When my son was six, he was a huge fan of the Science Channel show “Build it Bigger”. As you know, Discovery and Science both tend to have a lot of written text on the screen, advertising what shows are coming up next, etc. Well, he’d been resistant to really reading, even though I was quite certain he had the ability at that point.

He quickly figured out that I was reading the text to help him figure out the show schedule. All of a sudden, he was motivated.

Within 2 weeks, no joke, he had clearly cracked the code and was reading. Within 2 months, he was doing so completely fluently.

I am in th process of unschooling as I am 26 years old and have had 7 years of college with not much to show for it. For my generation, I see unschooling as a big challenge as it requires a paradigm shift that is not easy in our “convenient driven” or “fast paced” lifestyles. While our local Texas schools spend rediculous amounts of money on mac book pros for jr high students, theres no amount of technology that can replace the creative human intellegence that once aspired to build, innovate, and think outside the box.

My diploma is not indicative of my education but rather my willingess to seek knowlege for knowlege sake.

Another point from the show I wanted to comment on. I grew up on a working farm and ranch. Till I was about 14, if we didn’t grow it, raise it or hunt it, we really didn’t eat it. The other kids in the community were basically in the same boat. Guess what? There was not such thing as ADHD or any of that crap. Know why? Because we had chores. If I happened to be stupid enough to be hanging around the house being a pest, my family sure as hell found something for me to do! Consequently, when I was done with chores, school work, and any other additional things I needed to do, I booked for the woods and spent my spare time exploring, hunting, and just watching and learning. And I sure as hell slept like a baby at night. One of the reasons why I am working so hard to get myself back to that lifestyle. I was the happiest when I was raising food and animals.

sounds nice. does she have a real job? how much does she make? what jobs has she actually had? what is she qualified to do?

As a homeschool parent, my kids are adults; I’ve seen great unschooled teens and horrible unschooling examples, like a jr. higher not being able to write his name.
My youngest was dyslexic. A dyslexic specialist said get a wooden Capital letter alphabet, starting with letters different as A and Z, get your child to ID them, then add more, until you get to similar ones O and Q. Master all that, then do the lower case wooden alphabet puzzle. The point? What’s your point, lady? UnSchooling is still about helping your kid succeed in life.
Yes, the can’t-write-his-name unschooler will work when he gets older, probably with his dad, doing stage set-up for theater, but he at one time dreamed of being a vet. I remember a time when he tried to get textbooks and understand what he was reading. but the unschooling parent refused to help him or give him the tools for success. Unschooling does not mean you won’t teach and help when you see your child desperately wants it.

So I am seeing doughts about the unschooling so here is my 2 cents.
I had 3 kids at my church that did this they are now in their 30’s the oldest went to college and is a family practics doctor, second no college and owns own bussiness, third is a architect that tested out of all college classes and got a degree 1 month after “starting college”. So unschooling does wouk but there are people who need school the way it is set up now, at least of a while.

Love the concept. Wish I had done this with my kids. The interview was very entertaining too. I just can’t wrap my head around the running around naked though. But to each his own! Thanks, Jack.

The problem I have with unschooling is the name. Or the perception some people have of the meaning.

Schooled is often defined as “Educated or trained in a specified activity or in a particular way” or “having received specific instruction”.

“Unschooled” sounds, to some, like someone that has not received any education or training (whether self-directed or not).

Why is this a problem? ’cause I often have conversations about the topic where I nearly always have to explain that “unschooled” does not necessarily mean uneducated.

I am one of those “traditional people” you mentioned; I literally have an MS in engineering and went through the traditional structure the whole way. I am also one of those people who “used it to my benefit” though; I have a good job that I enjoy and that pays very well, less than $10k of debt to pay off (will do it within the year), and used my education to teach me how to learn and think. Indeed, the most important thing about my math/science/engineering education IMHO was that it *did* teach me how to learn and think, albeit indirectly.

Here’s the thing. I completely agree with you that much of high school and college is a waste of time if you are not actively using it to your benefit (I have long advocated that most liberal arts degrees are useless or worse unless you earn them to a specific purpose, well before I ran into you or any of the others who are pointing it out themselves). However, I disagree that you can let 5 year olds direct themselves. I think kids need to learn certain basics before you can turn them loose like that, even with structured support. To do otherwise would be like turning a kid loose in a library without teaching them to read, or telling them to find their way through a forest without a map or compass. It’s not impossible that they’ll figure it out, but it’s certainly going to result in a lot of bumbling around and reinventing the wheel (at best; at worst they’ll give up in frustration).

I also disagree with letting small children direct each other. Teaching and explaining things effectively is a skill, it requires effort and practice to learn. I have found that the most important thing in explaining a concept to others is that you must first know it very well yourself, and the other is finding the conscious words to describe the subject effectively to others. At the very least, a child that age will not be able to teach something to others that they have not yet studied extensively themselves, and at the most, they might not even know enough about how to put concepts together yet to be effective teachers at all, on any subject.

Here’s an interesting video discussing the problems of our current education system. It’s 11:40 minutes long and pretty entertaining.

In this talk from RSA Animate, Sir Ken Robinson lays out the link between 3 troubling trends: rising drop-out rates, schools’ dwindling stake in the arts, and ADHD. An important, timely talk for parents and teachers.
http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_changing_education_paradigms.html

Like a couple other people commented, loved the podcast minus the ADD comments. I totally agree that the majority of peole who are diagnosed are being KIDS. But as an adult with ADHD I can garuntee you that it is indeed real and it is extremely challenging to live with.

However…I stay home and homeschool my three kids (a combo of formal education for the “3 Rs” and lots and lots of unschooling) and find that my life now, unstructured and active and free and pursuing things that interest me, rather than sitting behind a desk all day (at work or school) has been the best treatment for my ADHD.

It seems to me that it is more likely that a small group of people do indeed have ADD or ADHD but that a large part of the condition (for those correctly diagnosed, not the ones with behavioral problems) can be treated by stepping away from that lifestyle of being chaned behind a desk.