Unschooling NYC

One of the groups I belong to on Facebook created by master networker & Innovative Educator Lisa Nielsen is the “Homeschooling, Unschooling, Uncollege, Opt-Out, DIY Learning” page.  Not infrequently there is a question posted from someone wanting to know more about unschooling, or unschooling vs. homeschooling, etc.   Always in these cases the unschoolers come out in numbers to give helpful advice or information.   At least, I know the intent is for the information to be helpful, but in the case of a post written by Sue Wolfe Patterson titled “Should YOU Unschool”, which you can read here, I felt … Read more

Eli and Idzie are both grown unschoolers.   Earlier this month, Eli wrote a blog post titled “Radical Unschooling: The Negative Post”.    In it – and I really hope you won’t just settle for my brief synopsis but go read it yourself – he discusses some problems he has with the philosophy of radical unschooling in which, as he sees it  the main objective or distinction is a”concentration on not forcing their children to do anything or impose any rules.”

Enter Idzie, who wrote a response on her own blog titled “Critiquing the Radical Unschooling Critique”.  Her main criticism … Read more

If our school system is broken, why do people still subject their kids to it?

That’s a serious question.

Every day I read at least one article about how our schools are failing, our kids aren’t learning, etc. etc.   But if you suggest that then perhaps we should stop making use of this broken system, people immediately brand you as a fringe lunatic.  Probably a fundamentalist fringe lunatic.

When it comes to education, we as a nation have taken complete leave of our senses.

You disagree?  Well then, let me ask you this:  If you wanted your kid to learn … Read more

If you live in New York City and are looking for homeschooling resources, you probably already know about Laurie Spigel’s site.   In case you don’t, Laurie has links to so many programs, outing ideas, free summer fun – she is a veritable well of information, all of which you can access at Homeschool NYC.

Laurie will also be speaking at the upcoming EduEvolution Conference here in New York on June 15th.  The purpose of this workshop/conference is to introduce people to four different types of alternative education, including Waldorf, Montessori, Reggio Emilia and Homeschooling (which can of course incorporate … Read more

When Maya was 5 or 6 years old, I tried to teach her to sew.  We used big needles and thread, and it was pretty much a failure.  She didn’t have the patience, and then I lost mine.   Hand sewing, I thought, was not in the cards for her.  We tried some machine sewing and it was ok, but other interests held sway and the sewing fell by the wayside.

Today Maya is one week shy of 12 years old.  And while I spent the afternoon running errands and going to Pilates, she and Ben were at home on their … Read more

I had a friend tell me once that she wishes her parents had forced her to take piano lessons, because now she wants to play the piano and doesn’t know how.  She believes that learning it as an adult will be much more difficult, and anyway now she doesn’t have the time to devote to it.

This week I had an acquaintance tell me that she thought she should force her kids to learn math and writing (specifically fractions, geometry and research papers) because she thinks they will hate her later if she doesn’t, and then another friend told me … Read more

This comes to you tonight by way of Dale Stephens’ most recent post on UnCollege, in which he asked his friend Marlon Paine, who is soon to head off to NYU and whose education there will cost just under $50,000 dollars a year what he would do with that money if he wasn’t going to college.

This was his answer.  I’m quoting the story in its’ entirety:

… Read more

I remember being 11 years old and seeing Karl Wallenda fall to his death from a tightrope.  A gust of wind threw him off balance.  I remember that he tipped sideways, attempted to right himself and slipped, dropping the pole he carried and reaching to try and grasp the tightrope with his free hand.  He missed.   I don’t know if the broadcast was live, or if I was watching news coverage of it after the fact.  Horrifying as the event was, I remember thinking how brave, and maybe a little crazy you’d have to be to do something like that … Read more

I’ve written other versions on this same topic several times, so if you feel like you’ve read this before, you are not going crazy.  The thing is, sometimes I find people need to hear things more than once before it really sinks in.

I figure I’ll err on the side of excess in this regard.

So what’s the right way to unschool?   That’s either the easiest question in the world to answer or the toughest.  The easy answer?  There is no “right way”.  There are a million different ways, all of them valid.   The tough answer?   There is no “right … Read more

It’s probably no surprise to anyone that I don’t make a habit of reading “Inc.” magazine.   I am not the entrepreneur in our family, and if I’m in the magazine section you’ll find me picking up “Writers Digest” or “Altered Couture” and maybe, MAYBE “Make”, but never “Inc.”

Except today I saw a copy of it in the waiting room at our doctor’s office, and the following cover ‘blurb’ caught my eye:

“The ADHD CEO:  ‘What made me not do well in school has actually been very beneficial in business.’”

Do tell.

The CEO to whom the blurb and subsequent … Read more