Other Homeschooling Philosophies

[MommyRyan]

Does anyone have any good links that discuss or argue other types of homeschooling philosophies or methods? I'm not looking to change mine, but am really curious about some of their arguments, particularly radical unschooling and Waldorf, which I know nothing about.

Really appreciate it

[LittleIzumi]

There's some discussion of it in Cathy Duffy's Top 100 Picks book. I prefer to get books on each philosophy from the library and see what they say in a little more depth. It helps. I found out I don't match any of them but I'm mostly a combo of unschooling and eclectic, and that's what I have been doing without knowing it anyway.

[Karen in CO]

I used to have a link to a place that had all kinds of essays on different types of homeschooling. But here are two links to get you started.

John Taylor Gatto's Essay The Six Lesson School Teacher. This is a must read if you haven't already.

Here is a nice link into a Waldorf homeschooling group. And here is a basic summary of Waldorf education. And here is a link to Christopherus Homeschool resources which has information and resources for homeschoolers trying to apply Waldorf methods.


And here is the HomeEd Magazine site which has some great articles and information and is run by third generation homeschoolers. You will find some radical unschoolers too.

[woolybear]

There are many more, but off hand I can only think of these for unschooling:

www.sandradodd.com

www.joyfullyrejoycing.com

Woolybear

[kalanamak]

Originally Posted by Karen in CO

John Taylor Gatto's Essay The Six Lesson School Teacher.

This quote alone is enough to make this short essay a non-wasted 5 minutes. I've never heard it put better:

Young people indifferent to the adult world and to the future; indifferent to almost everything except the diversion of toys and violence? Rich or poor, schoolchildren cannot concentrate on anything for very long. They have a poor sense of time past and to come; they are mistrustful of intimacy (like the children of divorce they really are); they hate solitude, are cruel, materialistic, dependent, passive, violent, timid in the face of the unexpected, addicted to distraction.

[LibraryLover]

Gatto makes his living telling us what a sucky teacher he was. Which is weird.

Did he make a difference in the lives of those kids, or no?

[Crimson Wife]

I read Understanding Waldorf Education: Teaching from the Inside Out by Jack Petrash a few months ago. While it was geared towards parents who are considering enrolling their children in Waldorf schools, there was enough discussion of the Waldorf educational philosophy to make me realize that it's not at *ALL* for me.

Here's an excerpt from my review of the book on Amazon: "I am glad that I read this book because it convinced me that Waldorf education isn't right for my family. It seems clear that academics are de-emphasized in favor of other concerns. I'm all in favor of a 'well-rounded' education, but Waldorf goes too far for my tastes. Academics aren't the only thing that matters but they are very important to me. And they just don't seem to be given high enough priority in Waldorf education IMHO."