So as it turns out, I’m writing a small series on a single episode of a show called Harry’s Law. What does that have to do with unschooling, you ask? You’d be surprised. The episode centers around 16-year old Scott, who’s battling his parents in court in order to win the right to quit high […]
Popular TV Show Promotes Unschooling Philosophy
Anybody who’s followed my posts probably knows by now that tv shows tend to ignite my thoughts about unschooling. Usually, it’s kid shows I have something to say about, but today I’m writing about one of a handful of grown-up shows I manage to watch: Harry’s Law. This particular episode caught my attention because it […]
Unschooling: Worrisome Ideas
The time to worry is when the idea is so widely shared that we no longer even notice it, when it is so deeply rooted that it feels to us like plain common sense. At the point when objections are not answered anymore because they are no longer even raised, we are not in control; […]
Unschooling: Gatto’s Conclusion
After a long life, and thirty years in the public school trenches, I’ve concluded that genius is as common as dirt. We suppress genius because we haven’t yet figured out how to manage a population of educated men and women. The solution, I think, is simple and glorious. Let them manage themselves. -John Taylor Gatto, […]
Unschooling Lessons from Olivia
It’s no secret: I’m a shameless fan of a couple of children’s tv shows. Olivia is one of them. Olivia is a pig with an unschooler’s instincts (although she probably doesn’t know it) surrounded by parents, teachers and friends who are all pretty mainstream. Sometimes the mainstream view gets the limelight (see Say Goodbye to […]
Work vs. Play
Work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do. Play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do. -Tom Sawyer
Unschooling: What We Learn
…very little of what is taught in school is learned, very little of what is learned is remembered, and very little of what is remembered is used. The things we learn, remember, and use are the things we seek out or meet in the daily, serious, nonschool parts of our lives. -John Holt, from How […]
Radical Unschooling: A Visit to the Dentist
Recently I took my youngest daughter, Maggie, to her first dental appointment. She’s my fourth, so I didn’t give it a whole lot of thought. I figured it would go like the initial visits of my three older kids. Our pediatric dentist works hard to make children’s dental experiences positive, and all of my other […]
Unschooling: Yes, Spelling Counts
When I taught elementary school, there were some things we teachers would lament about year after year. Near the top of the list was our students’ truly atrocious spelling. Oh sure, they’d do okay on the spelling tests. But going through a piece of their writing was as grating as nails on a chalkboard. Simple […]
The Mother Duck Phenomenon
Okay, tell me if this rings a bell… My kids are all playing happily as I head to the shower. In under five minutes, I’ve got one in the shower with me, another keeping me company perched on the potty, and the other two hovering just outside the bathroom door. I can’t remember the last […]