Post by Samantha on Oct 4, 2006 8:21:00 GMT -5
Okay, before I start, let me apologise ahead of time for any offensive things that may come up. I have a slightly sore dislike for public school, which may jade me a bit, but I've kept it at least decently fair and clean. Please don't go off flaming me for one of my personal beliefs about something. You'll just be ignored.
Alright, now that thats done, let me tell you about myself before I start on what I think of un-school to help put the situation into perspective.
I was in fourth grade when my parents gave me the option to be home-schooled.( I have a joke that I'm a fourth grade drop out). My parents had homeschooled me before, but it was peer presure that made me convince them to send me back. My grades had gone from As and Bs, to Cs, Ds and Fs. It got to the point where I hid report paper's from my parents, and even cheated on a test. Not many things were going right at the time, and after the test fiasco, my parents asked me if they should take me out of public school.
I said yes, of course. I had been getting into some social trouble as well and I didn't really want to go back to a place where everyone would have something to hang over my head, but as the homeschooling went on, it didn't go so well. My mom bought a bunch of school books, activity books, school tool packages, the basics, and woke me and my brother up at a set time, made us sit down and do the work everday for the same amount of time and the same amount of work. If you hadn't guessed already, there was not much change from normal school, which was the cause of my behavior in the first place, the pressure anyway, and therefore, worked as well as public school. So, my mom sat me and my brother down again, and asked us what should we do now.
" The hell if I know, mom." was the only thing that came to mind when she asked. Not impressive, huh?
Well, she started researching other methods, and thats how we got into un-schooling.
Un-schooling is a method where your children learn from life experiences, and teach themselves what they want to learn, instead of what you force them to learn. This may, at first, seem like a very lazy way to go about teaching, but it really works.
When I was in school, I hated writing, typing and reading. Now, you'll be lucky if you catch me doing anything else. The whole proccess devolps a desire to learn, to be better at what you do, to know things at a higher level. It's an initiative and confidence builder, which seems to be sorely lacking these days. As I said, I used to hate to type, but I started typing up stories and poems, which was something I used to hate to do as well, and just got better. I didn't even notice it myself until my dad came over to me one day and watched me write, then said he was amazed at how quickly I got things out. You have no idea how much pride swelled in me that day. I had taught myself to do something that mattered to me, and it felt great.
You also may think thats a very uninvolved way to go about teaching a child, but thats not true. There will never be a teacher I respect more than my parents. Ever. Un-schooling is also about bonds between the family strengthening, showing them your there for them ever step of the way, and encouraging the children. Instead of standing back and watching other people teach your kids to do things you know they've come to despise, you let them get a feel for what they want to be, what they want to learn, give them some independence and learn how to rely on what their mind is telling them, not what the teachers are screaming at them, while still giving them the knowledge that your there to help any time they stumble, or have questions. Your child is no longer a number in statistics, or alone in their pursuit of knowledge. They're a person who can teach themselves how to live and deal with problems outside of being popular, or a teachers pet.
There is few downsides, ones that you should take into account before submerging yourself into a life altering ordeal, which is an understatement:
Lack of social activity: An easily solved matter, but an important one still. If your are home or un schooled, social activity doesn't even start until 4 o'clock, unless your are involved in an outside school program, but unless it's home/unschool related, it still doesn't usually start until much later in the day.
Explanation, explanation, explanation: Everytime you say you are a homschooler, or a parent of one, you will be asked to explain your methods, which is ackward in some circumstances. I'm a 15 year old girl, and more than once by the same people, I have been asked to explain the methods, schedule, perks and downsides of un-schooling. I've also been asked to explain the difference between Home-schooling, un-schooling, and public school, which is usually very akward when it comes to the latter. I've actually got something a of a prepared speech in my head at this point to avoid controversey. It's hard to restrain yourself from speaking freely about public school at the risk of being seen as stuck up, which, in some cases has made a rather painful altering to some friendships.
A word of advice: Tread softly when speaking of public school with parents who send there children there. It can be taken, quite easily, as an insult.
The State your in: It does matter what state your are in. I mean that quite literaly. The laws of homeschooling vary from place to place and you should take a close look at the laws of said state before proceeding. I live in Indiana, which gives a very good amount of freedom to home-schoolers, but some states require a yearly test to make sure your getting and/or giving the states version of adequit ecucation, which in my mind defeats the whole purpose of taking the children out of public school in the first place, but thats just me. ;D
Age: I personally think the individual personality of said child has a profound effect on how it effects the child themselves. Unschooling is most certainly not for everybody. Age, I don't think matters quite as much as what the child thinks about home/unschooling in the first place. That is a why you should always ask first[/i][/u] before taking the child out of school. Talk about it seriously for awile before going through with it, if only so the child, and yourself know what your getting into.
Okay, point: Think about it, study, get all the info imaginable before making a move. It's a wonderful method, but can react very badly depending on the child, family, and the current situation in your life.
Thank you for reading, and good god o mighty, I broke the monologue rule.
Note: Un-schooling will not increase childs desire(or create it in the first place) to complete chores. No method is that perfect.
Alright, now that thats done, let me tell you about myself before I start on what I think of un-school to help put the situation into perspective.
I was in fourth grade when my parents gave me the option to be home-schooled.( I have a joke that I'm a fourth grade drop out). My parents had homeschooled me before, but it was peer presure that made me convince them to send me back. My grades had gone from As and Bs, to Cs, Ds and Fs. It got to the point where I hid report paper's from my parents, and even cheated on a test. Not many things were going right at the time, and after the test fiasco, my parents asked me if they should take me out of public school.
I said yes, of course. I had been getting into some social trouble as well and I didn't really want to go back to a place where everyone would have something to hang over my head, but as the homeschooling went on, it didn't go so well. My mom bought a bunch of school books, activity books, school tool packages, the basics, and woke me and my brother up at a set time, made us sit down and do the work everday for the same amount of time and the same amount of work. If you hadn't guessed already, there was not much change from normal school, which was the cause of my behavior in the first place, the pressure anyway, and therefore, worked as well as public school. So, my mom sat me and my brother down again, and asked us what should we do now.
" The hell if I know, mom." was the only thing that came to mind when she asked. Not impressive, huh?
Well, she started researching other methods, and thats how we got into un-schooling.
Un-schooling is a method where your children learn from life experiences, and teach themselves what they want to learn, instead of what you force them to learn. This may, at first, seem like a very lazy way to go about teaching, but it really works.
When I was in school, I hated writing, typing and reading. Now, you'll be lucky if you catch me doing anything else. The whole proccess devolps a desire to learn, to be better at what you do, to know things at a higher level. It's an initiative and confidence builder, which seems to be sorely lacking these days. As I said, I used to hate to type, but I started typing up stories and poems, which was something I used to hate to do as well, and just got better. I didn't even notice it myself until my dad came over to me one day and watched me write, then said he was amazed at how quickly I got things out. You have no idea how much pride swelled in me that day. I had taught myself to do something that mattered to me, and it felt great.
You also may think thats a very uninvolved way to go about teaching a child, but thats not true. There will never be a teacher I respect more than my parents. Ever. Un-schooling is also about bonds between the family strengthening, showing them your there for them ever step of the way, and encouraging the children. Instead of standing back and watching other people teach your kids to do things you know they've come to despise, you let them get a feel for what they want to be, what they want to learn, give them some independence and learn how to rely on what their mind is telling them, not what the teachers are screaming at them, while still giving them the knowledge that your there to help any time they stumble, or have questions. Your child is no longer a number in statistics, or alone in their pursuit of knowledge. They're a person who can teach themselves how to live and deal with problems outside of being popular, or a teachers pet.
There is few downsides, ones that you should take into account before submerging yourself into a life altering ordeal, which is an understatement:
Lack of social activity: An easily solved matter, but an important one still. If your are home or un schooled, social activity doesn't even start until 4 o'clock, unless your are involved in an outside school program, but unless it's home/unschool related, it still doesn't usually start until much later in the day.
Explanation, explanation, explanation: Everytime you say you are a homschooler, or a parent of one, you will be asked to explain your methods, which is ackward in some circumstances. I'm a 15 year old girl, and more than once by the same people, I have been asked to explain the methods, schedule, perks and downsides of un-schooling. I've also been asked to explain the difference between Home-schooling, un-schooling, and public school, which is usually very akward when it comes to the latter. I've actually got something a of a prepared speech in my head at this point to avoid controversey. It's hard to restrain yourself from speaking freely about public school at the risk of being seen as stuck up, which, in some cases has made a rather painful altering to some friendships.
A word of advice: Tread softly when speaking of public school with parents who send there children there. It can be taken, quite easily, as an insult.
The State your in: It does matter what state your are in. I mean that quite literaly. The laws of homeschooling vary from place to place and you should take a close look at the laws of said state before proceeding. I live in Indiana, which gives a very good amount of freedom to home-schoolers, but some states require a yearly test to make sure your getting and/or giving the states version of adequit ecucation, which in my mind defeats the whole purpose of taking the children out of public school in the first place, but thats just me. ;D
Age: I personally think the individual personality of said child has a profound effect on how it effects the child themselves. Unschooling is most certainly not for everybody. Age, I don't think matters quite as much as what the child thinks about home/unschooling in the first place. That is a why you should always ask first[/i][/u] before taking the child out of school. Talk about it seriously for awile before going through with it, if only so the child, and yourself know what your getting into.
Okay, point: Think about it, study, get all the info imaginable before making a move. It's a wonderful method, but can react very badly depending on the child, family, and the current situation in your life.
Thank you for reading, and good god o mighty, I broke the monologue rule.
Note: Un-schooling will not increase childs desire(or create it in the first place) to complete chores. No method is that perfect.
