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My wife and I are expecting in December, and we're planning on some variation of unschooling for our children, starting at an early age. Based on the research w

My wife and I are expecting in December, and we're planning on some variation of unschooling for our children, starting at an early age. Based on the research we've done, it's a straightforward way to get better educational results for your kids if done properly. We're planning on some variation of the "Robinson Curriculum" (http://www.robinsoncurriculum.com/ http://www.robinsoncurriculum.com/), which in essence is a simple daily structure of (1) a daily math lesson, from the Saxon math series or similar, (2) daily reading, based on their interest but with a few recommendations, and (3) daily writing about any topic that interests them, which is then proofread and corrected by the child. "Socialization" is pretty much a non-issue, as far as I'm concerned. The above structure takes a few hours a day, so there's more than enough time for play and structured activities like sports or music if they're interested. As tommynazareth commented, the socialization in schools is mostly negative. The key seems to be striking a balance between a clear and simple structure and letting your child follow their interests. It also requires some self-control by the parents - it's better to let your kids struggle at times when they find hard problems than immediately jump in and help them. The parent isn't doing the teaching - they're helping the child learn to self-educate, which is a major difference. I want my children to be able to think clearly, learn essential skills, and be able to teach themselves anything they're interested in learning. I don't believe the public school system is capable of doing that, which is why we're looking to do it ourselves.

slvrspoon 16y ago
As tommynazareth commented, the socialization in schools is mostly negative.... REALLY? I beg and plead with anyone having kids to really examine this statement. The vast majority of interactions we have are social. Our social communication is literally key to survival. Of course much of the learning here that kids do could be percieved as negative "teasing, bullying" etc. but it's absolutely essential to becoming a fucntional adult... an adult that WILL BE HAPPILY EFFECTIVE in the tribe of humanity they live amongst. Any parent not savvy about the incredible level of real life social networking literally essential to happiness is simply creating a huge hurdle for their offspring, not helping them test out of high school exams faster. the road to hell is paved with good intentions hackers.
andrewce 16y ago
I spent my summers (as a child) doing more or less what you've described. Looking back, my parents did a few major things that helped make this a successful venture (or so I like to think, given my belief that I can do the things you've outlined in your last paragraph): 1) So long as we were learning, they didn't mind too much what (though it was always grounds for discussion and debate). If I wanted to read about dinosaurs, that was valued just as much as reading about history or politics or engineering. 2) If we were struggling, they'd start by giving me a small hint, then a slightly larger one, and so on until I either understood it or asked for a demonstration. Nothing wrong with the latter, as there are a lot of things that aren't immediately intuitive, but better to build intuition first. This is an extended way of me saying "I think what you are planning to do is fantastic, and would like to offer these two things I remember from my experience."
- tommynazareth 16y ago
  I also think it is a fantastic plan. I like you're first point. If a teacher is resourceful enough, than any topic is worth exploring and there is no limit to the breadth or depth of the exploration. Also, any learning activity can be a valuable experience in developing transferable skills.
  - edanm 16y ago
    Steve Jobs made a similar point in a speech to a graduating university class. He mentioned how he popped into classes just because they looked interesting, even if they weren't part of his curriculum, and said it's a great thing to do. He gave one example: he went to a class on typography just cause it sounded fun. As he put it, the only reason Macs have decent typography is because of what he learned in that class.
    - qohen 16y ago
      FYI, it was actually a calligraphy class. From the transcript of Jobs' speech (http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html ): "Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating. None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later."
marknutter 16y ago
I've never met a home-schooled kid who wasn't social awkward. I really hate the current education system, but I also recognize that the social skills developed there are almost as important as the formal education kids get.. perhaps even more so.
- fr0sty 16y ago
  The plural of 'anecdote' is not 'data'. Do you ask every non-awkward person you meet whether they were home-schooled? Do you ask every awkward person you meet whether they were home-schooled? Do you keep a running count? Sounds like sample and/or confirmation bias.
  - pbhjpbhj 16y ago
    >The plural of 'anecdote' is not 'data'. I've seen this a few times. I assume you mean anecdotes told by liars? Surely a plurality of true statements constitutes data? The strength of that data for interpretation or prediction is limited by the number of data points, for sure, but I don't really get why this aphorism is supposed to be true.
    - Dove 16y ago
      It is, of course, literally true that data is composed of a collection of data points -- you could call them anecdotes if you wanted to. But the point of the aphorism is that you can't go the other direction. Anecdotes are isolated instances, things people remember and tell because they are interesting. They lack any sort of statistical control or rigorous documentation. If you have a bunch of anecdotes about socially awkward homeschoolers, you don't have any actual data on the incidence of social awkwardness among homeschoolers. You just have have a bunch of anecdotes.
    - SiVal 16y ago
      Because of the selection process. If you are trying to make a judgment about an entire population based on a small sample, the chance of getting a non-representative sample is already high. If the sample is selected on the basis of what sticks out in memory, the chance of it being representative is almost nil. Though an interesting anecdote or two can be considered data, they are notoriously unreliable as a basis for statistical judgments.

slvrspoon 16y ago

As tommynazareth commented, the socialization in schools is mostly negative.... REALLY? I beg and plead with anyone having kids to really examine this statement. The vast majority of interactions we have are social. Our social communication is literally key to survival. Of course much of the learning here that kids do could be percieved as negative "teasing, bullying" etc. but it's absolutely essential to becoming a fucntional adult... an adult that WILL BE HAPPILY EFFECTIVE in the tribe of humanity they live amongst. Any parent not savvy about the incredible level of real life social networking literally essential to happiness is simply creating a huge hurdle for their offspring, not helping them test out of high school exams faster. the road to hell is paved with good intentions hackers.

andrewce 16y ago

I spent my summers (as a child) doing more or less what you've described. Looking back, my parents did a few major things that helped make this a successful venture (or so I like to think, given my belief that I can do the things you've outlined in your last paragraph): 1) So long as we were learning, they didn't mind too much what (though it was always grounds for discussion and debate). If I wanted to read about dinosaurs, that was valued just as much as reading about history or politics or engineering. 2) If we were struggling, they'd start by giving me a small hint, then a slightly larger one, and so on until I either understood it or asked for a demonstration. Nothing wrong with the latter, as there are a lot of things that aren't immediately intuitive, but better to build intuition first. This is an extended way of me saying "I think what you are planning to do is fantastic, and would like to offer these two things I remember from my experience."

tommynazareth 16y ago
I also think it is a fantastic plan. I like you're first point. If a teacher is resourceful enough, than any topic is worth exploring and there is no limit to the breadth or depth of the exploration. Also, any learning activity can be a valuable experience in developing transferable skills.
- edanm 16y ago
  Steve Jobs made a similar point in a speech to a graduating university class. He mentioned how he popped into classes just because they looked interesting, even if they weren't part of his curriculum, and said it's a great thing to do. He gave one example: he went to a class on typography just cause it sounded fun. As he put it, the only reason Macs have decent typography is because of what he learned in that class.
  - qohen 16y ago
    FYI, it was actually a calligraphy class. From the transcript of Jobs' speech (http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html ): "Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating. None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later."

marknutter 16y ago

I've never met a home-schooled kid who wasn't social awkward. I really hate the current education system, but I also recognize that the social skills developed there are almost as important as the formal education kids get.. perhaps even more so.

fr0sty 16y ago
The plural of 'anecdote' is not 'data'. Do you ask every non-awkward person you meet whether they were home-schooled? Do you ask every awkward person you meet whether they were home-schooled? Do you keep a running count? Sounds like sample and/or confirmation bias.
- pbhjpbhj 16y ago
  >The plural of 'anecdote' is not 'data'. I've seen this a few times. I assume you mean anecdotes told by liars? Surely a plurality of true statements constitutes data? The strength of that data for interpretation or prediction is limited by the number of data points, for sure, but I don't really get why this aphorism is supposed to be true.
  - Dove 16y ago
    It is, of course, literally true that data is composed of a collection of data points -- you could call them anecdotes if you wanted to. But the point of the aphorism is that you can't go the other direction. Anecdotes are isolated instances, things people remember and tell because they are interesting. They lack any sort of statistical control or rigorous documentation. If you have a bunch of anecdotes about socially awkward homeschoolers, you don't have any actual data on the incidence of social awkwardness among homeschoolers. You just have have a bunch of anecdotes.
  - SiVal 16y ago
    Because of the selection process. If you are trying to make a judgment about an entire population based on a small sample, the chance of getting a non-representative sample is already high. If the sample is selected on the basis of what sticks out in memory, the chance of it being representative is almost nil. Though an interesting anecdote or two can be considered data, they are notoriously unreliable as a basis for statistical judgments.