Basic Question Re: Unschooling
Photoartist
I'm trying to wrap my brain around a concrete definition of "unschooling".
Does it mean not ever teaching children anything, including responsible
behavior, respect, morality, etc.?
Please understand I'm not asking this in an abrasive manner--I'm honestly
trying to understand what unschooling IS. We have homeschooled for nearly 20
years and have always been rather relaxed in our approach. Lately we've been
so relaxed that it has been suggested that we are in actuality
"unschooling". So I decided to start reading John Holt's writings and join a
couple of US groups to understand what the term actually means. Any
information, links, etc. would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Blue
Off to Google "unschooling" ;o)
Does it mean not ever teaching children anything, including responsible
behavior, respect, morality, etc.?
Please understand I'm not asking this in an abrasive manner--I'm honestly
trying to understand what unschooling IS. We have homeschooled for nearly 20
years and have always been rather relaxed in our approach. Lately we've been
so relaxed that it has been suggested that we are in actuality
"unschooling". So I decided to start reading John Holt's writings and join a
couple of US groups to understand what the term actually means. Any
information, links, etc. would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Blue
Off to Google "unschooling" ;o)
Joyce Fetteroll
On Dec 14, 2007, at 12:10 PM, Photoartist wrote:
Teaching is about moving information the teacher wants into their
heads. Learning is about helping them reach out to what interests them.
Unschoolers model responsible behavior, respect and morality. Kids
whose needs have been respected grow up to respect others needs. Kids
whose parents have acted responsibly toward them grow up to be
responsible. For the most part kids will adopt our morals because
those morals are responsible for the joyful, loving, safe environment
they've grown up in.
If someone makes you act responsible and makes you act respectful and
makes you adhere to their morals, do you feel more responsible,
respectful and moral? I feel the need to be the total opposite of
what they want from me! I think the only reason parents think making
kids go through the motions eventually leads to real responsibility,
etc. is because eventually kids grow up and their view point changes
and they naturally see the value in those. They see value in being
respectful of those they respect (often conventionally parented kids
respect their friends more than their parents because their friends
are respectful of them and their parents aren't (though the parents
*think* they're being respectful!)). They see the value in putting
forth an effort and being responsible about things *they* care about.
Kids want to be social creatures. They don't want to hurt others
while in the pursuit of what they want, but they haven't been on the
planet long so they don't have the skills. We help them find better
ways to get what they want that doesn't involve hurting someone. And
we're patient with their learning. Just because they've been told to
use words instead of hitting doesn't mean they can always figure out
how to get something with just words. Stop the hitting of course!
Everyone deserves to feel safe in their home. But we don't assume the
child is being evil or disobedient for hitting. They just need more
help. (They often need our presence more so we can be there to notice
needs before escalation to hitting begins. We can't stop all of it,
but it can help eliminate a lot.)
Do you have specific questions. While the principles are good, they
often sound too airy fairy ;-) Specific examples -- current ones
preferably -- help clarify how the principles work in practice.
You can also read here:
http://joyfullyrejoycing.com
http://sandradodd.com
Joyce
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> Does it mean not ever teaching children anything, includingIt helps to look at it as "help them learn" rather than "teach".
> responsible
> behavior, respect, morality, etc.?
Teaching is about moving information the teacher wants into their
heads. Learning is about helping them reach out to what interests them.
Unschoolers model responsible behavior, respect and morality. Kids
whose needs have been respected grow up to respect others needs. Kids
whose parents have acted responsibly toward them grow up to be
responsible. For the most part kids will adopt our morals because
those morals are responsible for the joyful, loving, safe environment
they've grown up in.
If someone makes you act responsible and makes you act respectful and
makes you adhere to their morals, do you feel more responsible,
respectful and moral? I feel the need to be the total opposite of
what they want from me! I think the only reason parents think making
kids go through the motions eventually leads to real responsibility,
etc. is because eventually kids grow up and their view point changes
and they naturally see the value in those. They see value in being
respectful of those they respect (often conventionally parented kids
respect their friends more than their parents because their friends
are respectful of them and their parents aren't (though the parents
*think* they're being respectful!)). They see the value in putting
forth an effort and being responsible about things *they* care about.
Kids want to be social creatures. They don't want to hurt others
while in the pursuit of what they want, but they haven't been on the
planet long so they don't have the skills. We help them find better
ways to get what they want that doesn't involve hurting someone. And
we're patient with their learning. Just because they've been told to
use words instead of hitting doesn't mean they can always figure out
how to get something with just words. Stop the hitting of course!
Everyone deserves to feel safe in their home. But we don't assume the
child is being evil or disobedient for hitting. They just need more
help. (They often need our presence more so we can be there to notice
needs before escalation to hitting begins. We can't stop all of it,
but it can help eliminate a lot.)
Do you have specific questions. While the principles are good, they
often sound too airy fairy ;-) Specific examples -- current ones
preferably -- help clarify how the principles work in practice.
You can also read here:
http://joyfullyrejoycing.com
http://sandradodd.com
Joyce
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[email protected]
In a message dated 12/14/07 8:11:59 PM, photoartist@... writes:
I think that is something we do by showing Love and keeping in mind that love
is a verb. So we show, we lead so to speak, by example. We discuss. But we do
not preach or dictate a value system.
Hope that helps! I'm WAY behind - computer pooped out on us, so I'm super
limited these days, so you probably have excellent answers already, but I just
wanted to pop in with one of the ways I look at that.
Take care,
Karen
**************************************
See AOL's top rated recipes
(http://food.aol.com/top-rated-recipes?NCID=aoltop00030000000004)
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> I'm trying to wrap my brain around a concrete definition of "unschooling".__________________
> Does it mean not ever teaching children anything, including responsible
> behavior, respect, morality, etc.?
>
I think that is something we do by showing Love and keeping in mind that love
is a verb. So we show, we lead so to speak, by example. We discuss. But we do
not preach or dictate a value system.
Hope that helps! I'm WAY behind - computer pooped out on us, so I'm super
limited these days, so you probably have excellent answers already, but I just
wanted to pop in with one of the ways I look at that.
Take care,
Karen
**************************************
See AOL's top rated recipes
(http://food.aol.com/top-rated-recipes?NCID=aoltop00030000000004)
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]