Difference between unschooling and educational neglect
Julie Stauffer
<<but actually lack of effective strewing and communication>>
Just using your quote as a jumping off point, Patti. I would not expect any
unschooler to jump into school and be "on grade level". They will be above
in some things and behind in others. It is normal development. It is
abnormal to expect people to be on the same level in many areas. And it is
important to remember that the school is only measuring things that kids are
"supposed" to learn at that level, not all areas of knowledge.
My ds is 9. He loves math concepts but would be way, way "behind" if he
went into a 4th grade classroom. Zach likes to play around in his head with
numeric patterns but if you asked him to do a multiplication problem, it
would blow his mind. Now he solves "multiplication problems" everyday (he
likes to use counting by 2's, or 5's or whatever to do it) but I don't think
he would even recognize a multiplication problem written out. Mainly
because you usually don't see multiplication problems written out in real
life unless you write it out yourself while trying to solve a problem.
Zach's world doesn't yet involve such large numbers that he can't solve it
in his head. However, if they wanted to talk physics to Zach he would blow
them out of the water,.....but 4th graders aren't allowed to learn that yet
<sigh>.
Zach doesn't read very well, in fact hardly at all. I have strewn about as
much as I can strew along those lines. I read to him as often as he would
like. I have read every Harry Potter and Hank the Cowdog outloud until my
throat hurt. We have magnetic letters on the fridge that various kids play
with and we fiddle with it as we want. We play Scrabble Jr., etc.. Zach
likes the weather so I showed him how to find the weather in the newspaper.
He still doesn't read very well. It doesn't particularly interest him yet
and he simply isn't ready. If he went to school, he would be labeled an
"unschooling failure" because he would be way behind. But ask Zach about
genetics, animal husbandry, sex, etc. and he would be a "prodigy" but 4th
graders aren't supposed to learn that yet. <sigh>
Schools only have round holes and the measure of success is how well you fit
into that hole. Unschoolers come in all shapes and sizes and have a
tendency to carve out their own holes that fit just right.
Julie
Just using your quote as a jumping off point, Patti. I would not expect any
unschooler to jump into school and be "on grade level". They will be above
in some things and behind in others. It is normal development. It is
abnormal to expect people to be on the same level in many areas. And it is
important to remember that the school is only measuring things that kids are
"supposed" to learn at that level, not all areas of knowledge.
My ds is 9. He loves math concepts but would be way, way "behind" if he
went into a 4th grade classroom. Zach likes to play around in his head with
numeric patterns but if you asked him to do a multiplication problem, it
would blow his mind. Now he solves "multiplication problems" everyday (he
likes to use counting by 2's, or 5's or whatever to do it) but I don't think
he would even recognize a multiplication problem written out. Mainly
because you usually don't see multiplication problems written out in real
life unless you write it out yourself while trying to solve a problem.
Zach's world doesn't yet involve such large numbers that he can't solve it
in his head. However, if they wanted to talk physics to Zach he would blow
them out of the water,.....but 4th graders aren't allowed to learn that yet
<sigh>.
Zach doesn't read very well, in fact hardly at all. I have strewn about as
much as I can strew along those lines. I read to him as often as he would
like. I have read every Harry Potter and Hank the Cowdog outloud until my
throat hurt. We have magnetic letters on the fridge that various kids play
with and we fiddle with it as we want. We play Scrabble Jr., etc.. Zach
likes the weather so I showed him how to find the weather in the newspaper.
He still doesn't read very well. It doesn't particularly interest him yet
and he simply isn't ready. If he went to school, he would be labeled an
"unschooling failure" because he would be way behind. But ask Zach about
genetics, animal husbandry, sex, etc. and he would be a "prodigy" but 4th
graders aren't supposed to learn that yet. <sigh>
Schools only have round holes and the measure of success is how well you fit
into that hole. Unschoolers come in all shapes and sizes and have a
tendency to carve out their own holes that fit just right.
Julie