From this article, I am under the impression the parents unschool for "themselves" and not for the child.
I generally have a hard time with how the media portrays unschoolers, let alone homeschoolers. I think you could be the epitome of a fantastic unschooling family and if you mention your child doesn't get up until 10:00 am...Horrors! You're a slacker!
Agreed. Plus there is the fact that their kids are still in very early elementary, which is where I think formal sit-down education is one of (if not the) least effective measure of learning. Note the author's child is "an old hand at group learning environments". Not what I, personally, think is most important for my 5, 4, or 3 year old to be "old hand" about.
I am jealous. I wish I could bar hop with my kid. Sigh, what are the laws in NY?? It used to be legal to take your kids in the bar with you in NM. (they were not allowed to drink.) Or your underage spouse. (they were allowed to drink) just kidding. My kids do not want to go bar hopping with me. dd17 rarely will even go to friends houses..."why would I want to hang around watching old people drink?" actually I think she said "middle aged" but she MEANT old. I would like to be able to go to Europe whenever the "fares drop" cool. I bet dd17 would go with me THEN. Plus, a 5 year old, who cares...just read to him. did you read the comments. interesting there. Especially the one that wanted to turn in the neighbor to CPS for having an illiterate kid, who plays baseball. (how do you determine a kid is illiterate by watching him play baseball?)
After reading the article & the blog post it reffered to, I have to say that I have a few issues with it. 1) Taking your kid to the bar with you?! While I don't think it's detrimental to have a drink or two in front of your child, I really don't think a bar is an appropriate place to have kids. 2) Her definition of unschooling being to "avoid using curriculum." I don't unschool, but I was under the impression that it meant allowing the child to follow their interests & choosing the materials that will support those interests, even if that means using curriculum for some subjects (if that's what the child wants or thinks will work best for them for that subject). 3) It seems that their choice to unschool their son stems more from selfishness than from a concern for his education. In her blog post, she basically admits to having done no research at all regarding homeschooling, and says her & her partner have no problem with public education. So, it really sounds like they choose to unschool so that they don't have to change their schedules at all. It sounds like they just feel it would be inconvienent for them to have to deal with his school schedule. To me, this just seems selfish. I obviously support homeschooling, and I think that unschooling is a legitimate option in the homeschooling realm. However, I think that (regardless of which educational choice a family makes) the choice of how a child is educated is an important one & some serious thought should be put into it. Homeschooling (in any form) is a commitment to your child's education & future. That's not something to take lightly or enter into simply so you don't have to alter your lifestyle of late nights & bars.
I never clicked on what she wrote on the blog. I just read the short article. Until I came back here and you all were speaking of a bar? So, I had to go back and click to another site where she wrote. I wonder if this is all to 'get noticed' for her, being as she is a novelist?
Ditto. We have unschooling friends here locally and they do follow the child's interest....they have used some curric or textbooks if that's what it took to learn what was on the child's agenda
This is exactly why I think they unschool for selfish reasons. Is it really what is best for the child or is it what is best for them?
I don't know. When we decided to homeschool it was in large part because it was what was best for my husband and I. I didn't want to get up early, I wanted to stay home with my kids, he worked shift work and wanted to see them when he was off rather then fight with a school schedule.
We started homeschooling partly because DH had been in Saudi & Iraq for 3 of 4 years and we wanted more family time....which is what was best for our family. Dawninns, I think what you mentioned, was really what was best for your family too even though it may seem like it was just for you and your DH...your children have more quality time with mom & dad....that can't be "bad" for them :lol: Now that we're continuing to HS after 18 months, our reasons have changed from just wanting more family time and a crappy school district
I think the original post (by the mother) is an attention seeking device. That being said. I think children should fit into thier parents life, rather than the other way around. (within reason) We, for the most part, do the things we like to do and the kids come along. Camping, skiing, etc. We took ds to the lake when he was 6 weeks...wrapped him in a lifecoat and tucked him up under the dash. Some of our friends thought we were crazy. (What if you crash?) Well, we came up in a car...Way more kids killed in cars...but we are willing to put the kids in them. While our decision to hs has more to do with ds than with us... our decision to send the kids to ps in the first place was pretty much all about us. If we hs younger ds next year...that will be about the family in general, rather than him in particular. If we move, that will be pretty much all about me. Although in staying where we are for this long was for my dsd.... so most of us do the best we can.
I don't like hearing that "life can't be the way you want it to be." WHY NOT? I think people get jealous when they hear someone else is living the way they would like to if they could. Sleeping in is considered "lazy" but if you can sleep in and still get everything accomplished why not?
I agree with your commit Patty, this family seems to be pretty self indulgent, but I think traditional schools are somewhat just babysitters. There is so much more to learn than what is taught at schools and a lot of what is taught I personally don't agree with. Yes children need reading, writing, and arithmetic, but I have a lot to say for mothers who not only like their kids, but like to be around them and take their time to teach them.
Things brings up an interesting thought...I wonder how many of the public school parents who criticized the essay by the unschooling mom have made remarks along the lines of, "I'm glad they go to school so I can get them out of my hair for a bit!" Schooling for selfish reasons perhaps?
Oh yeah. My sister is proudly one of those but in her defense, she's got 3 more littles at home She supports our homeschooling and I support her decision to send their oldest to private school. Whatever works for each individual family :lol:
