Re: [unschoolingbasics] Digest Number 46
Ren
"It's all just semantics, in this case, imho. If a child *choosing* to go to
school of their own free will is still and unschooler. Then I child choosing
to do a "unit study" because of their interest in something is too.
We all
have a way we approach learning. It's ok if we don't word it just right,
isn't
it?"
No, it isn't just semantics.
If a child chooses to go to school, they aren't unschooling anymore. UNschooling means NOTschooling. How can you be NOT schooling by attending school?
Your child would have a very different experience at school, than a child forced to go...I know many unschoolers that chose school for a time, for a variety of reasons. Why should we have words with meanings if we can just slap a label on any old thing we choose?
Heck, my beef eating friends can be vegetarians, unschoolers can attend boarding school for all it matters. Can you see how confusing and muddled things would get if we just apply any label to anything? Words help us be more clear.
My purpose at this list is to speak clearly, to discuss the definition of unschooling and how it applies in our lives.
An unschooler's reaction to an interest would not be a "unit study". If a parent tends to create unit studies based on interest, I propose they aren't really understanding unschooling completely, and have more deschooling to do themselves.
Does this mean their children aren't happy, thriving and learning? Of course not! Maybe that's as far as they want to relax things, and that's their choice.
We're here to say "take it further, look deeper, you don't have to "teach" at all."
Ren
Learn about unschooling at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/unschoolingbasics/
school of their own free will is still and unschooler. Then I child choosing
to do a "unit study" because of their interest in something is too.
We all
have a way we approach learning. It's ok if we don't word it just right,
isn't
it?"
No, it isn't just semantics.
If a child chooses to go to school, they aren't unschooling anymore. UNschooling means NOTschooling. How can you be NOT schooling by attending school?
Your child would have a very different experience at school, than a child forced to go...I know many unschoolers that chose school for a time, for a variety of reasons. Why should we have words with meanings if we can just slap a label on any old thing we choose?
Heck, my beef eating friends can be vegetarians, unschoolers can attend boarding school for all it matters. Can you see how confusing and muddled things would get if we just apply any label to anything? Words help us be more clear.
My purpose at this list is to speak clearly, to discuss the definition of unschooling and how it applies in our lives.
An unschooler's reaction to an interest would not be a "unit study". If a parent tends to create unit studies based on interest, I propose they aren't really understanding unschooling completely, and have more deschooling to do themselves.
Does this mean their children aren't happy, thriving and learning? Of course not! Maybe that's as far as they want to relax things, and that's their choice.
We're here to say "take it further, look deeper, you don't have to "teach" at all."
Ren
Learn about unschooling at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/unschoolingbasics/