Dear Homeschooler,If we were to start from scratch, how would we create the best possible learning environment for our children? Would we organize children in neat rows of uncomfortable desks and chairs, segregated by age and alphabetized? Would we try to squeeze seven diverse subjects into a six-hour day? Would every child be forced to learn the same information at the same time and then get tested immediately to make sure it stuck?
Obviously, no. But the factory-style school system is the system currently in place, and many families are deciding that they want something different, something more natural for their children. A few leaps beyond homeschooling is unschooling, a concept with a definition that is different for every unschooled child. Perhaps one-third of the thousands of homeschooled children in Connecticut are unschooled.
Today is the official opening of the revised www.holtgws.com site. All the back of issues of Growing Without Schooling are online for free, as well as many articles, videos, and recordings by and about John Holt. I've also added lots of books, research and support for unschooling teens (including college admissions) and children.
HoltGWS HomeUnschooling in St. Louis
http://www.stlouiskidsmagazine.com/story/unschooling-st-louis
Why a Former Teacher Kept Her Own Kids Out of the Classroom
http://www.stlouiskidsmagazine.com/story/why-former-teacher-chose-unschooling-her-own-kids
Debating How Kids Learn
http://www.stlouiskidsmagazine.com/story/unschooling-part-3
The Unschooling Mindset - Blake Boles from Blake Boles on Vimeo.
I just read a timely piece in the New York Times titled, "Our Plugged-In Summer." It was timely for two reasons: this post and the general on-going conversation among new-to-unschooling, and the not-so-new, about all the learning that happens as a result of ALL kinds of media and, I recently commented on another list that seeing kids as "plugged-in" isn't helpful for teasing apart concerns about TV and computers. After all, kids (and adults) aren't machines that need an external power supply.
Anyway, here's that article....
"instead of avoiding the Internet while we were on vacation, my family and I made good use of it, and it rewarded us in many ways"
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/14/fashion/this-life-a-plugged-in-summer.html?_r=1
......and, because I often hear Sandra's voice in my head, commenting on my thoughts, here's a link to her page on "Balancing in the Middle Ground"
http://www.sandradodd.com/balance
Brie
Calls to the National Education Association for comment on unschooling were not returned.
Some information can be found here in English http://aleenred.blogspot.com/2011/06/european-home-education-conference.html We're going to record a documentary of the gathering and conference and have talks about forming a European and International home education organisation.
All the Informants: Eva Kendrick; Pat Farenga; Carsie Blanton; Rob & Lizette Greco; Beatrice Ekwa Ekoko & Randy Kay; Sage, Garrett, Bella, & Emily Adderley; Matt Hern, Selena, Sadie, Daisy Couture, Ashley Doman, & The Purple Thistle punks; Susannah Sheffer & Aaron Falbel; Sue, Marc, Eli & their Jamaica Plain coop; Mary, Mike, Peter, & Richard X; Sandra, Kirby, Marty, & Holly Dodd; Ken Danford, Vlad Blanton, Sphennings Stephens, & North Star; Jason Marsh; Clayton & Vernon Dewey, Danilo X; David Friedman & his family; Denise Perri; Derek Davis; Dan Roy & his mom; Gabrielle Anderson; Heather Cushman-Dowdee & her family; Jeremy Merritt & his family; Jon Shemitz; Joyce & Kathryn Fetteroll; Katie Shuflin-Febuary & Evyn; Katrina Cornell; Loretta Heuer; Nika & Ed Boyce; Roland Legiardi-Laura; Tiara Shafiq; Doug Healy; Billy Upski Wimsatt; & Grace Llewellyn.
My oldest son Sam's radio story "Unschooled" will be airing today (his 17th birthday) on NPR's All Things Considered the last 10 minutes of the hour. It's up online in print (audio later) on the All Things Considered web site http://www.npr.org/2011/06/06/137009154/unschooled-how-one-kid-is-grateful-he-stayed-home
This is something Sam decided to do all on his own. I only got to read it just now and still haven't heard the audio.
 | With summer on the horizon, many teens are looking forward to a break from school and tests. But for Sam Fuller of Albany, Calif., not much is going to change. Fuller is part of a rare minority of home-schoolers who call themselves "unschooled" — a more unstructured, self-directed form of home schooling. There are about 2 million registered home-schoolers in the U.S., a number that grows by about 10 percent a year. Sam's family can keep Sam and his brother home by registering their house as a private school. |
He firmly believes the idea should catch on. "I think every school should have a place where wonder can be celebrated. Being interested in seeds, literally and metaphorically, I'm keen to see this idea germinate and spread."
There seems little reason why it shouldn't at a time when schools are said to be cutting visits to museums and galleries because of the cost of supply teachers to cover staff absences.
I wanted to clarify the situation in Spain, where I live.
Our situation in Spain, fortunately, is not the same as Germany, where they have Hitler's law prohibiting homeschooling.
There are no laws in Spain that specifically prohibit homeschooling, so it's not that we can't homeschool in Spain, it's that it's in a legal void for lack of previous experience.
It's Alegal (not illegal) = one cannot prohibit something that has not, in law, been prohibited.
However, they are still at the stage where they equate school absenteeism to parental neglect,
hence the current persecution of a number of homeschooling families in different parts of Spain.
The Pat Farenga blog post about Spain, in reference to the "Constitutional Tribunal" Ruling last December, 2010
http://patfarenga.squarespace.com/pat-farengas-blog/2011/1/19/homeschooling-is-officially-illegal-in-spain.html fails to include the fact that in weeks following that ruling in reference to the Spanish Constitution (a ruling that was highly criticised by many, including Madalen Goiria and another homeschooling lawyer mom in Spain, Laura Mascaró, for being highly incoherent, that the legal language in itself was hard to follow, and contradicted itself)
There were several cases of homeschooling families that were found "not guilty", and the judge ruled in favor of the families. Of course the media fails to diffuse this news!
The Clonlara liason in Spain's comment in the comment section underneath the post is correct.
And I now see that Pat corrected his post and acknowledged he had made an error in his statement that it was "illegal in Spain" in this later post: http://patfarenga.squarespace.com/pat-farengas-blog/category/spain
In Cataluña, where I live, they passed a reform on the education law in 2009 that recognized "non-presencial" education, saying that it was up to the education board to set up a "regulatory body" to deal with that, create a register of homeschooling families, etc, and we are still waiting for updates in that regard.
I just read on one of the homeschooling blogs last night that in September there will be some movement from the education board in this regard (setting up a register).
Interestingly enough, I also came across a link to one of the Spanish political parties, the "Partido Popular" election information documents (we have national elections at the end of the month), which I am attaching that states on page 85, under the title "Strengthen the relationships between families and schools,"the following "commitment":"The introduction of the possibility for education in the home, providing a guaranteed appropriate legislative frame and rigurorous follow-up on the contents, socialization and advances of the students that are in this schooling modality"Of course reading things like "rigorous follow-up" makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck,but I find it interesting that the PP has specifically included this reference to homeschooling (and therefore obviously is seeking votes from homeschooling families....!)
"Potenciar las relaciones entre las familias y las escuelas
• La introducción de la posibilidad de la educación en casa garantizando para ello un marco legislativo adecuado y un seguimiento riguroso de los contenidos, de la socialización y de los avances de los alumnos que estén en esta modalidad de escolarización."
I am relieved that we have people like Madalen Goiria and Laura Mascaró (who was recently voted president of the Spanish Asociation for Homeschooling and then only a few days later resigned over the "can of worms" she encountered (she had been given due warning but thought it was worth giving it a shot just the same). A true shame to lose her input and proactive effort, indeed) ...both lawyers and homeschooling advocates...
Here's a link to a blog in Spanish in Spain dedicated to sharing information on the issue in Spain.
and a link that makes specific references to the legal parameters in Spain that would be the ones cited by homeschooling families to support their legal right to choose:http://homeschoolingspain.blogspot.com/search/label/Legalidad
The conference Hema mentioned was at Deer Park Institute, Bir, Himachal Pradesh. You may want to google that. It's up in the mountains, with snow caps as a back drop. Some brave folks went para gliding. There were numerous monastries (I didn't realize we have so many Tibetans studying years and years in the style of ancient Indian universities like Nalanda University started in way back BC). You may find Shikshantar worth googling too. They have an unschooling attitude to Development issues, and have started Swaraj University which is an unschooly college. Another fellow associated with them named Claude Alvares, is putting together a Multiversity, which is a sort of unschooly university. All these people are worth meeting on your next visit to India. Grown unschoolers from the US usually find them and then find us through them! This was an 'un conference' around the themes: Compassion, Courage, Contemplation and Creativity. The Prime Minister of Tibet in exile, Prof. Rinpoche himself addressed us on the 5th and last day. There was meeting of head and heart, community cooking, stuff for children to do and places to visit. Multi generational, multi cultural, multi socio economic...A guy from Egypt who lived on the street overlooking the recent action...You'd have enjoyed being there!Love
Urmila
AN ADDITION, forwarded by Urmila, who wrote "Here's a link that describes it more clearly. I think Tana and Warren come from Canada. Hello everyone, |
I'm always interested in hearing from grown unschoolers and so exactly a year ago, I started a focused, ongoing piece on the subject for the radio free school project.
I've had the opportunity to interview or receive guest posts from at least 18 grown unschoolers/ parents of grown unschoolers and have more lined up for the new year.
You can read the interviews on the blog by clicking on the Grown Unschoolers link under Popular Posts.
Most recently I've spoken with Kate Fridkis of http://un-schooled.net/ and you can read the interview at the blog at
http://radiofreeschool.blogspot.com/2010/12/grown-unschooler-kate-fridkis-embracing.html
or listen to it at
http://radio4all.net/index.php/program/48260
I have interviewed quite a few and always looking for more!
That they are mostly all pleased with their education; that they continue to love learning; that they are not afraid of being different or weird, that they are as 'well rounded' as anyone else is, that they are passionate about what they do and that they continue to be self-directed in their lives.
I've learned that many of them are deeply engaged in their own communities—in creating community and basically living lives that they feel are full and interesting and pleasurable.
Radio Free School:
Tantrum space for people who eschew factory learning in favour of unschooling, open source learning, community based, learning without school.
Our family produced this weekly radio show ('for by and about home based learners') for seven years. After a year's hiatus, we are back every so often, but using a 'strictly interview' format only now.
You can listen to up to 220 past shows etc at http://radio4all.net/index.php/series/RADIO+FREE+SCHOOL
Radio Free School blog was started by the un-schoolers at radio free school. We continue to blog about all things pertaining to freedom in learning. http://radiofreeschool.blogspot.com/
Please continue to visit our blog and add your voice to the comments that help spark new posts that we can all learn from, on our journey to make life and learning one.
