I'm a radical unschooler AMA

[OutOfControlSpirals]

I'm a radical unschooling mum, which basically means I've taken the principals of unschooling, where a child is free to learn what they want, when they want, and applied it to every aspect of our lives. So my children have the same freedoms that I do when it comes to eating/sleeping/learning etc.

But school puts in those barriers. They only learn what’s on the curriculum, spit out facts for a piece of paper that says they can do as they’re told and retain information.
If an unschooled child wants to do maths they can dedicate their time to learning everything they can, because they love it, not because they’re forced to do it.
A child who learns to read at 15 and finds out they love it might become more well read than a child who learned at 3 but wasn’t fussed

Yes mental health is prevelant in conventionally schooled teens, but so are qualifications 🙄 I was onboard until your last post when you showed that you do actually look down on those who take the conventional schooling choice.

Greeny

I love you

OP I hope your children gain the same benefits from H.ed as my dd did, even though ours was a short space of time.

I think it's great that they can decide what, when and how they learn. To be able to continue as long as they like without having to swop lesson or room. To study a subject as narrowly or as in depth as they like.
To be able to find the direction they want in life, at such a young age. This was the biggest difference between school and h.ed we found.

I was looking forward to dd being able to choose the GCSE's she wanted to do and not be confined by a schools narrow options.
This has to be a huge bonus if they choose this route, and with more subjects being linear now, far easier than trying to do coursework too.

Mine is at school now and thriving, but she knows anytime she isn't happy she can come out without it affecting her future, because H.ed allowed her to identify what she wants out of life.

Do you agree that you do look down on conventional parents a little? Just a tiny bit?

@Charolais your focus on this is really odd. It's quite clear that the OP would not permit this and your focus on it and attempting to discredit her as a parent and correlate home ed with inappropriate sexualised behaviour and lack of safe guarding is highly offensive. I reported your last post and have reported this most recent one. You are coming across far more negatively than the OP.

Also, do you think that home educating is a privilege, only available to those that can afford to have one income and have the background to facilitate their children? How would a single parent achieve home educating for example?

Do you feel fufilled in your own life OP? I think it's great for you that you're living your life exactly as you wish if that's what you want. Do you feel like you're missing out on being you vs 'Mum' sometimes?

I don’t know if you’re purposely missing the point or if you didn’t have a good education so I’ll try and spell it out for you.

A child does not need to be forced to learn a variety of random stuff to find their passion.

If a child decides to be an engineer they can access resources and study 10 hours a day if they want, rather than be restricted to a disrupted 50minute lesson which only covers what the exams need.

Adults of all ages decide to do degrees or online courses because they find that passion in the real world, just like unschooled children.

I'm a single parent. I work round it. There was literally no other choice but to home ed my child. School was destroying him. I made it work because I had to.

@Greenyogagirl you do know that children at school can also do extra at home? I loved sport as a child when I wasn't in school I read about physiology and psychology to help understand how I could improve. I also wrote music and did other stuff.
I even did an IT GCSE before it was offered at school in a night class. I don't see how going to school restricts what you learn. There are so many hours out of the school day.

@Tabathatwitchett we do a little bit of structure, we aren't unschoolers. Just in case it's helpful as a point of comparison: we did impose maths on our children, a little bit each day, to get those skills embedded and under their belts (probably about 15 mins per day on average, per child). The entire keystage 1 and 2 curriculum, including extension levels, took less than three years.

It's really not hard to pick up the academics that you need in order to open the doors you need in future. Almost every home educated teen I know (certainly the ones who've been out of school for several years, or never were in school) has a very clear idea of what kinds of things they want to do as an adult, and what skills they need to develop in order to get there, and what qualifications they'll need. And they set to and get those qualifications; it just didn't take them 12 or more years of being in school to get to that point.

Tabathawhitchett, unschooling isn't about denying a person an education, its about letting them focus on what they are interested in and exploring it as far as they want. Its not about pushing them to meet targets or forcing them to memorise information to regurgitate for testing. All of mine were reading fluently by age 5, it didn't happen because I sat them down and formally taught them, it happenes because they were repeatedly exposed to books, words, stories, encouraged to sound words out, to play games. Not because of sitting at a desk! Humans never stop learning and its naive to think that learning can only occur mon-fri from ages 5-18

What happens when two of your children want to go somewhere and the other flat refuses (even after discussion)?

Do you ever force the unwilling child to go?

Of course nerrserr but obviously school takes up a lot of time.
Also I don’t actually have anything against school or parents whose children go to school, some children thrive in that environment and that’s great. But people should realise that radical unschooling can also be really good and some children thrive given that freedom. It’s about doing what’s right for your child and understanding your way isn’t the right way for every child

It's not an accusation greenyogagirl, but I don't label my parenting, and some of the labels you mention (helicopter parenting for example) are labels often applied to other people's parenting rather than a label people would attach to themselves iyswim?

OP does label her parenting (which I have no feelings about other than curiosity) and I wondered what the motivation was for that. Is it to mark yourself out? Is it because there's a whole ethos and associated blogs, ideology that's out there that she really subscribes to? Is it because she was doing something naturally and found out there's a name for it and community of similar people? Is it because she finds any other style if parenting too restrictive/boring/expensive/whatever it is she may feel?

But thanks for your take on it. Now, if I may, I'd like to ask the OP it.

Humans never stop learning and its naive to think that learning can only occur mon-fri from ages 5-18

OP do you know how patronising that sounds? Do you really think that children who go to school only learn in those times and parents don't do other stuff on top? I suppose only home ed children do the violin lessons, the cadets, the reading with children, the talking about the world, the god damn shopping trips etc.

I know a few people who say they’re helicopter parents, I doubt op goes around saying she’s a radical unschooled but it’s easier if someone asks a question rather than going into a whole philosophy on how you parent, also in the home ed community people tend to label as unschooled, semi-structured, structure, school at home etc which help when talking to others or asking for resources/blogs/sites. My own personal home Ed philosophy changes all the time and I think you can incorporate different parts of everything into your own home ed etc
I know you didn’t ask me but that’s my thoughts lol

AssassinatedBeauty, I'm sorry if I'm coming across as thinking I'm superior. I started this thread because I'm often approached by parents at my childrens extra curricular activities, who, upon learning my children dont go to school, want to know what curriculum we use, how we do it, as the kids are doing so well. And then are disbelieving when I say we don't use a curriculum. No formal lessons. And then I often get a lot of grief about "letting them down". Which is odd, as they've just approached me to say how great they are..
So I will admit Im a bit defensive towards the conventionals. But I don't think my way is the best, or even the only. Its just what works for us.

I guess I started the thread because I wanted to dispell the myth that all unschoolers are illiterate, have apalling manners and run wild in supermarkets. I don't think I've done a very good job though. People have come in with their defences all ready up, ready to attack. Interesting that the teachers who posted i here agreed with me though.

nerrserr for a lot of people their children finish school and after school club, do homework, have dinner and go bed. Obviously kids learn out of school but not everyone has the opportunity.

What are your thoughts, OP, that although your DCs currently study the subjects that interest them, by following the National Curriculum in a school setting they would then be exposed to other topics that may equally hold their attention?

NerrSnerr, 2 parents both in fulltime work, kids in afterschool care, after they get home and run through the dinner/baths/homework how much time do they have together at the end of the day? Thats productive and useful?

I think fair play to you OP if your kids are educationally thriving and you are genuinely fufilled with your lifestyle and will continue to be for the next 10yrs. Personally I couldn't have done it because it would bore me to tears. Horses for courses though and no one should bash your personal lifestyle choices.

Creepingbuttercupsdrivememad by children don't live in a bubble, they have many friends who also have diverse interests, you don't have to be at school to be exposed to new interest and topics

Cheers flyingmonkeys

"the conventionals"... they're just people who different stuff to you, like everyone does.