Unschooling NYC

I put the word “teachers” in quotation marks because most unschooling parents do not consider themselves their child’s teacher.   Which perhaps should be number one on the list of what makes them great.   However, they do a lot to encourage, facilitate and inspire learning, so for the purpose of this post, I will call them teachers.

1.  Respect

Unschooling parents respect their kids.    They acknowledge and respect that children are fully human, just not fully grown.  They respect that not all children will like the same things and that they are not mini versions of their parents.  (god forbid!)  Unschooling … Read more

The greatest obstacle to transforming our current school system and to doing away with coercive, compulsory schooling is fear.

Fear of change, fear of failure, fear of retribution and even fear of each other.

The first three are no surprise.  Bad as our educational system is, it is what most of us grew up with.  It is the “devil that we know.”     Fear of change and fear of failure go hand in hand.  What if we change the system and the result is even worse?  What if we change the system and we fail to make things better?

I get … Read more

In case it hasn’t been clear, I have an agenda – a goal toward which this blog is focused.

That goal is for each and every child, no matter their socio-economic status, race or religion be able to learn in the way that suits them best.  My goal is to do away with coercive methods of schooling; of the idea that education must be force-fed, and instead to implement a system where each child can choose their own path, with the support and encouragement of family, or friends, or caregivers or teachers, or all of the above.

That is what … Read more

Friday was the annual NYCHEA Field Day – sort of an end of year gathering in a park with kids playing soccer, kickball…whatever.   This year the kids had a good time as usual, but it was what happened afterward that is the subject of this post.

You guys, teenagers are awesome.

I’m not being sarcastic here; not in the least.

I’d arrived at Field Day with Maya & Ben; I left with Maya, Ben and four friends, three of whom are teenagers (and at 12 years old, the other might as well be).    Upon our arrival at our apartment, we … Read more

Parents of young children – meaning anywhere from birth to about age three – often ask me how best to “begin unschooling”.

I tell them that since kids are born unschoolers – literally – there is no need to begin.  It’s already happening.  The key is to avoid stopping or hindering it, which often happens when subjects are introduced as something a child “needs to know” by someone other than the child.

Kids are masters at figuring out what they need to know.  All parents need to do is acknowledge that self-directed learning is innate, both in their children and … Read more

Kids can detect a false compliment at 200 yards.

If they are like my kids, they hate it.

Here’s a tip.  Not everything needs praise.   Sometimes it’s good enough for a kid (or for anyone) to do something or accomplish something on their own without anyone remarking on it at all.

Also, no one excels at everything.  Telling a kid that everything they do is AMAZING will have one of two possible results; they will either believe you and have a distorted view of their own abilities, or they will come to believe that you are lying to make them … Read more

Unschooling families make the decision not to send their kids to school and instead to encourage and support their self-directed learning because they understand an irrefutable truth when it comes to schooling.   One size never fits all.   Children are different both inside and out and any attempt to make them all learn the same things at the same time in the same way will fail.

But here is another irrefutable truth that often gets conveniently overlooked.  One size does not fit all in the unschooling world, either.

I’ve said before that there is no singular “right” way to unschool, … Read more

Some days I find that the best thing I can do is listen to or read what others in the homeschooling/unschooling world have said, rather than talk myself.

Here are a few things I listened to and read today.   In the case of the video with Pat Farenga, I just want to highlight that I love his definition of unschooling, particularly in these days of various unschooling “camps” who can’t seem to keep from criticizing each other.

Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hmzEdIVLJE

And then here are some great blog posts:

Why Travel Long Term?  An Open Letter to Loved Ones

Pat … Read more

What does it take to succeed?  To be fulfilled?  To lead an enriched life?

Perhaps not as much as we’ve all been led to believe.

Everything in our world is judged, it seems,  in terms of cost & monetary worth, especially when it comes to education and learning.

I hear it all the time (and I’m sure you do too); inner city schools fail because they don’t have the money.   Arts programs get cut across the board because of lack of funds.

Only the rich can afford to unschool.

Kids who live in slums are doomed to an abject life … Read more

Most parents will tell you they want their kids to be happy.

But then they will say, almost in the next breath, that kids should be in school and be made to do things they don’t enjoy, don’t like and aren’t good at because that’s the way “real” life is.

Those of us who think our kids should be happy now and who follow through on that by not sending them to school and by encouraging them to find and do what they love are seen as radicals.  Wackos.  Out of touch with reality and setting our kids up for … Read more