A Wonderful Perspective on Unschooling

Brenna is at my Mom's house today having her "Grandma-time" and I was catching up on some of the boards that I frequent. One in particular is a bulletin board about unschooling and I came across this post that a woman wrote to another woman who is considering unschooling. I wish I could express myself this wonderfully (I tend to come off as rambling and repetitive LOL), but since I can't I will just share her post with you.....


Hello,

We're new to homeschooling (in fact, the kids are still in public school and will be taken out April 24th) and I'm considering unschooling - but I'm having a hard time really understanding what it is and how to do it. I'm sure you have already had millions of posts regarding this topic, what should I search for to find those posts?
Also, as I'm sure you've also heard a million times, how do you get over your fear of the kids missing something or not keeping up with their grade level (in case they ever go back to school)?

Thanks so much!
Linda

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Linda,
Remember when your kids were about 2 or 3 years old - together, you explored, asked/answered questions, played, spent time together with no expectation of "visible" learning to happen - it was just living loving Being...no quizzes, no "standards of learning", no grade levels. It was a given that they'd develop in things like walking, talking, eating with
a spoon and fork, etc in their own way, at their own time. Project that forward...that's unschooling. To paraphrase a song (Tae Kwon Leep by the Frantics) Unschooling is not a road to a door but a path leading ever on to the horizon. When you let go of the idea that there actually is something they might miss or that there is something called a grade level, then there's nothing to fear from them - in order to have a level or to 'miss' something, there has to be the idea that there is a fixed package of something that is required or necessary. If I need 2 eggs to bake a cake and I only have one, I'm "missing" an egg. Ponder on the thought that EVERY college has remedial classes in reading, writing, math. 98% of all people entering college went to institutional schools, they weren't homeschooled or unschooled. So, seems to me, even IF a kid goes straight through public school, they may still end up needing something if they choose to go to college, they've "missed" something. Heck, there are probably things you know that I don't and vice versa - did one of us "miss" something? Is there something "wrong" with that? Or, rather, are we different people with different interests who held
onto those things that were of interest and/or useful to us. Also, schooling has us trained to believe (a) there is indeed a set packet of information bits that every person must absorb (b) that information is an end in itself. They are both incorrect. Does every person need calculus, physics, German, Asian history? Nope. Literacy and numeracy (reading, writing, arithmetic) are TOOLS just like a food processor or a hammer. And, in some cases, those tools are just one way to proceed with a task. A century ago, information was transmitted on the printed page and by word of mouth. That was pretty much all you had. Reading was important. If you wanted to know what happened in the Civil War, you read a book, and maybe (back then) tracked down those "old guys" in your town who were there and talked to them about it. Now, can't find Civil War vets around to talk to (unless you know some folks who are over 140 years old). And, yes, books about it still exist (and continue to be written). But, that's not it - you've got documentary films, websites full of photos, those same books on CD/tape...you can see and hear the information, not just read it.

As far as the fear of missing something or not keeping up (keeping up to what?) just in case they have to go back...do you continually base your life in general on fear? Your kids might not live past next week, you might not live past next week. Do you want to base your decisions today on a fear of something that may or may not happen a year or 5 from now?
That's a great way to suck the joy from today when you have your kids right with you. Carpe diem.

Deb R