Unschooling NYC

This morning’s NY Times had a truly depressing article in it about how doctors are prescribing Adderall and other drugs to kids, not because they’ve been diagnosed with ADHD but because they are lower income and don’t have money for tutors or therapy.  Supposedly the drugs help them do better by “modify[ing] the kid” to fit the demands of the school environment.

All day I thought, “Well I have to write about this tonight.  It’s awful!  We are now drugging lower income kids because we think that’s the only way to help them ‘succeed’?”

The problem was, when I sat … Read more

What makes a person successful?

In school they tell you that if you pay attention, study hard and get good grades then you’ll be successful.  (Oh yes, and let us not forget those all important TEST SCORES!)

Paying attention seems to be an especially important factor to those who stand in front of groups of students.   I’ve also heard it described as “active listening”, which always makes me want to say, “As opposed to ‘inactive listening’?”

When someone insists that kids need to pay attention, what they mean is that they want them to sit still and LOOK at the … Read more

One of the great things about living in New York City (as I tell anyone who will listen) is that everything is convenient and available.   Feel like having an apple while on your way to the park?  Walk into any deli or better yet, buy one from one of the many fruit vendors.   You don’t have to drive to a grocery store and wait in line, which almost no one would do for a single piece of fruit.

Music, museums, films, parks?  It’s all here.  It is at most a subway ride away.  Even nature is close at hand.  20 … Read more

My daughter is amazing.

There are many reasons that I believe this, of course, but today’s reason is:

She spent almost the entire day alone.  At home.  Working on…stuff.

Trust me when I tell you that the ability to spend an entire day entertaining herself is not something that comes naturally to her.   She was the kind of baby/toddler/younger child who would have preferred a personal valet/court jester to be by her side 24 hours a day to assist her, entertain her and be commanded by her.

Being alone?  Finding things to do that did not require other people?   Not … Read more

Continuing on the theme of safety that I discussed in last night’s post, I got to thinking about all the things I did as a kid and young adult that today would be perceived as dangerous.  Here’s a partial list:

Laying down foam pillows in a row on the grass and then doing dive rolls onto them from the top of the stone wall at the end of my parent’s house.   Age 12

Riding a Honda Trail 70 minibike all over the back roads in our part of the county with two other kids, also on mini-bikes.  No licenses  … Read more

You don’t believe that, do you?   Seriously, how many of you think of the world as safe?  Safe for you?  Safe for your kids?

It’s difficult, when all we hear about are wars and rumors of war.  Of kidnappings and murders and heinous crimes and behavior of all sorts.

We respond by trying to safeguard ourselves against all these perceived threats (which we believe are real and lurking just outside our door). To do so,  we have an insane amount of rules.   We arm ourselves with all manner of devices with which to communicate – phones, email, smartphones, gps –  … Read more

It’s possible that Lelia Broussard would have been successful in music even had she gone to school.

We’ll never know, however, because she didn’t.   She is a grown unschooler.

Tonight, she auditioned on “The Voice” and was chosen by Blake Shelton to be on his team.   The debates about this season are raging, because a handful of contestants, like Broussard, are “established” singers who’ve put out CD’s and toured and had record deals.

Do I care?   Not really.  And especially not when it comes to her.

See, people always ask me if I worry that not going to school will … Read more

Here’s a hypothetical scenario I would like you to consider (truly, I am not basing this on anyone I know).

Two unschooled kids:

Kid 1 falls in love with American history at a very young age.  Why?  Who knows – maybe a movie or book piqued her interest.  The why doesn’t matter.   But this kid LOVES U.S. history!  She devours books on it, watches documentaries and begs her parents to visit Civil War battlefields.  They spend an entire summer camping all over the South, visiting famous Civil War sites, winding up in Washington D.C.

Kid 2 thinks history is about … Read more

Yesterday I was explaining unschooling to someone, and started to talk about how as unschooling parents, we must be observant and in tune with how our kid learns best so that when they are interested in a topic we can better facilitate access to it in a way that they will enjoy.   Some kids love to sit down with workbooks and textbooks.  For other kids (like my son), sitting at a table with a workbook is on par with being stretched on the rack in the Tower of London.  Such kids need movement, or the ability to use their hands; … Read more

At what age should kids stop spending the majority of their time playing and instead focus on “learning”?

Never.

First of all, learning is a form of play when we are learning things in which we are interested or about which we have  a passion.  Denying ourselves the joy of learning something for the fun of it is a very puritanical notion.   Schools tend to do this as well; learn misery young, kids, because that’s what life is all about.   Wouldn’t our world be better if we didn’t believe that quite so readily?

Second, play is an essential part of … Read more