Unschooling, self-teaching or life learning—an educational philosophy where children don’t attend school but “learn through life”—is growing in popularity as an alternative to traditional blackboards and books
I’ve been having a discussion with an intelligent and open-minded critic of unschooling life learning. She keeps insisting that these kids “aren’t doing anything”…or at least not anything they couldn’t be doing on the weekends and going to school too. For awhile, I was stuck on trying to convince her that the school part is harmful, that there’s not much real learning goes on there, etc., etc. But the more she insisted, the more it seemed like she was whining! And that’s when I realized that her criticism isn’t based on facts, but on emotion – in this case, on resentment. Sadly, she agreed with me.Read the rest:
http://lifelearningmagazine.com/blog/2010/09/28/learning-happens/
Several weeks ago (see post of July 20, 2010) I posted a call for stories about children who have been diagnosed with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and have been homeschooled, unschooled, or "free schooled." I received 28 such stories and subjected them to a qualitative analysis.
My analysis of these stories suggests that (1) most ADHD-diagnosed kids do fine without drugs if they are not in a conventional school; (2) the ADHD characteristics don't vanish when the kids leave conventional school, but the characteristics are no longer as big a problem as they were before; and (3) ADHD-diagnosed kids seem to do especially well when they are allowed to take charge of their own education. In what follows I will elaborate upon and support each of these conclusions primarily with quotations from the stories. But, first, here are some numbers concerning whom the stories were about and who wrote them....http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/freedom-learn/201009/experiences-adhd-labeled-kids-who-switch-conventional-schooling-homeschool
Looking at both them, it's hard to believe that they were both professors at an Engineering College in Ahmedabad. Or that he has a degree in Engineering and she studied Physics and Space Science in college. The story of why two PhD's dumped a city life for tribal one, traded in their teaching careers for a shovel and a hoe, and opted to live on 12,000 rupees ($300) a year is an inspiring tale...
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Raising Children
The two Soneji sons were both born after they moved to Sakwa. Vishwain is 17 and Bhargav is 14 today. Arguably, the biggest challenge for the Sonejis came when Vishwain became of elementary school age: do we home school or send him to an institutionalized school?
More information on Laura is here: http://www.lauramascaro.com/, and her book is linked in the lower left, there.
Learn Free from Lillian Mauser-Carter on Vimeo.
