geography. The way he learned about all that in
school? Well, he attended a really cool private school in EUROPE. Kids
attended from all over the world and his EXPOSURE to all these people
from different places is the way he learned about diversity and
sparked this passion.
I asked him if he thought a person could learn that just as easilly by
exposing themselves to a wide range of people and places, rather than
in school and he agreed wholeheartedly.
So it wasn't the schooling itself that helped him with this, it was
the sheer exposure, being surrounded by interesting people!
One of his other interests, reading, was obviously something that
could be easily learned outside of school.
So by the end of exploring his school learning, he decided that the
school was actually irrelevant to his life today. The rich and varied
experiences were the thing that mattered.
That "test" is what Heidi is referring to in relation to Kevin's list
of interests. You can all go give yourself the test now, if you have
ANY remaining doubts about unschooling.:)
Ren
I meant to say something about this earlier, then Heidi brought it up.
The "thing" Kelly and I did at the conference, in our break out
session, was actually based on the "test" I talked about a while back.
A few of you asked about the questions on it, but I still haven't
found my original. Here's the conference version we did;
1) List all of the ways you've made money in your entire life (include
your younger years, small/side jobs, career paths etc...)
2) List all of the interests and hobbies you have pursued in the past
or pursue today. ALL of them.
3) List all of the things you'd like to learn before you die.... ALL
interests or topics you'd like to learn before you leave this earth (
or before you turn 90 or whatever).
After listing all of these activities, tally them up.
Then, go through your list and make a notation somewhere for every
activity you got proficient at by attending school.
Makes you REALLY say "none of that schooling helped in my adult life
at all" eh?!
My original also had something about listing all the degrees you've
earned and whether or not you were using them today. If you were using
them, the next question was; "Do you LOVE your work? Are you
passionate about what you do?"
In one talk I did, someone actually had 2 or 3 items they said were
learned in school (that was out of 23ish I believe). After he gave me
that total I started questioning him.
It turns out that one of the passions "learned in school" was a love
of other cultures and geography. The way he learned about all that in
school? Well, he attended a really cool private school in EUROPE. Kids
attended from all over the world and his EXPOSURE to all these people
from different places is the way he learned about diversity and
sparked this passion.
I asked him if he thought a person could learn that just as easilly by
exposing themselves to a wide range of people and places, rather than
in school and he agreed wholeheartedly.
So it wasn't the schooling itself that helped him with this, it was
the sheer exposure, being surrounded by interesting people!
One of his other interests, reading, was obviously something that
could be easily learned outside of school.
So by the end of exploring his school learning, he decided that the
school was actually irrelevant to his life today. The rich and varied
experiences were the thing that mattered.
That "test" is what Heidi is referring to in relation to Kevin's list
of interests. You can all go give yourself the test now, if you have
ANY remaining doubts about unschooling.:)
Ren