Unschool Radical

Education: Class Dismissed

By: Hara Estroff Marano
Summary: It’s every modern parent’s worst nightmare—a school where kids can play all day. But no one takes the easy way out, and graduates seem to have a head start on the information age. Welcome to Sudbury Valley.

“I’ve learned a lot about how my mind works by paying attention to how I unicycle,” Ben declared in preparation for high school graduation. And from the time he was 12, Ben paid attention to nothing so much as unicycling. When students elsewhere were puzzling over, say, the periodic table, Ben, along with a handful of schoolmates, was mostly struggling up and racing down New England mountainsides, dodging rocks, mud and other obstacles. His “frantic fights to maintain balance” demanded both deep focus and moment-to-moment planning. But they gave him something missing from most classrooms today—a passion for pursuing challenges and inhaling the skills and information (to say nothing of the confidence) to master life’s complexities.

Read the entire article here:

http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-20060424-000004.xml

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I am posting this because this is the way people define homeschooling as being successful or not- do this get into college. Somehow a homeschooler is successful if they go to college or university. My husband’s sisters were homeschooled and the first question people ask me ( including other homeschoolers and unschoolers) is- what do they do for a living? Second most popular question is- are they successful. What does this mean? I know what they are asking- but the whole point of unschooling is to challenge the idea of success.

CNN Article
College after homeschooling: The right decision?

CNN’s Pat Etheridge looks into how well home-schooled students fare in college

October 3, 2000
Web posted at: 11:52 a.m. EDT (1552 GMT)

(CNN) — Homeschooling isn’t for everyone, but it seems to have worked for Matt Martin and Sasha Wexler.

Martin attends Piedmont College, a small, liberal arts school in Georgia that actively recruits homeschoolers and currently has 12 of them on campus. Homeschooling “made me very motivated, very self-reliant,” says Martin, a sophomore on full scholarship.

For Wexler, 18, the “home” in homeschooling is wherever she and her laptop computer happen to be. The Washington student is working toward an online high school degree while also pursuing an acting career that occasionally takes her on the road.

Being able to do both makes her better at both, Wexler told CNN. “When I’m doing theater I am happier and I’ll do better school work as well.”

By some accounts, Martin and Wexler missed out on the social life that comes with a traditional high school education. But, to hear them tell it, homeschooling was still the right decision.

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CNN piece on Unschooling
Unschooling Article from CNNBy Traci Tamura and Thelma Gutierrez, CNN

I am always looking for articles on unschooling- feel free to post in comments if you come across some. This one was but wishy-washy, and emphaisis was on how there were no rules, she could stay up late, sleep in , watch tv.. Then of course comments from the school board board “authorities” that need socialization - and not sure what this means- but “interacton with adults in school setting” think this means needs to be a plce where adult can pummel you with theire power and need to learn to submit. Interesting that they did story on unschooling but hate the slant they took on it.

excerpt:

– It’s a child’s dream. Wake up whenever you want, with nobody telling you what to do and when to do it. And here’s the kicker: No school to rush off to.Welcome to the world of “unschooling” — an educational movement where kids, not parents, not teachers, decide what they will learn that day.

“I don’t want to sound pompous, but I think I am learning a little bit more, because I can just do everything at my own pace,” said Nailah Ellis, a 10-year-old from Marietta, Georgia, who has been unschooled for most of her life.

Nailah’s day starts about 11 a.m., her typical wake-up time. She studies Chinese, reading, writing, piano and martial arts. But there’s no set schedule. She works on what she wants, when she wants. She’ll even watch some TV — science documentaries are a favorite — until her day comes to an end about 2 a.m.

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Unschooling article:’Unschoolers’ chart their own course
By Chris Kenning
ckenning@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal
Excerpt:

Mandy Ridiman is 17 years old, but she’s never been in a classroom, taken a test or followed a school schedule.

When it comes to Mandy’s education, her curiosity dictates what she learns. Take, for example, the time she got interested in mummies after seeing one on TV.

Soon she was soaking up the science of mummification, the history of ancient Egypt, comparative religions, hieroglyphics, how rivers flood and mathematical riddles of the pyramids — until she decided to move on.

“I was just amazed at so many things,” she said.

Read rest of article here:

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060130/NEWS01/601300384

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