Unschooling

[JennyMominRI]

Originally Posted by ajzjmsmom

Do you have a large support system for homeschooling where you live? I have often considered home schooling but felt that I lacked the abiltity to teach my kids some of the things I felt were important for them. I know in some areas some home schoolers belong to groups where maybe one person has more expertise in say algebra and they help a parent who doesn't.

BTW, thanks so much for taking time out of your day to answer my questions.

I'm a Mom who has kids who went to public school and who have been homeschooled. I hope you don't mind someone else answering.
My oldest son is 15 and has ADHD. He was having major problems with concentration in school. Thus was in the 6th-7th grade He was falling behind in some areas and it was getting to the point where he really started to feel he was stupid. There were some other problems at home. His dad had nearly died and spent 3 months in the hospital. For months we thought,ever day, that he might die. My son who was very close to his dad was very effected. He also missed some school when dad was sick. I'm ashamed to admit it, but, I was so concentrated on keeping my husband alive, that I lost sight of how far behind my son was getting.
I hated seeing the disappointment and shame on my bright sons face, when he said he thought he was stupid. I pulled him out of school halfway through 7th grade. We were able to backtrack in math and try and catch him up. He is still behind in math. He's halfway through 10th grade and only just about to start algebra. On the flip side, he has studied German for 3 years. We will be travelling to Germany soon , where we hope to give him an immersion experience. He has already taken Biology. He's taking an honors English class and is about to start an Honors World History course. He just finished and honors Civics course which he got a 96 in. He has taken electives like Digital Photography and Digital Video Production. He also takes acting classes at Trinity Rep in Providence
Now there are a few classes that I don't feel like I can teach .e Algebra, Geometry, Chemistry and possibly Physics for example. I will be hiring a tutor for those classes. Some people do exactly what you mentioned. They use co-ops and trade with other parents.
I'm not heavily involved in the homeschooling community here in RI as it's mostly a very conservative religious bunch and as a Liberal, lefty Jewish Mom I don't really feelthat I fit it.
My other 2 kids have graduated from Public school after spending their early years as homeschooler. One is joining the Army, the other is going to college to teach English Lit. My kid wants to teach Shakespeare so I'm pretty happy about that.
Homeschooling will allow my youngest son to travel with us. We are planning to spend 4 or 5 months in Europe this year. I can't even imagine what he will learn there .The cool things is, school can come with him.
Now I don't unschool. I need structure. I do know someone who unschooled her kids. Her house was the most interesting place I've ever been too. There were books and maps everywhere. There where science lab kits all over. Her goal was to create a place where learning was intrinsic. Her goal was to create kids who wanted to learn , not who only learned because they had too. A kid expressing an interest in dinosaurs might then get a lesson in history and evolution. Everything they did centered around learning. It didn't mean her kids never used book, curriculum or actual classes. It just meant they learned them on their time. Although in reality Mom was really manipulating stuff behind the scenes.
When her sons reached high school and expressed an interest in science based careers they learned what was required to go to college for that. They joined some sort of co-op school and took the requisite classes in science and math. The oldest son got into Stanford .
Personally, I think that unschooling, done right, is harder than what I do. I have a lesson plan, teacher input and a schedule to follow. An unschooling mom is constantly creating new ways to get her child interested in something new . She is always looking for out of the box ways to teach things. And she never stops teaching.
We spend 5 or 6 hours a day working and then, basically we are done. An unschooling mom is never done. At least in theory she should never be. Some parents, though, use unschooling as an excuse to be lazy and not educate their child at all .

[ajzjmsmom]

Originally Posted by JennyMominRI

I'm a Mom who has kids who went to public school and who have been homeschooled. I hope you don't mind someone else answering.
My oldest son is 15 and has ADHD. He was having major problems with concentration in school. Thus was in the 6th-7th grade He was falling behind in some areas and it was getting to the point where he really started to feel he was stupid. There were some other problems at home. His dad had nearly died and spent 3 months in the hospital. For months we thought,ever day, that he might die. My son who was very close to his dad was very effected. He also missed some school when dad was sick. I'm ashamed to admit it, but, I was so concentrated on keeping my husband alive, that I lost sight of how far behind my son was getting.
I hated seeing the disappointment and shame on my bright sons face, when he said he thought he was stupid. I pulled him out of school halfway through 7th grade. We were able to backtrack in math and try and catch him up. He is still behind in math. He's halfway through 10th grade and only just about to start algebra. On the flip side, he has studied German for 3 years. We will be travelling to Germany soon , where we hope to give him an immersion experience. He has already taken Biology. He's taking an honors English class and is about to start an Honors World History course. He just finished and honors Civics course which he got a 96 in. He has taken electives like Digital Photography and Digital Video Production. He also takes acting classes at Trinity Rep in Providence
Now there are a few classes that I don't feel like I can teach .e Algebra, Geometry, Chemistry and possibly Physics for example. I will be hiring a tutor for those classes. Some people do exactly what you mentioned. They use co-ops and trade with other parents.
I'm not heavily involved in the homeschooling community here in RI as it's mostly a very conservative religious bunch and as a Liberal, lefty Jewish Mom I don't really feelthat I fit it.
My other 2 kids have graduated from Public school after spending their early years as homeschooler. One is joining the Army, the other is going to college to teach English Lit. My kid wants to teach Shakespeare so I'm pretty happy about that.
Homeschooling will allow my youngest son to travel with us. We are planning to spend 4 or 5 months in Europe this year. I can't even imagine what he will learn there .The cool things is, school can come with him.
Now I don't unschool. I need structure. I do know someone who unschooled her kids. Her house was the most interesting place I've ever been too. There were books and maps everywhere. There where science lab kits all over. Her goal was to create a place where learning was intrinsic. Her goal was to create kids who wanted to learn , not who only learned because they had too. A kid expressing an interest in dinosaurs might then get a lesson in history and evolution. Everything they did centered around learning. It didn't mean her kids never used book, curriculum or actual classes. It just meant they learned them on their time. Although in reality Mom was really manipulating stuff behind the scenes.
When her sons reached high school and expressed an interest in science based careers they learned what was required to go to college for that. They joined some sort of co-op school and took the requisite classes in science and math. The oldest son got into Stanford .
Personally, I think that unschooling, done right, is harder than what I do. I have a lesson plan, teacher input and a schedule to follow. An unschooling mom is constantly creating new ways to get her child interested in something new . She is always looking for out of the box ways to teach things. And she never stops teaching.
We spend 5 or 6 hours a day working and then, basically we are done. An unschooling mom is never done. At least in theory she should never be. Some parents, though, use unschooling as an excuse to be lazy and not educate their child at all .

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply to my questions. Your last sentence I think is what comes to mind for alot of people when they hear the term unschooling. I can see the benefits of public schooling, homeschooling and unschooling if they are all handled correctly. There are many days when I think about homeschooling, it seems as though public school teachers are overwhelmed and classrooms are to large, I have yet to take that step. I like you do not think unschooling would be a choice I would make for my family, I too need the structure. Again thanks so much for your input.

[JennyMominRI]

Originally Posted by JennyMominRI

My son who was very close to his dad was very effected.sick.
.

And in a post where I discuss homeschooling, I really with I had used the correct word, affected, and not effected, in that sentence. I just caught it and it's too late to edit, lol. How long can a post sit before the edit option goes away? I'm used to having a bit more time to edit.

[AnotherTouchOfWhimsy]

Florida has a huge number of homeschoolers, and we are active in a few different groups. We could get together with homeschoolers every day of the week if we wanted, and sometimes do... the problem that we have with socialization is that we occasionally do too much of it! LOL