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.

most learning, and experiences are at home with parents, even if a child attends school full time

@ClaireTree1 your posts are really interesting, thank you

dieantworld At my primary school, we did that all through the years. And they were still doing the same 10 years ago. It was an interesting way to learn. We did also have lessons on things we needed to know that were not covered by the projects such as times tables. So maybe you could do projects and just cover anything missed on top of that?

There are lots of jobs you used to be able to get into without qualifications that now require them. And many jobs now require a degree in any subject.

admit my education was at a school who were entirely an exam factory (teachers did our coursework, all lessons were heavy on exam technique and what to expect on the paper, curiosity and deviation from the syllabus was discouraged

well, the working world isn't exactly a wonderful place either....

your posts are really interesting, thank you

thank you very much for that.

Claire, well the “broad” bit is the bit they need for “life” and the “narrow” bit is the “learning a trade/vocational” bit I guess.

I have to say 5 GCSEs in one year doesn’t seem that hard. It’s 10-12 that seems like it would be more pressure than maybe is ideal. Although these new GCSEs are meant to be a lot harder aren’t they than the ones we did. Like taking a year out of their education to focus on jumping through the 5 GCSE hoop seems fine to me. I find it hard to believe there are people who care enough to cry over it who don’t research in advance what they need to get their college place for a levels though. But hey my kid is 2 and I already looked at what the requirements for oxford admission are so maybe I’m just crazy

what would you do if you had to move somewhere where homeschooling is illegal and private school also have to follow the curriculum?

@zzzzz

Arg toddler got my phone. What I was saying is she said that her school is a school of last resort so it’s probable she does get a bigger cohort of children whose parents didn’t manage homeschooling well. It’s not necessarily a question of internalised bias or whatever.

I thought this thread was going to be so interesting because although I don't personally agree with such a radical way of raising children, I'm interested in learning why people choose to homeschool and I thought it would be somewhat similar.

Very disappointed that the OP didn't address more questions and came across to me as quite condescending to people who questioned her choices.

I work in a school and I can see that standard schooling isn't right for everyone (but is for the majority) but I'm struggling to get on board with not washing or brushing your child's hair, letting them eat whatever they want, staying up/getting up when they want etc etc because that's just not how life is. Working - most probably for an employer - and health issues etc get in the way.

I can only guess that the children aren't vaccinated because 'they didn't choose to'. There are many things that a child is unable to decide for themselves because they are simply too young to make an informed choice. That is where parenting comes in!

Oh and the posters - specifically the grandmother - who said her grandchildren go shopping for ingredients, weigh stuff, etc etc ........ do you not think that children who go to school don't do all of that too?!!!!

@claire maybe work isn’t wonderful but you do get paid at least. I thought the point of school was to provide an education not to get kids used to being forced to jump through pointless hoops in the name of targets and box ticking because that’s how a lot of corporate jobs are too (definitely the civil service). That aspect of work is quite dysfunctional. Maybe more adults in the workplace would challenge it if they hadn’t gotten used to it (or bought into it wholesale) in school?

That's the unanswered question-do you let your children make catastrophically bad choices for the "learning experience "? Even grown ups make rubbish decisions that have dreadful consequences- parenting is about guidance as much as anything.

What I find interesting is that I find claires posts on HE NOTHING like my experience

This. They're Claire's experience only of a few HE kids trying to enter a main stream education environment and her tales of doom imply that this is a disastrous outcome and that the FE college are unwillingly dashing the hopes of numerous poor HE Families left right and centre. Firstly, as I said previously, I do not recognise these poor outcomes for the HE kids I know and secondly they are only poor outcomes if you believe that mainstream is the only worthwhile way to pursue education and that anyone who cannot access this ONE route is a poor failed child on a downward spiral. I wonder how many HE Families Claire dealt with who just pragmatically found another way without any wailing and grinding of teeth or who looked at the college and thought "No Way am I sending my child here!" The majority of HE Families I know totally understand the difficulties they will face and factor them in to their education decisions. I just don't believe there are are these multiple families who arrive fresh faced and excited to join main stream for sixth form only to be turned away, devastated and disappointed with nowhere to turn. Eight years of HE and immersion in the community show me that this just is not true.

Yes, the OP was very negative and arrogant about other people's parenting choices. It's a shame because it could have been fascinating. To learn the positives about her choices rather than her being negative about other people's parenting (as on p25).

I wish the OP would come back as I'm genuinely interested and have more questions.

Well this thread has over 700 responses. Whatever you may think about the OP's views it still has been interesting or "fascinating" reading for many and has provoked a lot of opinion. That said, I have been on MN for almost a decade now and HE threads nearly always do get people riled up on both sides and go on for ages. It provokes very strong emotions.

He can work well. But it can also be a disaster. I do think there should be more oversight of HE. Every child deserves a decent education.

I always find the insistence that kids learn to read anyway very naive. I do think there are bright kids that will do okay with almost any education method. But there are kids who really struggle to learn to read and write and need high quality teaching to achieve this.

I wish she'd answered the ones asking about the online assessments. I was interested to hear about that.

Me too Clionba I wanted to put my own poor neglected home ed child through them .

How old is your child, Holly ? Is Home Ed working well?

Is anyone else not liking the way names are being typed in Bold and other text is in capital letters?

Is it as hostile as I think it is or is it not hostile at all?