Unschooling NYC

Other than responding to a few comments on my blog, I didn’t think about unschooling at all today.

Or yesterday.

Or the day before that.

Instead, over the last few days, we did things like going to see Marina & the Diamonds in concert, watching some Broadway League softball in Central Park and watching “Matilda” on Broadway.

Instead I went out with Joshua on Saturday to see “The Great Gatsby”.

Instead we visited with friends and celebrated Maya’s birthday and laughed about a bunch of silly stuff.

In other words, we just lived our lives.

Some books were read.  Journals … Read more

You know what I find super discouraging?  When unschoolers, whether radical or not, find it necessary to put energy into berating each other; into questioning a person’s “status” as an unschooler because of something they do or don’t do with their children.   It reminds me a bit too much of certain political parties who are willing to excommunicate a member for deviating even a millimeter from the official party line.   Whether a family applies the principles of unschooling to their entire life or simply to the realm of education (and to some degree it is impossible to separate the two), … Read more

“He can’t really be among people he doesn’t know.”

“It’s very difficult for him and for his family.  He’s hard to control.”

“He has severe Aspergers.  It’s really terrible for everyone.”

These and many other similar statements, always said in hushed, dire tones, were all I knew of Joshua’s nephew who lives in Israel and who we had not seen since he was a baby, almost 16 years ago.   When we arrived at their house, I was prepared to encounter a reluctant recluse of a child, difficult and perhaps angry with no ability to interact socially.

The young man I … Read more

We just returned from 2+ weeks in Israel, where Maya & Ben got to meet most of Joshua’s side of the family, including many cousins who are around their age and almost none of whom speak more than a few words of English.  Ditto my kids and Hebrew.

When adults who do not speak a common language attempt to communicate, they often do things like use hand gestures or speak LOUDLY at each other, as though that will somehow compensate for the lack of understanding.   But with kids, or at least with my kids and their Israeli cousins, something else … Read more

I hadn’t planned to post again until we return from Israel, but a conversation on Facebook earlier this evening changed my mind.

You see, there are many different opinions among unschoolers as to how this lifestyle should manifest.   Unschoolers argue among themselves about what really makes someone an unschooler, just as folk singers will argue among themselves about what makes a folk song.

As Wendy Priesnitz and Sandra Dodd have both said (along with many others, but I’ve been reading a lot of Wendy & Sandra’s writing lately, so they are forefront in my  mind), there is no one right … Read more

We’re getting ready to leave for Israel in a few days, and the excitement is building.  It’s been a little over 6 months since our European excursion,  though it seems longer.

This trip is special because it will be the first time our kids see the place where Joshua grew up and get to meet many of the people he’s known all his life.

We plan to take tons of photos, eat a lot of good food, hang out with family and friends and generally relax.

While we’re gone I won’t be blogging; it makes it a real vacation for … Read more

Sometimes I forget how fortunate we are.   When I talk to families mired in the politics and demands of the school system, I sit back and wonder how we managed to avoid it.

I used to chalk it up to a certain amount of laziness on my part.  Go to pre-school open houses?  Start filling out forms (my absolute LEAST favorite activity) and checking boxes to make sure my kid gets into a “good” school?   Um, no thanks.

But of course there was more to it than that.

Let’s call it one part laziness mixed with a few parts amazement … Read more

Friday was the NYCHEA Performance Meeting.

This annual gathering is an opportunity for kids to get up and show their stuff; to sing, dance, play an instrument, act or whatever else they want to perform and share.

It is awesome.

The best thing about this meeting is the utter lack of pressure.   It is a celebration and everyone, no matter how accomplished or un-accomplished in their chosen art they may be, is received with cheers and wild applause from an audience of their peers.    There is no jeering, no poking fun at mistakes, no derogatory comments or one-upmanship.

This years … Read more

25 years ago this week, Congress passed the groundbreaking “Early Walking” legislation introducing a national curriculum to ensure early walking in all children.   In commemoration, we look back now at the genesis of a law that forever did away with the hit and miss style of learning to walk.

The signs were all there, of course.   For years before Early Walking legislation was even conceived, the U.S. lagged behind other countries in Science and Math.   Though early education and a tougher national curriculum made some inroads, it wasn’t until scientists discovered the benefits of early walking that a real breakthrough … Read more

Kids are falling behind.

ADHD is on the rise and more and more kids are being diagnosed and “treated” i.e. drugged.

If children don’t meet set standards or seem to lag behind their peers in learning, they must have an IEP, maybe an OT, as well as extra tutoring.

If they seem lacking in self-esteem (gee, I wonder why THAT would happen?) we must be sure to praise them, do esteem-building exercises or in extreme cases send them away to a camp designed to “help” these kids.

We hear such statements all the time.  I can’t remember the last time … Read more