Unschooling NYC

Some people might think my kids are spoiled.

After all, they stay up as late as they want, sleep until they wake up and take part only in those activities in which they have an interest.

Rather than spoiled, I would say my kids are valued and respected.

I respect that their time is just as valuable to them as mine is to me and that, as such,  I should respect how they want to spend that time.  I can feel some people rolling their eyes.   Value a kid’s time?   If they’re not in school being told what to do … Read more

I wish I could wave a magic wand and let every family see what their lives could be like as unschoolers.

Happy.

Free.

Creative.

Unique.

Motivated.

With my wand I would take away all the anxiety and fear parents have over the thought of removing their kids from the machine that is our compulsory school system.   I would instead infuse them with excitement at the thought of raising kids who are individuals and not conformists.

Gone would be the idea that education and school are synonymous.   Gone the panic over test scores and grades and saving for college and SAT’s.… Read more

Any time I talk about making unschooling a viable alternative for everyone, someone inevitably points out that for kids from unstable homes or in abject poverty, it simply cannot work.     This is also an argument you hear when talking about doing away with compulsory schooling.   Someone will always mention those caring teachers who provide the only stability or safe place for the children they teach; children whose parents are abusive, or in prison or on drugs or working 16 hours a day to try and make ends meet.

For these children, people say, school is their only safe haven and … Read more

In the January/February 1994 issue of Growing Without Schooling, Pat Farenga wrote an article titled “Schooling + Diploma = Jobs?”

Change the dates and a few of the names and you might mistake it for an article written yesterday.

“So the drum beats on for more and more schooling for more and more jobs.  ‘Without an educated workforce we can’t grow this economy or remain competitive’, the President told a Satellite Town Meeting audience.  Of course, education is meant to be synonymous with schooling in such statements…”

The President to whom Farenga was referring was Bill Clinton, but doesn’t … Read more

In the past I’ve stated that unschooling is much harder for parents than for kids.   This is because most parents went to school and are well trained in the belief of doing things the “right way”; of a set catalogue of items that we “need to know” at a given age, etc.

Kids are natural self-directed learners, and if we never interrupt that flow, or if we allow them to go back to it after a few years in a coercive system, they continue it or pick it up with no drama and little effort.  It is simply the way … Read more

The 12-16 years children spend in compulsory schooling is an anomaly.   Sadly it is an anomaly with negative affects that can last a lifetime.

At no other time in our life, except for those years spent in the compulsory classroom, are we told that in order to learn something we must be taught and that only those who conform will succeed.

When a baby is born we don’t sign him up for walking classes.   We don’t enroll her in early talking education.   We don’t seek out the best feed and dress yourself school, or the private potty training tutor.

For … Read more

This afternoon I got angry.

Pissed off, actually.

I got angry because I spent an over an hour on the phone with a woman who had been told by her son’s school that she was not doing enough to make sure he was reading.   He is in kindergarten.   The school admonished her, told her that she needed to do more or her son would not advance to first grade.

They told her to consider bringing in a reading specialist or a $140/hour tutor.

Her instincts – correctly – tell her nothing is wrong with her son just because he isn’t … Read more

We just spent a week in the Bahamas.  This is our third trip to the islands, and the point is exclusively to relax.  The Atlantis Resort is our destination of choice, simply because everything is there.   No need for a car or transportation of any kind, and the biggest decision to be made every day is where to eat.

So it’s not a cultural experience, is what I’m saying.  It’s not a “learning” trip.

That said, it’s amazing how many things you learn/observe, about yourself and others, even when you’re not trying (maybe especially when you’re not trying).

Here are … Read more

In 1977 John Holt began publishing Growing Without Schooling, a magazine about homeschooling, unschooling and learning outside of school.   It was the first such publication of its kind.   After Holt died in 1985, the magazine continued, ceasing publication only in 2001, after 24 years.

Now Pat Farenga at HoltGWS LLC is re-formatting every issue of GWS so that it can be released as an e-book.  You can currently read  the magazine for free on the HoltGWS website, but the e-format will definitely make it easier to access and read.

I’ve been privileged to be a part of this … Read more

Most Americans, should you ask them, would probably say that if they had lived in Colonial America they would have been firmly and undeniably on the side of the revolutionaries; the rebels.   They would have opposed the oppressive tactics of British rule, helped dump the tea in Boston Harbor, and taken up arms against the redcoats.

And while in retrospect it is easy to put oneself on the team with the “good guys”, in reality protest is hard.   Protest against government policy or the results thereof is perhaps the hardest of all, because it usually means going up against the … Read more