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.

Both DH and I are qualified professionals in our respective fields with 3 diplomas, 2 undergrad degrees and 1 post grad degree between us.

Did you go to school?

NB In our family, it's me (the mother) who works full time.

someone asked about reading: none of my children were taught how to read. If you live in a literate household, reading to the children a lot, reading near them a lot, using computers (and encouraging the children to play computer games when appropriate), using literacy in daily life, then they pick it up as a skill if there's nothing like dyslexia getting in the way. Our normal age for fluent reading seemed to be about 6, but I know plenty of families where the children were older or younger. It really wasn't a big deal.

What if they needed to take medication, but refused?
A lot of this is kind of conventional, Air Cadets, violin lessons, baking etc. Even the marine biology - my son was enthused because a teacher got them engaged in it, they did their own research and set their own targets, at a conventional school!

Both DH and I are qualified professionals in our respective fields with 3 diplomas, 2 undergrad degrees and 1 post grad degree between us.

By unless I’ve misunderstood it’s you - not he - who has given it all up to raise your children in this way.

Did you go to school?

Come on OP. Tell us how you got all those degrees (and how your dh did too).

So if you are going to let the DC decide if they want to bother with GCSEs and A Levels presumably you aren't bothered if they get to go on into Higher Education?

In that case

A) what kind of careers / lifestyles do you see being open to them?

And

B) considering you have said that both you and you DH both have degrees don't you feel that you have been rather selfish?

did you go to school to get all those qualifications?
will your dc have the same opportunities that you had?

Why have you and your dh chosen unschooling over a mainstream education?

Plenty of unschooled teens get qualifications, by the way, because they want and need them. It's just that they don't need to spend 11 years in school in order to get a crop of GCSEs.

My experience of it (second hand so far) has been that when teens put their mind to it, they can pretty easily get themselves to GCSE standard, with assistance where wanted, in a year or two. Or they go to FE college armed only with a portfolio, and get themselves a crop of qualifications that open up the doors to university.

The key thing is that it's what they've chosen to do, rather than having that particular academic route imposed on them by adults (which is why FE college teachers and university tutors LOVE home educated people, because they almost always are self-motivated. Plenty of people who went to school are self-motivated too, but you can pretty much guarantee that the HE ones will be)

So
@OutOfControlSpirals when your daughter applies to study the very competitive marine biology courses at university she will be fine because she visited an aquarium and watched the Blue Planet ,,,,
Wh are you denying them the choices you had in life?

Tbf school
Is only 6 hours a day 39 weeks a year.
I don’t understand the benefit of NOT attending when your chcikdren can do everything they are already doing with a formal stricter education as well.

What are the benefits?

Im quite envious that you are able to do this. I like the idea but i would not be the right person to do this, despite being educated. I also have an "only child" so i want her to be able to socialise.

What puzzles me is that people can legally choose not to send their children to school but my dd's attendance was low this year due to lots of illnesses catching up on her for some reason this year. Its normally 99-100% this year was 92% and we got a shitty letter from the school saying it would be taken further if no improvement

You didn't answer my question about academic subjects when they are older; ie maths, physics, foreign languages etc. Won't they need a specialist teacher/tutor for those? Is it financially viable? I also think that allowing a child to eat only noodles for 6 months is appalling. Part of a parent's duty is to try to ensure a well balanced diet for their children. Who wouldn't do this? And to say 'their body, their choice' is naive. Children do not have the maturity to know their bodies' needs. What if they become ill later in life because they were undernourished as children?

I’m sure the OP is thinking none of understands what an amazing opportunity she’s giving her children.

I’m just saddened that even when you make an unconventional decision to raise your children like this, the same old sexist stereotypes apply, with the husband going out to work full-time while she’s stuck at home ferrying the children from one activity to another while her career disappears in a puff of smoke.

Not really very radical when you look at it like that, I don’t think.

I think it's an interesting concept. I can see why it's appealing. But I also agree that children aren't born knowing all this stuff, and life is too short to learn so much the hard way. At the end of the day they are apprentice adults and need a lot of guidance, and some structure.

I'm a teacher. The people who are saying you can't teach because you're not trained are missing the point. You can facilitate your children's learning, and that is better than being in any classroom. Good on you. Home is the 'real world', school is the artificial environment.

LEM

Presumably you got the letter because your child is on roll at the school and is therefore expected to attend, unlike the OP’s children.

Refusal to wash themselves, hair not brushed for two years. Did you insist on teeth cleaning, or have they not done that by choice?

What do you feel home education gives your kids over what they would get from going to mainstream school?

Most of what you’ve mentioned (bar being up half the night) are things that children and their families do as well as going to school.

WE HOME EDUCATE AND IT'S THE MOTHER WHO IS IN FULL TIME WORK!!!

(I already said it up thread, but no one seemed to notice, so I shouted this time).

Quite a few families in our circle have the same set up, or both parents work part time to add up to enough money between them.

Home education isn't anti-feminist, ime

I just wanted to come back to the poster who said that violin isn't a core subject.

1. It is if you want to be a violinist
2. There are no set core subjects when you H.ed, you can do what you want and consider any subject a core subject.

I find it very hard to believe that a child's hair was not brushed for 2 years .......that poor child

Could you link to the annual on line assessment you use please? I home ed one of my children too. I'd be interested to look at that resource. Many thanks

I know somebody who educated like you OP. She has two well behaved children. She ensures they are in a number of structured activities for socialisation. She herself is very well educated which on the one hand means she can pass knowledge and learning on but she says she is an introvert and the school scene is not for her which I feel she projects to her children. She is a single parent and how she has the patience to be with her children all day every day is something I greatly admire yet find it difficult to understand. She currently is not in the best of health herself and I think school hours would at least bring her some time for herself.

I feel my older child benefits from being in school, the structured environment and the rules. My younger child is more of a free spirit.

I admire this 100% giving of yourself 24 hours a day 365 day’s a year. It is something I could not do myself.

I remember kids on Child Genius being home schooled so academic achievements is something I would not worry most about.