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But how do little kids even know what they want to learn without being exposed to different subjects? I'm in college and still can't settle on a major- I don't know how a small child would be able to pick what they want to learn. They may have interests but what if that changes? And what if they are never forced to learn about something that may be important to them?
That's EXACTLY what happened to my friend. She was homeschooled/unschooled as you call it, until the 7th grade. When she got to regular school be "she wanted to" she had no clue about anything. How to ask for help, and she was years behind in English., and knew next to nothing about science She still has trouble holding down any kind of a job that isn't retail.
Any parent can take their preschooler to the library and pick out a book and get them a bug vacuum or whatever else they might need to study bugs. That's not a reason to not send them to school!
Exactly. My mom did a lot of crafts with my sister and I until we where old enough for school. I still like crafts. But just because I am interested in something doesn't mean I need to only learn about that.
I'm not sure I understand how sitting in a classroom with 30 kids of the same age does a better job of preparing children for the real world then that of homeschoolers and unschoolers who have much more free time to go out and participate in the real world by going to parks, libraries, museums, farms, rec centers, etc. and interacting with people of all ages.
I have a son who went to preK and is now in kindergarten. We do all of the things mentioned above and he goes to school. This "unschooling" is crazy. You can't let a child pick only what they WANT to learn. If they haven't learned anything about a subject yet, how can they know they want (or don't want) to learn it?
It isn't the "sitting in a classroom" that prepares them for adult life. It's the regular, routine, every day, forced interaction with other human beings that prepares them for adult life. You can't get that exploring plants in the back yard, and you can't get that sitting in your bedroom Googling Paris France on your laptop.
There is a time for independent study, and even in regular high school, we had independent study. It was called - wait for it - independent study.
Learning how to adhere to someone ELSE's schedule is important. Not your mom's schedule - not your best friend's schedule. But some arbitrary person who you probably have never met, and never will meet, because you are just a GPA to them and not a real person. Like it or not, we all have to deal with this kind of atmosphere when we become adults. The customer in our line at the cash register - doesn't care that we have a daughter sick with the croup. He only cares that his Big Mac's special sauce doesn't ooze out of the box onto his passenger seat's upholstery.
The waitress who's being so sweet to you? She doesn't give a flying fig about how tonight is your 40th wedding anniversary. She only cares that being especially nice to you will hopefully produce a bigger tip.
Your boss's boss, the CEO of the corporation, who can eliminate your entire department if he's in a grumpy mood - doesn't care that your husband is out of work and you're struggling to pay the mortgage. He cares that his company profits, and his golf game isn't interrupted this weekend.
These are the realities of life as an adult. This is what you learn to deal with by being forced into a classroom setting. You learn to deal with other people who you are stuck with, like it or not, who are stuck with you, like it or not. You learn that "no" has meaning, and you learn "now" is a command, not a suggestion.
I have a son who went to preK and is now in kindergarten. We do all of the things mentioned above and he goes to school.
The post you quoted was in response to this:
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People can raise their kids however they want, but we live in a society where the norm is going to school with other kids, and sitting in a classroom with kids your age, and learning some of the skills and knowledge we need to become productive adult citizens and relate to other people.Kids need to know how to relate to other people. I don't see how they will ever relate to anyone when they haven't had the same normal childhood experiences as 99% of the people in this country.
I was pointing out that kids don't have to go to school and sit in a classroom made up entirely of their peers in order to learn how to socialize and relate to other people. Kids who are unschooled or homeschooled have plenty of opportunities for socialization because they are living and actively engaging in society everyday.
A parent who unschools would need to be paying attention to their child's interests. When my dd was 2 and 3 she was fascinated by bugs. She liked to look at a bug identification field guide that we had lying around the house and she even identified a few bugs she found outside. This was the book of choice for her when it came to bedtime stories. She would go out in the yard and pick up rocks to see what kind of bugs lived under them. She picked up bugs and looked at them closely. She watched ant colonies to see what they'd carry home. She also observed how many legs bugs had, how their bodies were shaped, what colors they were, what they ate, etc. From that she was learning lessons about biology and sociobiology, colors, numbers, shapes, etc. Right now at 4 she's interested in cats and the sounds that letters make. My point is that children are naturally curious about their environment and can and do learn a lot just from experiencing it. If we don't squelch that love of learning it will continue on as they grow.
As a young child I was fascinated by WWII and the Holocaust. I couldn't wait to get to school so I could learn everything there was to know about it. I was pretty disappointed when I finally got there and realized that it wasn't something that was covered in the Kindergarten curriculum. I had to wait until college to really go into depth on the subject. Unschooled and some homeschooled children have the opportunity to learn the things that interest them when they are interested and do so in depth. Lots of disciplines can be learned from almost any given interest. In school you are told what to learn and when to learn it which can be frustrating for some which can lead to boredom and a lack of interest in learning for the sake of learning.
Both my kids play and learn through play exactly as you described and there is still time for school.
Well, I'll jump in here on the college aspect. There is a vast amount of difference in homeschoolers and unschoolers. Colleges expect certain subjects, and certain grades, for acceptance. All of them without exception I believe. ACT scores, SAT scores. Now the ACT and SAT in theory you could pass unschooling, but I have to question if your completing the required classes for acceptance by unschooling.
Most homeschoolers do seperate from unschoolers. I homeschool three boys. I suppose there are some unique children who would master all of the classes required for colllege without direction, but I do wonder. No college is going to allow them in though. You have to have a transcript, albeit from the homeschool, but if your truly unschooling I must question if this mandate would be met.
I'm not say unschooling is a bad idea just wondering how they would fill out a honest transcript for college? I don't have that answer. I teach all the recommended subjects for my kids, but I spice it up in the electives. My kids like Robotics, so we have a class in robotics etc. I guess that's a bit like unschooling in that my kids take their own direction. Not every kid would do that though. If my kids don't like it or their not good at it they won't do it without direction. My kids are gifted in robotics though and like to work on it for hours, so as I said this won't be the story for all kids and all subjects. But hey if your kid is focused, thorough and can self plot throgh their education. Well, I guess that makes you very lucky.
It isn't the "sitting in a classroom" that prepares them for adult life. It's the regular, routine, every day, forced interaction with other human beings that prepares them for adult life. You can't get that exploring plants in the back yard, and you can't get that sitting in your bedroom Googling Paris France on your laptop.
Kids who don't go to school do go out in the world and interact with others everyday. Just because they don't go to school does not mean that they live in isolation.
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Learning how to adhere to someone ELSE's schedule is important. Not your mom's schedule - not your best friend's schedule. But some arbitrary person who you probably have never met, and never will meet, because you are just a GPA to them and not a real person. Like it or not, we all have to deal with this kind of atmosphere when we become adults. The customer in our line at the cash register - doesn't care that we have a daughter sick with the croup. He only cares that his Big Mac's special sauce doesn't ooze out of the box onto his passenger seat's upholstery.
The waitress who's being so sweet to you? She doesn't give a flying fig about how tonight is your 40th wedding anniversary. She only cares that being especially nice to you will hopefully produce a bigger tip.
Your boss's boss, the CEO of the corporation, who can eliminate your entire department if he's in a grumpy mood - doesn't care that your husband is out of work and you're struggling to pay the mortgage. He cares that his company profits, and his golf game isn't interrupted this weekend.
These are the realities of life as an adult. This is what you learn to deal with by being forced into a classroom setting. You learn to deal with other people who you are stuck with, like it or not, who are stuck with you, like it or not. You learn that "no" has meaning, and you learn "now" is a command, not a suggestion.
What you are talking about is work ethic. People don't need to go to school and be forced to do things against their will in order to learn how to be responsible, honest, productive, reliable and accountable. I've worked with many people who were lazy and unethical and every single one of them was (at minimum) a high school graduate. I've also experienced and witnessed plenty of poor customer service. Since most people attend school I'm betting that most of those workers went to school at some point. How can that be?
I was pointing out that kids don't have to go to school and sit in a classroom made up entirely of their peers in order to learn how to socialize and relate to other people. Kids who are unschooled or homeschooled have plenty of opportunities for socialization because they are living and actively engaging in society everyday.
And I disagree. I think school is needed, not only for the "book learning" they do but for the life lesson. The lesson of you need to do things you don't want to sometimes, shoot A LOT of the time. The lesson of not liking everyone but still having to work with them. I could go on with all that school teaches, but why bother.
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I had to wait until college to really go into depth on the subject. Unschooled and some homeschooled children have the opportunity to learn the things that interest them when they are interested and do so in depth. Lots of disciplines can be learned from almost any given interest. In school you are told what to learn and when to learn it which can be frustrating for some which can lead to boredom and a lack of interest in learning for the sake of learning.
