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.

That’s true Greenyoga, they will. I spent hours learning about ancient Egypt and Jane Austen as a child for some reason 🤷‍♀️

Often (but not always) children who are expectation all at maths have ASD. Children who aren’t gifted at maths would struggle to understand the concept of quadratic equations until they had solidified their knowledge of other concepts in maths. I know I would have done, and I won a regional maths prize in year 9

It didn't, icecold. We have a very groovy secondary school, that is more about personalised learning than curriculum targets. The boys identified their own learning gaps at every step of the way, then sought out/were given resources to address those. It's pretty cool (although in fairness, more suited to the study of maths than most subjects).

*exceptional

I've yet to meet a human who says " I love having no control over what I do with my time/mind/body", do yes I do think you probably don't listen to or respect your children or validate their choices

I barely understand the concept of addition, we all have different strengths thankfully!

Also, just for the record, quadratic equations absolutely are part of the KS3 SOW!

Thats what radical unschooling is, affording your children the same freedoms that you have.

With no formal qualifications your children won't have the same freedoms and opportunities you have though.

That's where you and I differ, OP. But I respect your choices.

OP I understand that at a basic level (a sort of variation of counting apples in shop rather than sitting and doing a maths book) but I'm interested in how that works for more sophisticated mathematical or scientific concepts say (the fabled quadratic equation). Or does that stuff not feature in your approach unless your children express an interest and then find a course.

Basically I could just about imagine doing this with a 6-7 year old and for basic skills but am intested in how you take it beyond that.

I do think you probably don't listen to or respect your children or validate their choices

Wtf do you know about how anyone else parents their children? You’re sounding seriously up your own arse now, OP.

Bit goady there OP. Going to school for 6 hours a day isn’t having ‘ no control over your time/mind/body’ is it.

And being a responsible adult with a job usually means you have to work to other people schedules, wear what you’re expected to wear and act appropriately. You still have control over your life, you just fit in with other people and the systems in place.

I do think you probably don't listen to or respect your children or validate their choices

Op you really are sounding like a pompous GF.

"yes I probably do think you don't listen to or respect your children or validate their choices"
Well that's the rest of us told! We're all bad parents!

I think you're making unfair assumptions, OP. Many here have said the opposite of that. I think you need to take that in. Or were you raised to be compassionate, open minded and respectful? If you give your children the idea that most other parents simply rule like dictators, they're going to have a severely skewed world view. Keep an open mind to variations of experience and choices. And teach that to your children too, please. I think you need to examine your motivations to see all other parents with school going children as "worse parents" or less "educated and understanding" or "progressive" than you. Are you emotionally invested in this world view? Are you aware that in truth this is unlikely and, more than that, highly subjective/biased? Do you feel superior? Does this protect you from something? Just planting this here for you, as I want you to be aware that making statements like yours are not what an educated, worl knowledgeable, open minded and compassionate person would say.

Are your children up to date with childhood immunisation?

WRT qualifications; I home educate (not unschooling though). My ds1 sat 6 GCSEs this summer, he chose his subjects and covered the material from textbooks. Some of it we studied together, some I taught him, some he taught me (and thus consolidated his own knowledge). If he had been in school (and I know this because he previously was) he would have had a narrower choice of subjects and another year of his learning being disrupted by anti-social behaviour. Some home ed teens spread their exams over 2-3 years sitting some subjects early, some self study, some do online or correspondence courses.

For some things, my children find the resources they want and ask us for them (asking for particular software, for example). Around their special interests, once they are teens, their knowledge and skills far outstrip mine. We live in the YouTube age though - there are all sorts of technically specific stuff they learn to do by watching tutorials.

It can be lumpy, doing child led or mostly child led education, but my experience of it has been that, just around the point where I begin to think I really need to throw opportunities about X at them and see if something sticks, I discover that they have already been finding out about it, and are asking to do Y activities or obtain resources to learn about Z, or find a specialist to teach them W. There are definitely areas in which I have completely moved beyond being the purveyor of wisdom to being the facilitator of their independent educational agenda.

I suspect that it does tend to be lumpy, which is why we are not quite unschoolers in our house - I get anxious about the possibility of missed opportunities, and am willing to push through some resistance in order to open up those opportunities. I'm talking about less than half an hour a day of that; the rest of the time, everyone is busy doing their own stuff, with help where requested.

This is all very interesting but the OP isn’t home-schooling. She’s unschooling, as has been pointed out many times on this thread.

OP - do you think that the state should have the ability to check that your DC are learning and thriving academically? What about knowing that your DC are "unschooled"? What about knowing that your DC live in a particular borough or town?

I asked a question about unschooling and have been missed. I am interested to know how op would respond if one of her children expressed an interest in joining mainstream education.

OK, I was convinced that this thread jumped the shark when Julian Assange, alleged sexual assailant, was held up as an example of what home schooling could achieve. But the OP’s post of 22.57 is providing stiff competition.

OK, given that this is an AMA thread, I will ask a proper question in the hope that it might be answered. If children should have the same freedoms that adults do, should they also have the same responsibilities? Should we do away with the age of criminal responsibility, for example, and declare that all children can be held responsible for any criminal act that they commit from birth? And if not, why not? Why are they deemed adult in one regard and not the other?

And does your parenting/schooling style take account of the extensive research that has been done on the development of teenage brains?

I don’t really understand why hair brushing is getting mentioned so much? Why is it important? My four year old has a massive mane of hair that has been shampoo washed in the bath literally a handful of times in his life because he doesn’t like it. It does get rinsed once a week before and after his swimming lesson. It has never been brushed, not once ever because he hates it and I really cannot see a good enough reason to insist. He is only four. If ut becomes important to him at some point he will brush it himself.

We are not radical unschoolers by any means but I genuinely don’t understand why this is seen as neglect.

I'd also like to know if your children are vaccinated?

We're unschoolers too, and this thread has amazed me with the level of ignorance and aggression shown towards the OP. I wanted to pick up on a few questions people have asked which shows the complete incomprehension of what home education is about.

"Don't you get fed up of being with them 24/7?"

I'm not with my children 24/7 any more than schooled children are with one parent every moment that they're not in school. My children visit friends, go to clubs, are looked after by my partner, sometimes go to childcare while I work, etc etc. The same as schooled children are.

"Don't you miss adult company?"

Why on earth would I? Home education isn't about being at home all day without any contact with the outside world. I work, see my partner, meet up with friends, have people round to visit, go to home ed groups... We see other children and adults pretty much every day, and if we do have a day at home, it's because we need it to recharge from all the activities and socialising.

"It must be a shock for unschooled children to adapt to formal education"

This is not the case in my experience. My eldest has been at college for a year, studying full time, and although he's found it tiring, he's coped pretty well I'd say. We did laugh when he started because they had special meet ups for home educated children "so they could get used to being in a group with other people." Like they'd never left their bedrooms before! My son's been going to drama and dance classes since he was 7, and spends most of his free time working on productions with a large theatre company. It would be kind of insulting the way people think we cloister our children away from real life experiences if it wasn't so funny.