what is “unschooling”, anyway?
as my son grows quickly from a baby to a toddler,the type of schooling he will receive has become a great concern. this is not a new subject. before there ever was a child my husband and i discussed the pros and cons of traditional schooling methods (including public, private, and home school). the problem is, we never agreed on a solution.
about two months ago, i began to hear a lot of buzz about something called unschooling. ever heard of it? it’s a fairly new movement (as far as education goes) that, to me, seems like home schooling meets montessori. basically, the idea is teaching your own children through life experiences and situations. there is no set curriculum, no textbooks, and no standardized testing. students progress is measured individually through the observation of a caring and attentive parent.
for an interesting perspective on how unschooling can be amazingly effective and interesting, see theorganicsister.com!
personally, i think this sounds awesome! i would love to be able to devote my time to teaching my son while allowing him to grow freely at his own pace and learn applicable academics rather than rote memorization from a textbook! and no standardized testing, YES, thank you very much!! the only problem i have here is the same one i had for home schooling – i would be an incompetent teacher and i know it. i have seen home schooling done poorly (and even some cases of unschooling done poorly), and the children are the victims. what can you do with an 18-year-old who can barely write his own name? so, my own personal thoughts of unschooling at this moment are, “sounds wonderful! where can i sign up for a course in teaching unschooling?”
