Re: [Unschooling-dotcom] Young Unschoolers
[email protected]
In a message dated 8/11/2000 1:54:44 PM, NumoAstro@... writes:
<<I'd love to change the world and have it widely accepted... The only way I
can do that is to live it and when people see by example what's happening to
my children, maybe they'll want to look a little closer and see how they got
that way.
I know and understand the feeling of frustration though... Keep up your
belief's...>>
Good point. I also acknowledge that I can't get anywhere *arguing* the
merits of unschooling.
What I tend to do is wait for my moment and point out the drawbacks of
schooling. I make it sound like a critique of public schooling, and slip it
past their guard that way. But I criticize things that also apply to school
at home. I try to discuss the quantities of stuff presented and FORGOTTEN in
public school. I think that makes a strong case against forced learning.
I sometimes ask people whether they studied a foreign language in high school
and if they still remember it today. Our brains are pretty good at discarding
information that isn't used.
Betsy
<<I'd love to change the world and have it widely accepted... The only way I
can do that is to live it and when people see by example what's happening to
my children, maybe they'll want to look a little closer and see how they got
that way.
I know and understand the feeling of frustration though... Keep up your
belief's...>>
Good point. I also acknowledge that I can't get anywhere *arguing* the
merits of unschooling.
What I tend to do is wait for my moment and point out the drawbacks of
schooling. I make it sound like a critique of public schooling, and slip it
past their guard that way. But I criticize things that also apply to school
at home. I try to discuss the quantities of stuff presented and FORGOTTEN in
public school. I think that makes a strong case against forced learning.
I sometimes ask people whether they studied a foreign language in high school
and if they still remember it today. Our brains are pretty good at discarding
information that isn't used.
Betsy
Billy or Nancy
One of my favorite tricks when giving homeschooling seminars is to ask how
many people in the room had chemistry in high school or college. The
majority of people will raise their hands. Then you present a fairly basic
chemistry problem and ask how many people would be willing to come up and
balance this chemical equation. Almost invariably there are no takers. If
any one does offer, it is usually because they are working in the field or
have just gone back to college and are taking chemistry courses.
After doing this kind of demo, it is then much easier to make the point that
much of what you have to learn in school turns out to be unimportant outside
of school, and that being forced to learn something that you don't use on a
regular basis will give the same end result as never learning it in the
first place.
Billy
Family Unschoolers Network
http://www.unschooling.org
FUN Books
http://www.FUN-Books.com
Featuring the new John Taylor Gatto book!
many people in the room had chemistry in high school or college. The
majority of people will raise their hands. Then you present a fairly basic
chemistry problem and ask how many people would be willing to come up and
balance this chemical equation. Almost invariably there are no takers. If
any one does offer, it is usually because they are working in the field or
have just gone back to college and are taking chemistry courses.
After doing this kind of demo, it is then much easier to make the point that
much of what you have to learn in school turns out to be unimportant outside
of school, and that being forced to learn something that you don't use on a
regular basis will give the same end result as never learning it in the
first place.
Billy
Family Unschoolers Network
http://www.unschooling.org
FUN Books
http://www.FUN-Books.com
Featuring the new John Taylor Gatto book!
> -----Original Message-----
>
> I sometimes ask people whether they studied a foreign
> language in high school
> and if they still remember it today. Our brains are pretty
> good at discarding
> information that isn't used.
[email protected]
In a message dated 8/11/2000 2:55:24 PM Central Daylight Time,
FUNLists@... writes:
Billy wrote:
<< One of my favorite tricks when giving homeschooling seminars is to ask how
many people in the room had chemistry in high school or college. The
majority of people will raise their hands. Then you present a fairly basic
chemistry problem and ask how many people would be willing to come up and
balance this chemical equation. Almost invariably there are no takers. If
any one does offer, it is usually because they are working in the field or
have just gone back to college and are taking chemistry courses.
or higher level math and seen the same reaction from the audience. Thanks
for bringing this up, Billy, because I've been having major doubts about my
soon to be high school age daughter and all the academics we seem to be
missing!
Carol B.
FUNLists@... writes:
Billy wrote:
<< One of my favorite tricks when giving homeschooling seminars is to ask how
many people in the room had chemistry in high school or college. The
majority of people will raise their hands. Then you present a fairly basic
chemistry problem and ask how many people would be willing to come up and
balance this chemical equation. Almost invariably there are no takers. If
any one does offer, it is usually because they are working in the field or
have just gone back to college and are taking chemistry courses.
>>This is a good point. I've seen this done at conferences, too, with algebra
or higher level math and seen the same reaction from the audience. Thanks
for bringing this up, Billy, because I've been having major doubts about my
soon to be high school age daughter and all the academics we seem to be
missing!
Carol B.