Unschooling NYC

A friend of mine who has decided to take her son out of school next year (can I get a big “Woohoo!  Way to go!” for her?) told me that during a mild panic attack yesterday evening about how she would manage to unschool, she found this piece from Sandra Dodd.  Reading it, the panic subsided.  I hadn’t read it in a while, and when I did I thought, “Everyone should read this, even if they’ve read it before.  Even if they’ve read it 100 times.”

It is always wonderful to hear Sandra’s reassuring voice resonating through her words as … Read more

It’s been a rough week in the news, to wildly understate the issue.  It was the kind of week that, unless you are made of sterner stuff than I am, can leave you questioning whether all your ideas about goodness in the world are as valid as you have always maintained.

Here’s a suggestion, if you feel the same.   First, turn off the news and change your online homepage to something fun like Goodreads or maybe National Geographic Photography.    Then, spend some time reading about  and looking at the work of people like  Jenny Buccos (who I met last … Read more

If your child is young,  meaning anywhere between birth and, say, seven years old, love them and treat them with kindness and they will flourish.   No curriculum necessary; no particular learning agenda and no academic plan.

Listen to the things they tell you.   Be interested.

I know, I know.  Sometimes what they say isn’t interesting.   Be interested anyway.

Also, be interesting.   Remember to laugh.

Encourage their play, read to them, and pay attention to what they like.   Do more of that.

Trust.

As your children grow, love them and treat them with kindness and remember that they are not you.  … Read more

Yesterday I was privileged to take part in Student Voice Live! held here in New York City at the Microsoft offices and streamed live worldwide.   The day was everything I’d hoped it would be and more, and gave me the opportunity to hear what young people and adults from other educational philosophies and realms are thinking, dreaming and actively pursuing.   Much of what I heard made me realize that as unschoolers, we should be collaborating with those working within the school system to create a better world for all children instead of keeping ourselves separate and insular.

Here are the … Read more

I don’t want my kids to learn things in bits and pieces, randomly, unconnected and at someone else’s behest, just so they can say they did it.  Just so that they can laugh at dinner parties years later about how much they “hated algebra” or why they refuse to ever read a book written before 1990 or that one awful teacher who gave them so much homework and “ha, ha ha” isn’t that funny that we all had those awful, humiliating, boring experiences?

I don’t want my kids to be shunned by the “popular” kids or be one of the … Read more

A couple of years back, my kids teamed up with some of their friends to create The Donators, a fundraising club to which they would all contribute each month, and then donate their funds to a chosen charity at the end of each 3 month period.

Over the past six months the group took a short hiatus; some members left, others wanted to join and it was decided that they needed to regroup and decide if and how they wanted to proceed.  (Actually, “if” was never really an option.  They love being able to raise money for a cause.)… Read more

First let me say how much I admire young kids/teens who advocate and put themselves in the public eye as unschoolers. This includes Jude, the unschooled teen who appeared with me on Stossel a few weeks ago, as well as Dayna Martin’s son Devin who appeared with her on the Jeff Probst Show earlier this year.    Then there is  Idzie Desmarais who is a grown unschooler and writes the blog “I’m Unschooled, Yes I can Write” and Laurie A. Couture’s son Brycen, who appears with Laurie in “The Teen Rebellion Myth” video offered for purchase on her site.    And … Read more

Hey everyone, mark your calendars!  This Saturday, April 13th I’ll be taking part in Student Voice Live!, being held here in New York City but streamed live worldwide.     This is an education summit that brings together students, leaders in education and the community for daylong discussion, collaboration and innovation on topics of importance as chosen by the students themselves.

I’ll be on a 12 person panel discussing the topic “Uncommon Routes of Learning”.   StuVoice describes our session as follows:

“Education and learning from K-20 go beyond the four walls of a classroom or a lecture hall and many times look

… Read more

The prefix “un” means:  “not, contrary to, the opposite of” according to Dictionary.com.

The word “school”, from the freedictionary.com means:  “An institution for the instruction of children or people under college age.”   (Children OR people?)   The word “schooling”, also from the freedictionary.com,  means: “to educate in or as if in a school.”

Notice that nowhere in the definition of school or schooling is the word “parent” mentioned.

It stands to reason then, deducing from the definitions given above, that “unschooling” would mean “the opposite of educating in or as if in a school”.

If this is the case, why … Read more

There is a strange phenomenon happening in my apartment at the moment.

Silence.

For the first time ever, my daughter is out of town for two days without us, having been invited by her friend & friend’s parent to go to Atlantic City to shop, hang out by an indoor pool and stay in a fancy hotel.   And just now my son left with one of his friends to go to a fair in the Bronx.  They’ll be riding the subway sans adults and returning sometime this evening.

I know that many kids spend time away from their parents at … Read more