4Real Forums: I’m a slow learner re: unschooling

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Philosophy of Education
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Topic: I’m a slow learner re: unschooling

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Tina P.
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Posted: Feb 15 2008 at 12:08pm \| IP Logged

I think I'm leaning toward unschooling (please correct me if I'm wrong. I wouldn't be nervous about this ~ in fact, one of the most relaxing semesters was when we lived in Germany for six months without textbooks (and frankly, I don't know why I didn't just continue in that vein, knowing how wonderful it felt).

I even ordered two unschoolish books: Homeschooling With Gentleness (at Leonie's suggestion) and Homeschooling Our Children Unschooling Ourselves.

The only hesitation I have is that my oldest is heading toward high school. Any words of advice? Success stories? How do you keep track of what your kids have done?

ETA: I don't think we're the out-and-about type of people. I don't even think we live very near an area that's rich in child-centered learning experiences. We *do* live in a relatively small-farm area. We *might* get chickens this summer. But no cows or goats. We might be more out-and-about type people if we embrace this lifestyle ... I'm not sure.

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Barbara C.
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Posted: Feb 15 2008 at 9:43pm \| IP Logged

I really recommend Cafi Cohen's book "And What About College?". One of her big points is to look at the things your child already does on their own and see how those pair up with traditional school subjects. Then you can determine if there are any gaps that you feel it is necessary to fill in.

She also offers a suggestion for keeping track of things to put together a transcript for college admissions. I believe in the Teenage forum a few people posted their examples of transcripts/portfolios.

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chicken lady
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Posted: Feb 16 2008 at 4:22am \| IP Logged

Tina you may want to look in to Clonlara they have been helping parents unschool their children through high school since 1967! We use them

MacBeth
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Posted: Feb 16 2008 at 12:26pm \| IP Logged

Tina, my kids are mainly unschooled (though I do remediate when necessary). Daughter #1 has been accepted at one college, and awaits word from several conservatories. Son #1 is getting straight As in a rigorous high school, having never really done any text work, ever, except for dabbling in Saxon math until he figured out what he needed to know, before he decided to go to school.

When putting together a transcript and course descriptions for Libby, we basically listed the books she had read during "high school" (I wish I had kept better track of that, but it worked out in the end

), and I gave her grades for work she had planned and completed. Since she planned her work, and completed it as she found necessary, those grades were pretty good.

So were her test scores, with the curious exception of math. I had to laugh at this (I don't think much of standardized tests), since she is a strong math student, just not a strong timed math student. She gets bogged down in the beauty of the math, and forgets to move on to the next problem--pretty funny.

In any case, what has helped is outside classes. Libby took German for years, of course music, and a college physics class the fall of her senior year. Grades from these classes confirmed that the parental transcript grades were not inflated or contrived. Also, many schools want recommendations from teachers other than mom, and her teachers were happy to write these for her.

That's what we did, but it's not the only way to approach transcripts and high school for the unschoolish. I'm sure some other folks will jump in with ideas.

BTW, I don't think that unschooling is the only way to homeschool. And even within our family, I have some kids who need more structure at certain points. The key is recognizing when you need to step in, and when you need to let it go. But you know this already, I'm sure, Tina.

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MacBeth in NY
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Leonie
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Posted: Feb 19 2008 at 5:01pm \| IP Logged

I think keeping a record or journal or log of what the high school student does is a help. As the student gets older, he can do this himself.

The log also helps with seeing where you are covering what needs to be covered naturally and by strewing, and also where you might need to add in some structure or an outside class.

Thisarticle by Cafi Cohen discusses a similar process with older kids.

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Leonie in Sydney
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