Unschoolers?

[Luanne]

Does anyone here unschool and if so how does it look in your home?

[Susan C.]

I sort of unschooled when the kids were younger, we followed interest with science, art, music, but did workbooks for math, writing, etc. At late elementary, we went more traditional. They really needed the structure with clear cut goals, and a sense of accomplishment when doing a subject from start to finish. I never figured out how to "unschool" for higher grades, and was too uncomfortable with them not being able to get into a college. Also, the subjects are harder with a certain amount of material you really need to cover.

[Abkjw01]

I moved my response to the K-8 thread. :P

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1182494#post1182494

[JennifersLost]

I've struggled with wanting to for years.

I think that as far as teens are concerned, unschooling works best in larger centers where there are lots of opportunities to try things. My unschooling friends ended up going directly to the local community college when their interests required real instruction. They didn't have to worry about transcripts, etc. in their neck of the woods. They started taking CC classes when they were 14 or 15.

Those same kids did all kinds of volunteer work, went on outings and field trips constantly, traveled across country in a motor home, played music for hours and hours and hours. They play for money in a band now and are still in high school. They've had a blast.

It didn't work as well for my kids - our town isn't set up like that and we moved here too late in their lives for them to have built enough connections. So, we've done a mix of highly structured work and turning their passions into "classes".

[Paz]

Well, we call ourselves relaxed, classical but we are very relaxed. Here's what we do. Together dd (11th grade) and I choose the curriculum for math, science, literature, language, and history. She completes those subjects each day in a few hours and she is pretty much on her own choosing what to for reading, writing, and self study. So far since 9th grade she has written 2 1/2 books, gone through a CD course about Tolkein and Fantasy Literature, read 34 books this summer, taught herself photography and learned to used a photoshop program, works out with a personal trainer once a week, walks a neighbor's dog and has started her own business. She also plays golf and softball at a local high school. She read a book on Benjamin Franklin this summer before we travelled to Philadelphia and became pretty much a Ben Franklin expert. She is also dyslexic and dysgraphic so for her these are amazing accomplishments. She is very self-motivated and loves to learn so I can just assign her basics and turn her loose. This most likely would not have worked with my ds.

[laughing lioness]

Have you read Grace Llewellyn's Teenage Liberation Handbook? Interesting read...

[Luanne]

Have you read Grace Llewellyn's Teenage Liberation Handbook? Interesting read...


It was one of the books that made me decide to ask on here if anyone else unschools their children. The other one was Weapons of Mass Instruction. I'm still digesting that one having just finished it yesterday.

[laughing lioness]

Gatto's book is here and waiting to be read.
I loved Llewelllyn's book becasue the kids were so proactive, decisive and passionate about what they were doing. I've tried to incorporate/seek out opportuniites for our kids that will develop thier passions, interests, etc while still giving them a firm academic foundation.

[Deb in NZ]

with very motivated highschoolers & parents that have the time to make sure that all the bases are covered in the activities the child decides to follow. I would not suggest unschooling as an easy option for schooling. We have had seasons of unschooling mixed in with our classical / literature based homeschool. We allowed our dd the time to follow her passions in evironmental studies / marine science, while still getting in a solid base of the 3Rs + history/science/Latin.

Don't be fooled into thinking that unschooling is a easy option. Unschooling is HARD work. Many who say they are "unschooling" are in reality "not-schooling." Looking back at the posts that you have started in the past few months, searching for the best method to use with your dd, I would not suggest unschooling in your case IMHO. You can still allow your dd to follow her interests in a more structured way, even the simple 2 hours maths, 2 hours reading, 1 hour writing of the Robinson method.

Blessings,

[Ellie]

I've struggled with wanting to for years.

I think that as far as teens are concerned, unschooling works best in larger centers where there are lots of opportunities to try things. My unschooling friends ended up going directly to the local community college when their interests required real instruction. They didn't have to worry about transcripts, etc. in their neck of the woods. They started taking CC classes when they were 14 or 15.

Those same kids did all kinds of volunteer work, went on outings and field trips constantly, traveled across country in a motor home, played music for hours and hours and hours. They play for money in a band now and are still in high school. They've had a blast.

It didn't work as well for my kids - our town isn't set up like that and we moved here too late in their lives for them to have built enough connections. So, we've done a mix of highly structured work and turning their passions into "classes".
The Colfaxes lived on a goat ranch; they didn't go on outings and field trips and travel across country in a motor home. They homesteaded. Three out of four went to Harvard.

Unschoolers might do structured work if that's what is necessary to learn what they want to learn.

[SW in IL]

Z was unschooled her whole life. Her mom, P, helps run our homeschool support group and our theatre group. Z learned to read and write by reading/writing the scripts they used. She learned history by researching costumes and props for the plays. She learned math by helping to build the sets. Not surprisingly, she is hoping to get involved in that field (not sure if she's going into scriptwriting, producing, acting or what).

Z didn't actually learn to read until she was 12 and couldn't write much until 14. But once she decided on her course of action, she basically taught herself what she needed to know to do quite well on her ACT test. She's now a sophomore in college and loving it (though she says she doesn't understand how people can learn anything important in a school environment). Z's younger brother, Q, is following in his big sister's footsteps.

Similar story with another friend's daughter, K. K's younger brother is also doing well being unschooled and is now hoping to get into college (about 3 years away) and a career in computers. He's in the process of researching colleges so that he knows what he needs to do to get from here to there.

Another friend's son, D, was unschooled and then asked his parents to buy him the LIFEPACs for high school. He said he didn't think he could get into college any other way.

The thing about all these kids is that most of the parents had little to no involvement in what their kids were doing (if anything) as far as school work. The parents were simply there to drive them to lessons/classes and pay for whatever they needed.

K's younger brother and my DS spent a lot of time together a couple of years ago. We tried unschooling but DS never developed an interest in anything the way these other kids have. This year we're putting together a curriculum that includes some components recommended in TWTM, a textbook or two, and whatever else we pull together. As long as it works for DS, I really don't care what kind of schoolers we are.

Sue

[Luanne]

with very motivated highschoolers & parents that have the time to make sure that all the bases are covered in the activities the child decides to follow. I would not suggest unschooling as an easy option for schooling. We have had seasons of unschooling mixed in with our classical / literature based homeschool. We allowed our dd the time to follow her passions in evironmental studies / marine science, while still getting in a solid base of the 3Rs + history/science/Latin.

Don't be fooled into thinking that unschooling is a easy option. Unschooling is HARD work. Many who say they are "unschooling" are in reality "not-schooling." Looking back at the posts that you have started in the past few months, searching for the best method to use with your dd, I would not suggest unschooling in your case IMHO. You can still allow your dd to follow her interests in a more structured way, even the simple 2 hours maths, 2 hours reading, 1 hour writing of the Robinson method.

Blessings,


My plan at this point is to have her do school the Robinson way and give her some say in what books she chooses to read. I know it isn't really unschooling, but is someone interest lead. For sure whatever she does outside of the math, reading, and writing will be following her interests. She is actually leaning toward reading quite a few on the Ambleside list.