Betsy

OK. I put the words "unschooling" and "neglect" in the google search
field and got *only* 207 hits. Most of them seem to be making the point
that unschooling is NOT neglect. (OK, I didn't look much past the first
page of links.)

The first link that I chose to click from the first page was this, from
parenting.com, which I was thrilled to see was written by Nancy Wooton.
(And at the bottom it says "Used by permission of unschooling.com")

So I didn't swim very far from home with this search. But I enjoyed it!

http://www.parentingweb.com/dev_edu/unschooling.htm

Betsy

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In a message dated 11/7/02 3:03:49 PM, ecsamhill@... writes:

<< OK. I put the words "unschooling" and "neglect" in the google search
field and got *only* 207 hits. >>

IF you want to go out again, throw in Christian and obedience with
unschooling and neglect.
or maybe try child led instad of unschooling.

Sandra

Betsy

Well, I hate that word "obedience", so I defied you <g> and didn't put
it in.

Just using "Christian" "unschooling" and "neglect", I got two hits on
the libertarian unschooling pages first, and then a hit on
ww.homeschoolchristian.com that wasn't as bad as I expected.

Here's all I found on the page I hit about unschooling. It isn't
exactly what we all would say about unschooling, but it doesn't condemn
unschooling and shows some grasp of the idea.

This is from the Learning Styles and Homeschooling styles page:
http://www.homeschoolchristian.com/FAQ/Styles.html

**3) What is unschooling or child-led education?
Unschooling is where you become a facilitator and your child chooses
what to learn. You just supply the materials, transportation, etc. This
can be very
frightening to a parent, but it really does work. It doesn't need to be
a license for the child to be lazy. The child can be asked to pick goals
and to reasonably
stick to them, and you can coax the child along toward the chosen
goals. As the 3 R's don't take a long time to learn (if you aren't in
public school), there is
usually more than enough time to study what would normally be rather
far out things. Not everybody *needs* to study physics, chemistry, and
rocket science.
Your children become more self-reliant more quickly. However, it is not
for everyone. Look at http://www.unschooling.com/. --Chuck S.
Unschooling is child-directed learning. Parents provide a rich,
stimulating atmosphere (don't ALL home educators do that?), then let the
child find his own
path. While most homeschooling parents practice some form of
delight-directed learning, an unschooler practices solely
delight-directed learning. If a child
doesn't want to learn something, he doesn't. If he chooses to learn
math and reading through Pokemon-trading or Magic:The Gathering cards,
that's how he
does it. If his only interest is aviation, he's free to pursue it to
the exclusion of everything else if he so desires. Unschooling is NOT
"relaxed homeschooling;"
relaxed homeschoolers still direct their children's learning. It is
"not-schooling." The difference between homeschooling and unschooling is
one of authority --
who chooses what your child will be learning? Child-directed =
unschooling; parent-directed = homeschooling. A Christian who unschools
must ignore the
Biblical commands and examples of parents to teach and disciple, and
must turn a blind eye to what the Bible says about children. Just as
homeschoolers cannot
in good conscience ignore that which their children WANT to learn,
neither can they neglect what their children NEED to learn. --Chas. **

Betsy