5 ms·

Unschoolery

11 points by unheaped 13y ago

mumbi 13y ago
I didn't know Leo posted on another site. I've been a reader of ZenHabits for a while now.
pbreit 13y ago
What is "unschoolery"? Couldn't figure that out from the site. Is it home schooling or just learn-hacking?
- Goopplesoft 13y ago
  Im guessing just the name of a blog about this: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unschooling http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unschooling, not sure why its the post title though...
- gbhn 13y ago
  Home schooling is usually more structured following inspiration from a traditional curriculum. Unschooling can be structured too, but is usually looser and more responsive. Wikipedia has an article on it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unschooling http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unschooling It's controversial because of several factors, of course. There's the worry that parents, no matter how smart, interesting and committed to their kids, may not be the best at teaching them things. There's the worry that an organized curriculum provides a shared social vocabulary that unschooled kids may lack. There's worries about social interactions with other kids that might be lacking, and so on. There may be a kind of adverse selection effect, where people inclined to pull their kids out of school may have the most to lose by doing it. So it is worth thinking carefully about the objections and talking about the particular situation with trusted parties to make sure it's the right choice.
- pcc 13y ago
  'Unschooling' is an educational method/philosophy. Rather than the conventional approach of defined courses / curricula, it encourages exploration of activities initiated by the children themselves, and learning through natural life experiences. For example as a result of something the child experiences, the child may have a sudden interest in Greek Mythology, which would then be explored at that point. While its certainly a form of home education, it is only a subset of homeschoolers that follow this method; many (most?) homeschoolers continue to follow structured curricula similar to conventional schooling.
- neovive 13y ago
  I could be mistaken, but it "unschooling" seems to be a divergence from the typical "homoschooling" approach. Specifically, with regards to having children discover and learn through experience as opposed to the more structured and one-way approach common in most schools (even typical homeschools). He summarizes a bit more at: http://unschoolery.com/about http://unschoolery.com/about. I have one child currently in traditional school and try to implement some of the unschooling concepts at home -- in whatever limited time we have. There are definitely positives and benefits to both approaches.
codva 13y ago
An unschooling purist would argue that curiosity and a desire to learn are the natural state for kids, and that we squeeze that curiosity out of them in the school system. So take away school and leave the kids alone and they ultimately return to that state of self-motivated exploration. I've seen it work in enough families to take the idea very seriously. We did a hybrid approach. We were more traditional homeschoolers up until high school. However, once the kids had a solid foundation in math, reading, writing, etc. we pretty much stayed out of their way for the high school years and let them follow their interests where ever they led. It worked well for us and both kids taught themselves advanced subjects that far surpassed anything we could have supplied as their parents.

Unschoolery

11 points by unheaped 13y ago

mumbi 13y ago

I didn't know Leo posted on another site. I've been a reader of ZenHabits for a while now.

pbreit 13y ago

What is "unschoolery"? Couldn't figure that out from the site. Is it home schooling or just learn-hacking?

Goopplesoft 13y ago
Im guessing just the name of a blog about this: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unschooling http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unschooling, not sure why its the post title though...
gbhn 13y ago
Home schooling is usually more structured following inspiration from a traditional curriculum. Unschooling can be structured too, but is usually looser and more responsive. Wikipedia has an article on it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unschooling http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unschooling It's controversial because of several factors, of course. There's the worry that parents, no matter how smart, interesting and committed to their kids, may not be the best at teaching them things. There's the worry that an organized curriculum provides a shared social vocabulary that unschooled kids may lack. There's worries about social interactions with other kids that might be lacking, and so on. There may be a kind of adverse selection effect, where people inclined to pull their kids out of school may have the most to lose by doing it. So it is worth thinking carefully about the objections and talking about the particular situation with trusted parties to make sure it's the right choice.
pcc 13y ago
'Unschooling' is an educational method/philosophy. Rather than the conventional approach of defined courses / curricula, it encourages exploration of activities initiated by the children themselves, and learning through natural life experiences. For example as a result of something the child experiences, the child may have a sudden interest in Greek Mythology, which would then be explored at that point. While its certainly a form of home education, it is only a subset of homeschoolers that follow this method; many (most?) homeschoolers continue to follow structured curricula similar to conventional schooling.
neovive 13y ago
I could be mistaken, but it "unschooling" seems to be a divergence from the typical "homoschooling" approach. Specifically, with regards to having children discover and learn through experience as opposed to the more structured and one-way approach common in most schools (even typical homeschools). He summarizes a bit more at: http://unschoolery.com/about http://unschoolery.com/about. I have one child currently in traditional school and try to implement some of the unschooling concepts at home -- in whatever limited time we have. There are definitely positives and benefits to both approaches.

codva 13y ago

An unschooling purist would argue that curiosity and a desire to learn are the natural state for kids, and that we squeeze that curiosity out of them in the school system. So take away school and leave the kids alone and they ultimately return to that state of self-motivated exploration. I've seen it work in enough families to take the idea very seriously. We did a hybrid approach. We were more traditional homeschoolers up until high school. However, once the kids had a solid foundation in math, reading, writing, etc. we pretty much stayed out of their way for the high school years and let them follow their interests where ever they led. It worked well for us and both kids taught themselves advanced subjects that far surpassed anything we could have supplied as their parents.