4Real Forums: How Old? (Unschooling ?)

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Topic: How Old? (Unschooling ?)

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Mary G
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Joined: Feb 07 2005
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Posted: May 27 2005 at 6:11am \| IP Logged

Is there an optimum age to start unschooling? It seems that you would have to give them at least some of the basic tools and structure before allowing them to direct their education? Does it make sense to "ease" into it by having a portion of every week unschooled and the rest structured -- then as they grow and mature a bit, they can take over more and more of their schooling? Also, when high school hits -- which seems the perfect time to unschool -- how can you ensure that they will get all they need for potentially going to college or do you leave them to them?

I guess my very basic quesiton is how much "hands-off" does this former classroom teacher

have to implement?

Any advice or comments would be GREATLY appreciated.

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MaryG
3 boys (22, 12, 8)2 girls (20, 11)

my website that combines my schooling, hand-knits work, writing and everything else in one spot!

juliecinci
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Posted: June 02 2005 at 9:23am \| IP Logged

The unschoolers I admire most have never done anything school related. The life they lived with their kids at two is not really different than the life they live with kids at five and fifteen.

They do trust that their kids will read and learn math facts etc. by being with them, through the joy of curiosity, through answering questions and offering tools as they become interesting to the child.

For a better understanding of how all that works, I strongly recommend reading along at the yahoo lists that focus on unschooling. I like the list called unschooling-discussion, but there are many.

Unschooling Yahoo Group

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Julie
Homeschooling five for fourteen years

Willa
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Posted: June 20 2005 at 10:29am \| IP Logged

I'm not exactly an unschooler unless you define that as "teaching as little as your comfort level allows".

But I do think small kids learn better informally than formally. You see that with good teachers in building schools. They incorporate lots of concrete hands on activities, have various learning centers set up and sometimes weekly or monthly "themes" and keep the "on task" academics short, focused and affirming (ie the children experience success without being bored).

Ruth Beechick quotes a study where children who went to a Kindergarten which emphasized art and science exploration and reading aloud and held off on formal academics performed much better in 3rd grade than children who spent Kindergarten on a rigorous "formal academics" program.

I personally do some formal academics -- the 4Rs-- with my young ones but keep it short and simple and sweet as possible.

Teenagers in my experience seem to require more "structure" -- their brains are more mature and they are capable of learning more than what you learn just by living in your environment. But "structure" doesn't mean the teachers/parents micro-managing, necessarily. Often they crave structure and seek it out by looking for outside classes and/or work, or planning their own self-education, or asking parents for help in doing so.

At least, the unschoolers I know locally and online usually have teens who are going to college classes or taking online classes, or apprenticing/working in fields of interest, that kind of thing. But it's usually the child who is taking the initiative and the parent who is helping and guiding and facilitating.

I do think that in this way high school is a good time to "unschool" or focus on individual strengths and gifts but perhaps it's helpful to lay the groundwork of independent learning in the younger years.

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AMDG
Willa
hsing boys ages 11, 14, almost 18 (+ 4 homeschool grads ages 20 to 27)
Take Up and Read

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