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I bet others have answered this, but I can't resist these really cool
questions:

<< well is it ok for the kid who's unschooled to
just be mediochre, happy but not necessarily super
talented... >>

Talent is inborn. It can be encouraged and nurtured, but it can't be
created. It can be squished and destroyed, but unschooling won't do that.

Some people don't come upon anything that lights them all up inside until
they're older, maybe grown. It's okay. If they're happy and receptive and
confident, all their opportunities will come at a good time!

<<and what if a child never really gravitates to a
specific area, doesn't seem interested>>

"Interested" can be momentary. It doesn't have to be obsession with one
area.

<<what if she learns
to read so late that all the years of not reading, well, are
those wasted years of learning because she couldn't read?>>

Wasted years of learning?

I have late readers. Not reading didn't keep them from learning all KINDS of
things that were "beyond their grade level"--whereas kids in school who learn
to read are thereafter presented with history and science at their reading
level. Babified, small-words, short sentences, easy questions to answer. My
kids have never experienced any of that "The Queen gave Columbus a boat. She
gave him sailors," kind of history. They pick it up as adults do, from
museums, historical sites, movies, paintings, discussions about why "New
Mexico," why so many Swedes in Minnesota, where did our ancestors come from,
etc.


Sandra




Sandra

"Everything counts."
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