Spouse and Montessori, Elkind, others?
emint78
My son is 2.5 and has been always unschooled. Dh has been supportive of everything so far and things are really wonderful. My issue is that whenever we talk about the future and "academic" unschooling, we are not even close to being on the same page. He comes from a family that highly values formal education and wants ds to go to school (in their eyes, "the sooner, the better"). I am planning on going to a conference in the future and I realize that seeing other unschoolers may help some. Right now we are focusing on the question of preschool and then kindergarten. I think I may be able to convince him that ds doesn't need preschool, but kindergarten will be another matter. Thankfully, we have some time before we have to make the kindergarten decision and dh is willing to read and consider other options.
My question for this group is whether anyone has any recommendations for authors or resources regarding learning in young children. Of course, seeing natural learning with my own eyes has helped me see the merit to natural learning (along with all that I've read on lists such as this and Joyce's website), but dh isn't convinced. Dh is somewhat academic-oriented and my explanations of the difference between natural and forced learning as well as some of the writings of John Holt just aren't convincing him.
(Maybe he will trust natural learning more as ds gets older? But if not, I want to be ready with other ideas and approaches as well as augment my own understanding.)
Lately, I've been reading some books by David Elkind and a book by Kathy Hirsh-Pasek (re: delaying academics and the role of play in learning). I've also been familiarizing myself with Piaget's work on child development. In "Miseducation", Elkind seems to promote delaying formal academics until children have attained Piaget's stage of concrete operations. Another idea I had was to familiarize myself with the Montessori approach. Perhaps, this might be a way to "ease" dh into it. Of course, we wouldn't send ds to a Montessori school, but maybe if I create a home environment to mimic some of the Montessori principles (which from my understanding some principles are similar to those of unschooling). It has name recognition and maybe this would buy me some time for dh to see natural learning and how possible it is for ds to learn without a formal curriculum. For those of you familiar with Montessori, does this seem worthwhile to try? Any suggestions on names of books or resources? Any other suggestions would be great, too! Thanks!
Erin
My question for this group is whether anyone has any recommendations for authors or resources regarding learning in young children. Of course, seeing natural learning with my own eyes has helped me see the merit to natural learning (along with all that I've read on lists such as this and Joyce's website), but dh isn't convinced. Dh is somewhat academic-oriented and my explanations of the difference between natural and forced learning as well as some of the writings of John Holt just aren't convincing him.
(Maybe he will trust natural learning more as ds gets older? But if not, I want to be ready with other ideas and approaches as well as augment my own understanding.)
Lately, I've been reading some books by David Elkind and a book by Kathy Hirsh-Pasek (re: delaying academics and the role of play in learning). I've also been familiarizing myself with Piaget's work on child development. In "Miseducation", Elkind seems to promote delaying formal academics until children have attained Piaget's stage of concrete operations. Another idea I had was to familiarize myself with the Montessori approach. Perhaps, this might be a way to "ease" dh into it. Of course, we wouldn't send ds to a Montessori school, but maybe if I create a home environment to mimic some of the Montessori principles (which from my understanding some principles are similar to those of unschooling). It has name recognition and maybe this would buy me some time for dh to see natural learning and how possible it is for ds to learn without a formal curriculum. For those of you familiar with Montessori, does this seem worthwhile to try? Any suggestions on names of books or resources? Any other suggestions would be great, too! Thanks!
Erin
plaidpanties666
--- In [email protected], "emint78" <erinfalk@...> wrote:
I got into unschooling by means of Montessori! The "classical" montessori approach shares many of the same principles as unschooling - "follow the child" of course, but also the idea that rewards and punishments undermine learning and self-esteem, and the idea that children want to participate in real life. I no longer have my montessori links, but look for a yahoo group for montessori educators - if its still around, its a fantastic resource.
From an unschooling standpoint ;) one of the most important things to recognize about monetssori is that there are a lot of aspects to it (the materials!) that exist for the purposes of making a classroom more closely ressemble a rich home environment. That's an idea to take to heart in a big way - have a rich home, and you will already have all the materials you need.
Name recognition can make a biiiiig difference with some partners. And the advantage of finding a resource for monetssori educators is that one of the biggest differences in classical montessori programs and conventional schools is how teachers are trained - to observe a lot and avoid "teaching" for the most part, and also to asses kids based on what they're really doing, rather than on testing. Those are really useful tools in terms of describing natural learning to someone who's skeptical about the idea.
I honestly recommend anyone who worries about unschooling math, in particular, to do some research into how classical montessori programs do math - its muuuuuch more varied than conventional school mathematics and that can be helpful in understanding how kids learn math when they aren't being taught.
---Meredith
> Another idea I had was to familiarize myself with the Montessori approach. Perhaps, this might be a way to "ease" dh into it. Of course, we wouldn't send ds to a Montessori school, but maybe if I create a home environment to mimic some of the Montessori principles (which from my understanding some principles are similar to those of unschooling).****************
I got into unschooling by means of Montessori! The "classical" montessori approach shares many of the same principles as unschooling - "follow the child" of course, but also the idea that rewards and punishments undermine learning and self-esteem, and the idea that children want to participate in real life. I no longer have my montessori links, but look for a yahoo group for montessori educators - if its still around, its a fantastic resource.
From an unschooling standpoint ;) one of the most important things to recognize about monetssori is that there are a lot of aspects to it (the materials!) that exist for the purposes of making a classroom more closely ressemble a rich home environment. That's an idea to take to heart in a big way - have a rich home, and you will already have all the materials you need.
>>It has name recognition and maybe this would buy me some time for dh to see natural learning and how possible it is for ds to learn without a formal curriculum**************
Name recognition can make a biiiiig difference with some partners. And the advantage of finding a resource for monetssori educators is that one of the biggest differences in classical montessori programs and conventional schools is how teachers are trained - to observe a lot and avoid "teaching" for the most part, and also to asses kids based on what they're really doing, rather than on testing. Those are really useful tools in terms of describing natural learning to someone who's skeptical about the idea.
I honestly recommend anyone who worries about unschooling math, in particular, to do some research into how classical montessori programs do math - its muuuuuch more varied than conventional school mathematics and that can be helpful in understanding how kids learn math when they aren't being taught.
---Meredith