web articles for novice unschoolers
Dana Briscoe
Hi Everyone,
I'm interested in your suggestions for articles available on the internet
for educators that are genuinely open and intrigued by the concept of
unschooling. My almost 8 yr. old daughter is very committed to going to
school this upcoming Fall and we feel fortunate to have found a
"progressive" school that offers a classroom of 15 students for a combined
2nd/3rd grade classroom with 2 teachers and individualized instruction for
our daughter. She has 2 sisters(8 and 13) who have never been to school and
who have no interest in going but this child is determined to experience a
school environment (she visited for 2 weeks this spring) and is firm in her
determination, which we are invested in supporting. We feel like this is
part of her unschooling journey. I have addressed with her what she may be
looking for/associating with school and other ways we may meet those needs
(we moved to a new state last Sept. and thought it may be a social
need/reaching out) but this girl wants to go to school. period. end of
story.
Her new teacher is open and flexible which I feel so appreciative of and
would like to distill down 4-5 articles that would truly demonstrate an
unschooling philosophy. Please share what you would recommend were you in
my position.
Best regards,
Dana Briscoe
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
I'm interested in your suggestions for articles available on the internet
for educators that are genuinely open and intrigued by the concept of
unschooling. My almost 8 yr. old daughter is very committed to going to
school this upcoming Fall and we feel fortunate to have found a
"progressive" school that offers a classroom of 15 students for a combined
2nd/3rd grade classroom with 2 teachers and individualized instruction for
our daughter. She has 2 sisters(8 and 13) who have never been to school and
who have no interest in going but this child is determined to experience a
school environment (she visited for 2 weeks this spring) and is firm in her
determination, which we are invested in supporting. We feel like this is
part of her unschooling journey. I have addressed with her what she may be
looking for/associating with school and other ways we may meet those needs
(we moved to a new state last Sept. and thought it may be a social
need/reaching out) but this girl wants to go to school. period. end of
story.
Her new teacher is open and flexible which I feel so appreciative of and
would like to distill down 4-5 articles that would truly demonstrate an
unschooling philosophy. Please share what you would recommend were you in
my position.
Best regards,
Dana Briscoe
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
draconi_ann
I'm not sure I understand why you feel the need to share information regarding unschooling with the teacher. Did she ask for more information? If so, was it to adjust her teaching style for your daughter?
When my always unschooled daughter was 8 she too insisted on going to school to see what it was like. I put her on the waiting list for a small progressive charter school that had combined grade classrooms and a high teacher to student ratio. I hoped that by the following year my daughter would no longer be interested but she was overjoyed when we got the call that she would be accepted for the soon-to-begin new school year. However, while the teachers assured me that they didn't use grades, that she could progress at her own pace and that they were highly flexible, it didn't turn out that way. They were still beholden to many of the public school system's rules. They still new exactly where each student fell academically. They still insisted on writing assignments that were harshly critiqued and they still made my daughter sit in during recess to "catch up" on math. Other similar things and the catty peer environment crushed much of my daughter's previous enthusiasm and she left before 4 months was up. It took over a year before she would write for fun again.
I don't see how giving the teacher any info on unschooling is helpful. It will still be a school and she will still be a teacher and your daughter will not be unschooling there.
~Michelle
When my always unschooled daughter was 8 she too insisted on going to school to see what it was like. I put her on the waiting list for a small progressive charter school that had combined grade classrooms and a high teacher to student ratio. I hoped that by the following year my daughter would no longer be interested but she was overjoyed when we got the call that she would be accepted for the soon-to-begin new school year. However, while the teachers assured me that they didn't use grades, that she could progress at her own pace and that they were highly flexible, it didn't turn out that way. They were still beholden to many of the public school system's rules. They still new exactly where each student fell academically. They still insisted on writing assignments that were harshly critiqued and they still made my daughter sit in during recess to "catch up" on math. Other similar things and the catty peer environment crushed much of my daughter's previous enthusiasm and she left before 4 months was up. It took over a year before she would write for fun again.
I don't see how giving the teacher any info on unschooling is helpful. It will still be a school and she will still be a teacher and your daughter will not be unschooling there.
~Michelle
--- In [email protected], Dana Briscoe <danabriscoe@...> wrote:
>
> Hi Everyone,
>
> I'm interested in your suggestions for articles available on the internet
> for educators that are genuinely open and intrigued by the concept of
> unschooling. My almost 8 yr. old daughter is very committed to going to
> school this upcoming Fall and we feel fortunate to have found a
> "progressive" school that offers a classroom of 15 students for a combined
> 2nd/3rd grade classroom with 2 teachers and individualized instruction for
> our daughter. She has 2 sisters(8 and 13) who have never been to school and
> who have no interest in going but this child is determined to experience a
> school environment (she visited for 2 weeks this spring) and is firm in her
> determination, which we are invested in supporting. We feel like this is
> part of her unschooling journey. I have addressed with her what she may be
> looking for/associating with school and other ways we may meet those needs
> (we moved to a new state last Sept. and thought it may be a social
> need/reaching out) but this girl wants to go to school. period. end of
> story.
>
> Her new teacher is open and flexible which I feel so appreciative of and
> would like to distill down 4-5 articles that would truly demonstrate an
> unschooling philosophy. Please share what you would recommend were you in
> my position.
> Best regards,
> Dana Briscoe
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
Sandra Dodd
I agree with Michelle on this:
-=-I don't see how giving the teacher any info on unschooling is helpful. It will still be a school and she will still be a teacher and your daughter will not be unschooling there.-=-
-=-I don't see how giving the teacher any info on unschooling is helpful. It will still be a school and she will still be a teacher and your daughter will not be unschooling there.-=-
Meredith
Dana Briscoe <danabriscoe@...> wrote:
---Meredith
>> Her new teacher is open and flexible which I feel so appreciative of andInstead, ask her what her influences are. If she has a degree in education, she may have been exposed to Holt and Montessori or more modern proponents of open classrooms like Owocki and Schickendanz.
> would like to distill down 4-5 articles that would truly demonstrate an
> unschooling philosophy.
---Meredith