After moving from Sydney to Adelaide near the end of last year, I was having a hard time finding work. With my already low self-image plummeting, and growing frustrated with my lack of progress, I decided to take the huge… Read More ›
education
Education
Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children. — United Nations, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, quoted in The Unschooling Unmanual
Learning
The people who are horrified by the idea of children learning what they want to learn when they want to learn it have not accepted the very elementary psychological fact that people (all people, of every age) remember the things… Read More ›
Learned behaviour
People who imagine that children are resistant to learning have a nonexistent understanding of how human culture developed in the first place. Culture is no more and no less than the totality of learned behavior and information that is passed… Read More ›
Observation
How do unschooling parents know their children are learning? The answer to this question is, to put it most simply, direct observation. — Jan Hunt in The Unschooling Unmanual Related articles The Teenage Liberation Handbook (kk.org) ‘Unschooling’ – education fad… Read More ›
Evaluation
The assumption that unschooling parents somehow lack awareness of their children’s progress, and therefore require formal evaluation of that progress, is related to the fact that unschoolers function outside the arena of the schools, and our philosophies and methods are… Read More ›
Growing children
It [unschooling] is a little like watching a garden grow. No matter how closely we examine the garden, it is difficult to verify that anything is happening at that particular moment. But as the season progresses, we can see that… Read More ›
Cooperation
Some people think that a child’s cooperation is something adults are entitled to; they think it is something they can demand. But genuine cooperation cannot be demanded – it can only be earned, and must be given freely. When children… Read More ›
Put it down
No parent would tell her toddler, “Let’s put that caterpillar down and get back to your book about caterpillars.” Unschoolers learn directly about the world. — Jan Hunt in The Unschooling Unmanual Related articles The Teenage Liberation Handbook (kk.org) ‘Unschooling’… Read More ›
Emigration
Have you ever thought about emigrating? I have. There are a few reasons why it will never happen – financial, educational, training and health. And while the first three may be overcome with time, the last will always be an… Read More ›
School survival
— Jan Hunt in The Unschooling Unmanual
Trust
— Jan Hunt in The Unschooling Unmanual
Trapped
— Claude Monet in The Unschooling Unmanual
Sharing Life
— Rue Kream in The Unschooling Unmanual
Responsibility
…the transfer, by the parents, of so much of their own authority and responsibility to the schools is in most ways a cowardly and contemptible business… —John Holt in ‘What Do I Do Monday?’ Related articles Quote This: John Holt… Read More ›
Classrooms
…it is our responsibility as teachers to have in our classrooms what the children need, to make a rich and varied environment for them to live, learn and grow in. ‘The school won’t let me get anything’ is not an… Read More ›
Supporting Powers
Supporting powers is, of course, exactly what we do not do in most schooling. We do not give children extra time to work at what they like and are good at, but only what they do worst and most dislike…. Read More ›
Dr. Voddie Baucham
“If we continue to send our children to Caesar for their education, we need to stop being surprised when they come home as Romans.” ~ Dr. Voddie Baucham
Sonlight Language Arts on the Way
If you read my previous post, you will know that I have been considering buying a curriculum for Yasmine and Storm (Annie has chosen to give school another try). Well, last night I took the plunge. I can’t afford a… Read More ›
Homeschool Curriculum
When we first started homeschooling this year we started out with Unit Studies. This didn’t really engage our kids, so we switched to unschooling. We have been unschooling ever since, so I feel it that we have given it a… Read More ›
Kathy Lette in ‘How to Kill Your Husband (and other handy household hints)’
“Fish are in schools. And they’re not learning Anything…” ~ Kathy Lette in ‘How to Kill Your Husband (and other handy household hints)’
Do Schools Kill Creativity?
Sir Ken Robinson…
Harold Schechter in ‘Fiend: The Shocking True Story of America’s Youngest Serial Killer’
“Reading about the pathetic state of public education, we grow teary-eyed for the age of the ‘Little Red Schoolhouse’ – completely unaware of the deplorable conditions of nineteenth-century classrooms (according to one authoritative source, ‘a survey of Brooklyn schools in… Read More ›
Unschooling the Basics
I came across this blog post by following a link on twitter. A great post to show your other half or mother-in-law if they have their doubts about the effect of unschooling on things like Math and Reading. After socialisation,… Read More ›
The Unschooling Unmanual by Nanda Van Gestel, Jan Hunt, Daniel Quinn, Rue Kream, Earl Stevens, Kim Houssenloge, John Holt & Mary Van Doren
Opening Sentence:Why did you choose unschooling rather than some other form of homeschooling? Synopsis:”It is part of the mythology of childhood that children hate learning and will avoid it at all costs. Of course, anyone who has had a child… Read More ›
‘What Do I Do Monday?’ by John Holt
Opening Sentence:This is a book for teachers, for parents, for children or friends of children, for anyone who cares about education. Synopsis:John Holt, the famous author of How Children Fail, How Children Learn, and The Underachieving School, explores new means… Read More ›
Accessible Learning
The last few days I have felt really sick from a medication I am taking, so we haven’t done much by way of formal lessons. We don’t do much anyway, but we’ve done even less the past few days. In… Read More ›
We Have A Name!
Researching homeschooling revealed to us that many homeschoolers choose to name their school. We all thought this was a fun idea, so we decided to put together an ‘unofficial’ lesson. (‘official’ lessons begin in January). Our lesson’s theme was elections…. Read More ›
Mary Wollstonecraft in ‘A Vindication of the Rights of Woman’
“…the most perfect education, in my opinion, is such an exercise of the understanding as is best calculated to strengthen the body and form the heart.” —Mary Wollstonecraft in ‘A Vindication of the Rights of Woman’
Third Reich Law Still Being Enforced
There are many laws instituted during Hitler’s Third Reich that are still in place today. One of these laws that is being actively enforced is related to schooling. In Germany, children are considered the property of the state, giving parents… Read More ›
Rafferty's Rules [Currently Being Refurbished] 