Question about unschooling???
homewithgabe
I guess I am misunderstanding...what, exactly, is unschooling?
I thought it was another name for homeschooling.
Pardon the ignorance!!!
Natalie Hill
"Staying Home and Loving It!"
No Sales, No Parties, NO RISK!
Gold Senior Director
Home Office: 940-594-2888
Fax: 775 637-4155
www.LovingMyHomeBiz.com
LoveMyHomeBiz@...
"Do not think of today's failures, but of the success that may come
tomorrow."
~Helen Keller
I thought it was another name for homeschooling.
Pardon the ignorance!!!
Natalie Hill
"Staying Home and Loving It!"
No Sales, No Parties, NO RISK!
Gold Senior Director
Home Office: 940-594-2888
Fax: 775 637-4155
www.LovingMyHomeBiz.com
LoveMyHomeBiz@...
"Do not think of today's failures, but of the success that may come
tomorrow."
~Helen Keller
Joanne
Hi Natalie,
Welcome! May I suggest that you read some of the older threads to
get a feel for unschooling. There's a lot of great information here
if you have some time to read it. :-)
~ Joanne ~
Mom to Jacqueline (8), Shawna (11) & Cimion (13)
Adopted into our hearts October 2003
************************************
Unschooling Voices ~ Add Your Voice
www.foreverparents.com/UnschoolingVoices.html
--- In [email protected], "homewithgabe"
<lovemyhomebiz@...> wrote:
Welcome! May I suggest that you read some of the older threads to
get a feel for unschooling. There's a lot of great information here
if you have some time to read it. :-)
~ Joanne ~
Mom to Jacqueline (8), Shawna (11) & Cimion (13)
Adopted into our hearts October 2003
************************************
Unschooling Voices ~ Add Your Voice
www.foreverparents.com/UnschoolingVoices.html
--- In [email protected], "homewithgabe"
<lovemyhomebiz@...> wrote:
>come
> I guess I am misunderstanding...what, exactly, is unschooling?
> I thought it was another name for homeschooling.
> Pardon the ignorance!!!
>
> Natalie Hill
> "Staying Home and Loving It!"
> No Sales, No Parties, NO RISK!
> Gold Senior Director
> Home Office: 940-594-2888
> Fax: 775 637-4155
> www.LovingMyHomeBiz.com
> LoveMyHomeBiz@...
>
> "Do not think of today's failures, but of the success that may
> tomorrow."
>
> ~Helen Keller
>
Joyce Fetteroll
On Oct 6, 2006, at 7:48 PM, homewithgabe wrote:
knowing how to do it, it's really, really hard to explain because
people try to make the words fit the images they have of what
learning looks like.
Most of us have an image of there being a body of knowledge that's
necessary to learn.
Most of us have been through a process (school) of having it forced
into us and for most of us that it was hard and/or boring, or at
least took a 12 year commitment to do, so we *"know"* that it isn't
easy to acquire that body of knowledge.
Most of us have an image of how that body of knowledge gets into
people: teachers, homework, drills, lectures, tests, grades ....
If someone describes unschooling as the absence of that, then it
sounds like neglect because we all "know" all of that is true and
necessary.
But unschoolers, without that, do go onto to college or go directly
to personally fulfilling jobs. All without what we're certain they
need in order to learn what is necessary.
So what is unschooling? It's learning by living life. It's living a
full, curious, free life with parents who support, encourage and help
their kids pursue what interests them (while making opportunities
available to expand their interests.)
Unschooled children learn as a side effect of doing. No child needs
to know how to hammer in nails perfectly before building something
for their own pleasure. They pound. Then how they nails go in gives
them feedback on how well they're doing, they adjust, they take in
advice (if it seems useful) and figure out better ways to get where
they're trying to go. As a side effect of doing something they want
(building a birdhouse or just creating a chunk of wood with nails),
they get better at the skills needed to do it.
It's really, really hard to grasp the concept of a child growing up
playing video and board and card games and spending and saving money
and playing with art software and shopping with parents and cooking
that they'll acquire the math they need. And yet they do. Will they
have the same skills as kids in school? No. They will be weaker in
some skills and stronger in others. Will those differences be
detrimental? No, in fact helpful! Because the unschooled kids will
have a deeper, more fundamental understanding of how numbers work,
what contexts various concepts are used in and why. What they often
lack is a concept of the formal notation. And that, they find, is
easy to acquire. It only take minutes to show them how to formally
write concepts they deeply understand. It's the kids in school who
are severely handicapped. They're trying to absorb the notation on
concepts they barely understand. It's hard for most. And it makes
them shy away from those same concepts in the real world because it
reminds them of their feelings of fear and aggravation in school. The
*hope* is that by repeating the formal notation enough, they'll
develop an understanding of how numbers work. But it so very often
fails. (How many people fear math who've gone through that process?)
(I do want to mention that I was very good in math at school and went
onto get a degree in engineering. The concept of getting all those
years of math in from playing video games, et al, was flabbergasting
to me. And yet my daughter decided to take her father's college
Statistics class for fun at 13. And always had the best scores in the
class. At 15 she's taking her 5th college math class (the first ones
with a teacher other than her father) -- again for fun. And honestly
she is not a math whiz! She's just a regular kid who mostly likes
writing and drawing and pretending. She wasn't doing math puzzles
under the covers with a flashlight in the middle of the night nor
beating her father at chess ;-) What she has gained by living life is
a fundamental understanding of how numbers work. *And* a freedom from
fear of numbers and math!
I should also mention the goal of unschooling is not good grades, or
taking college classes at 13. It's pursuing interests and having fun
and a joyful childhood.)
That's unschooling in a nutshell, anyway. It's okay if that sounds
totally wacko to you. It *should* sound wacko coming from a school-
style-learning-is-necessary point of view! If unschooling could be
explained in a few words in a way everyone could truly get what's
going on and why it works there wouldn't need to be unschooling lists
to help people! ;-)
Joyce
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> I guess I am misunderstanding...what, exactly, is unschooling?While it's the simplest thing in the world, since kids are born
knowing how to do it, it's really, really hard to explain because
people try to make the words fit the images they have of what
learning looks like.
Most of us have an image of there being a body of knowledge that's
necessary to learn.
Most of us have been through a process (school) of having it forced
into us and for most of us that it was hard and/or boring, or at
least took a 12 year commitment to do, so we *"know"* that it isn't
easy to acquire that body of knowledge.
Most of us have an image of how that body of knowledge gets into
people: teachers, homework, drills, lectures, tests, grades ....
If someone describes unschooling as the absence of that, then it
sounds like neglect because we all "know" all of that is true and
necessary.
But unschoolers, without that, do go onto to college or go directly
to personally fulfilling jobs. All without what we're certain they
need in order to learn what is necessary.
So what is unschooling? It's learning by living life. It's living a
full, curious, free life with parents who support, encourage and help
their kids pursue what interests them (while making opportunities
available to expand their interests.)
Unschooled children learn as a side effect of doing. No child needs
to know how to hammer in nails perfectly before building something
for their own pleasure. They pound. Then how they nails go in gives
them feedback on how well they're doing, they adjust, they take in
advice (if it seems useful) and figure out better ways to get where
they're trying to go. As a side effect of doing something they want
(building a birdhouse or just creating a chunk of wood with nails),
they get better at the skills needed to do it.
It's really, really hard to grasp the concept of a child growing up
playing video and board and card games and spending and saving money
and playing with art software and shopping with parents and cooking
that they'll acquire the math they need. And yet they do. Will they
have the same skills as kids in school? No. They will be weaker in
some skills and stronger in others. Will those differences be
detrimental? No, in fact helpful! Because the unschooled kids will
have a deeper, more fundamental understanding of how numbers work,
what contexts various concepts are used in and why. What they often
lack is a concept of the formal notation. And that, they find, is
easy to acquire. It only take minutes to show them how to formally
write concepts they deeply understand. It's the kids in school who
are severely handicapped. They're trying to absorb the notation on
concepts they barely understand. It's hard for most. And it makes
them shy away from those same concepts in the real world because it
reminds them of their feelings of fear and aggravation in school. The
*hope* is that by repeating the formal notation enough, they'll
develop an understanding of how numbers work. But it so very often
fails. (How many people fear math who've gone through that process?)
(I do want to mention that I was very good in math at school and went
onto get a degree in engineering. The concept of getting all those
years of math in from playing video games, et al, was flabbergasting
to me. And yet my daughter decided to take her father's college
Statistics class for fun at 13. And always had the best scores in the
class. At 15 she's taking her 5th college math class (the first ones
with a teacher other than her father) -- again for fun. And honestly
she is not a math whiz! She's just a regular kid who mostly likes
writing and drawing and pretending. She wasn't doing math puzzles
under the covers with a flashlight in the middle of the night nor
beating her father at chess ;-) What she has gained by living life is
a fundamental understanding of how numbers work. *And* a freedom from
fear of numbers and math!
I should also mention the goal of unschooling is not good grades, or
taking college classes at 13. It's pursuing interests and having fun
and a joyful childhood.)
That's unschooling in a nutshell, anyway. It's okay if that sounds
totally wacko to you. It *should* sound wacko coming from a school-
style-learning-is-necessary point of view! If unschooling could be
explained in a few words in a way everyone could truly get what's
going on and why it works there wouldn't need to be unschooling lists
to help people! ;-)
Joyce
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
WitchyMama
That's unschooling in a nutshell, anyway.
-Ana
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>Thank you for writing this! It was good for me to read. =)
>
> Joyce
>
> .
>
>
>
-Ana
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[email protected]
-----Original Message-----
From: lovemyhomebiz@...
I guess I am misunderstanding...what, exactly, is unschooling?
I thought it was another name for homeschooling.
Pardon the ignorance!!!
-=-=-=-=-
All poodles are dogs, but not all dogs are poodles.
All unschooling is homeschooling, but all homeschooling isn't
unschooling.
Unschooling is legally a type of homeschooling.
Unschoolers don't "school-at-home" nor do we gives tests or grades.
Unschooling accepts all learning as valid. Everything is connected:
you never know when one thing will lead to or connect with another!
Unschoolers know they *do* and will keep searching for those
connections.
Unschooling is natural learning. Humans are hard-wired to learn---we
crave it and seek it out. When you believe that, you're half-way to
understanding how it works.
Unschooling is understanding the difference between teaching and
learning. That's a HUGE hurdle to overcome before you can "get"
unschooling. (I can *teach* you everything *I* know about unschooling,
but unless you're willing to *learn* it, I'm wasting my time and your
time.)
All children can unschool. Many parents can't.
Unschooling requires a "paradigm shift" to make it work. And it works
best when you (the parent) are an active learner. And curious and
thoughtful and enthusiastic and interested and interesting.
It's about trust and respect and patience.
It helps if you can step OUT of the box. If you're OK going against
the flow and standing up for yourself (or at least your child).
I'm sure others can add to this, but it's a start! <g>
~Kelly
________________________________________________________________________
Check out the new AOL. Most comprehensive set of free safety and
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From: lovemyhomebiz@...
I guess I am misunderstanding...what, exactly, is unschooling?
I thought it was another name for homeschooling.
Pardon the ignorance!!!
-=-=-=-=-
All poodles are dogs, but not all dogs are poodles.
All unschooling is homeschooling, but all homeschooling isn't
unschooling.
Unschooling is legally a type of homeschooling.
Unschoolers don't "school-at-home" nor do we gives tests or grades.
Unschooling accepts all learning as valid. Everything is connected:
you never know when one thing will lead to or connect with another!
Unschoolers know they *do* and will keep searching for those
connections.
Unschooling is natural learning. Humans are hard-wired to learn---we
crave it and seek it out. When you believe that, you're half-way to
understanding how it works.
Unschooling is understanding the difference between teaching and
learning. That's a HUGE hurdle to overcome before you can "get"
unschooling. (I can *teach* you everything *I* know about unschooling,
but unless you're willing to *learn* it, I'm wasting my time and your
time.)
All children can unschool. Many parents can't.
Unschooling requires a "paradigm shift" to make it work. And it works
best when you (the parent) are an active learner. And curious and
thoughtful and enthusiastic and interested and interesting.
It's about trust and respect and patience.
It helps if you can step OUT of the box. If you're OK going against
the flow and standing up for yourself (or at least your child).
I'm sure others can add to this, but it's a start! <g>
~Kelly
________________________________________________________________________
Check out the new AOL. Most comprehensive set of free safety and
security tools, free access to millions of high-quality videos from
across the web, free AOL Mail and more.