From: Damien Sullivan (phoenix@ugcs.caltech.edu)
Date: Sun Apr 13 2003 - 15:24:23 MDT
On Sun, Apr 13, 2003 at 10:09:18PM +0200, Anders Sandberg wrote:
> schools were reintroduced just a few years ago), I have always wondered
> about the practicalities of homeschooling. Is the idea that the parents
> act as teachers, and give their children materials to read and explore?
Roughly, with variations. Some parents go for formal curricula or lesson
plans, some are looser. Loosest is the "unschooling" branch, where the kids
are let to do stuff they're interested in, including non-academic stuff, with
the idea that they learn by doing. If they seem to be learning more car
mechanics than calculus, well, maybe your kid wants to be a car mechanic, you
snooty academic parent... besides, they'll pick up more math if they decide
to start a business. _The Teenage Liberation Handbook_ is a source, I think.
For kids pulled out of school the initial "deschooling" phase can last up to a
year, I think. But the idea is that utterly idle humans don't *like* idling
and vegetating, and eventually your traumatized child will recover and leave
the TV. Of course, if you start them this way from an early age and don't
have a TV around they'd probably do even better.
I think, from what I've heard, that this does work for some people. Whether
it works for everyone is one of those things. But then, normal schools don't
seem to work for everyone -- the top beneficiaries seem to be studious types
who get along with the teacher and the irrepressible self-learner types. But
then the unschooling philosophy is that everyone starts out a self-learner,
it's just that most children get oppressed.
> While this sounds wonderful, it also seems to be extremely demanding on
> their time and capacity if they are working.
Well yes, it does help if at least one parent is home with the children.
As for time, one idea is that less time need be spent on the same material.
You don't waste time on administrative stuff like attendance, hopefully you
don't have discipline problem, and there's the whole intense tutoring aspect,
so a few hours of parental instruction can map to a whole day at school. And
that's the more formal kinds; unschoolers cut their kids loose and are
available to help out.
David Friedman links to a school which sounded like a scholastic version of
unschooling. Sudbury Valley schools, I think. The kids aren't even forced to
read, the idea being when they're ready they'll want to learn the mysterious
language around them.
-xx- Damien X-)
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