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My recent epiphany about unschooling


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The other unschooling thread made me think about this. I kinda wanted to share my thoughts, and figured I'd post my own thread about it.

 

Something clicked for me within the last few months about how unschoolers see things and why I ultimately don't agree with it [anymore].

 

A good friend of mine IRL has been unschooling her kids for many years. She was telling me what her fifteen year old is up to. He apparently spends 30 hours a week doing on-line gaming. He does nothing that most people would consider "school," whether "fun" or "creative" schoolwork or avant garde schoolwork or otherwise. Basically gaming, and hanging out, and Pokemon, is what he spends his time doing.

 

She was telling me [and I know nothing about on-line gaming, so I may not be explaining it quite right] that when he signs on, the gamers have to sometimes wait for enough players to play, so they chat amongst themselves while they wait.

 

He called to her one day while on the computer, "Mom! So much learning! So much learning! My head hurts from all this learning!"

 

She explained to me that in these chat discussions, he was learning a wide variety of things. For example, one player lived in France, and he was talking about something about French culture -- that sort of thing.

 

She told me, quite proudly, that "he was getting an amazing education!" this way.

 

I thought about this for a long time. Something about it didn't seem quite right, although I wasn't sure why.

 

Then I figured it out.

 

Unschoolers are right: Humans naturally learn. People do learn all the time. You can learn without doing "schoolwork." You can learn from casual conversations, from TV, whatever.

 

BUT ... there is a different kind of learning that is significantly different from "Huh, I just had a conversation about Whatever, I never knew that; I learned something today!" That's ... well, I guess, a passive, isolated sort of learning.

 

It seems like unschoolers thrive on and point out that kind of learning often.

 

But what they are [mostly] missing is the kind of learning that builds upon itself for a long time -- not just isolated pieces of information, but skills that build on themselves.

 

The kind of learning where you have to strive, and try again when you get it wrong the first time. The kind of learning where you have to push through a rough spot. The kind of learning where you ... well, have to be more active than just hearing a conversation and going, "Wow, I just learned something!"

 

So ... I don't know if this is helpful to anybody here, but once I figured this out, it helped me understand better. So I thought I'd share.

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I often waffle between unschooling and classical education, and I think you just defined for me why I will continue teaching with a more classical bent. I *do* want my kids to have to work hard and see the fruits of their labor. I also want them to have the type of freedom and autonomy necessary to discover life's mysteries because they are *interested,* not because someone told them they had to. It's a delicate balance, I think, just like anything else!

 

Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

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I think you've made too much of a leap.

 

When we unschooled there were both kinds of learning going on. My daughter had her passions where there was a lot of skill building and learning through rough spots and going on. I've known enough unschoolers to know that she's no isolated case, that often kids will pursue something with the rigor and determination that any formally homeschooled kid can muster.

 

Maybe unschoolers don't talk about it as much with others but it was a frequent topic on the unschooling email lists I was a part of.

 

It probably played a part in why I finally parted ways with unschooling. That kind of learning demanded a lot of me in supporting those passions but I need structure and without it I let things slide. The kids didn't get the kind of support they needed to make our unschooling all it really could have been. For ME, yes, it meant what you said but that's because of me, not because of the unschooling.

 

Unschooling may focus more on the everyday learning that goes on but to claim it means that the other sort doesn't happen just ain't necessarily so, not any more then claiming more structured homeschooling sucks the joy out of everyday learning and stops our kids from being life-long learners.

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She was telling me [and I know nothing about on-line gaming, so I may not be explaining it quite right] that when he signs on, the gamers have to sometimes wait for enough players to play, so they chat amongst themselves while they wait.

 

He called to her one day while on the computer, "Mom! So much learning! So much learning! My head hurts from all this learning!"

 

She explained to me that in these chat discussions, he was learning a wide variety of things. For example, one player lived in France, and he was talking about something about French culture -- that sort of thing.

 

She told me, quite proudly, that "he was getting an amazing education!" this way.

 

 

This is very sad. :( To me, this is educational neglect. The reason they have to wait is because everyone else is at school or studying at home. What a waste of time for that boy.

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A good friend of mine IRL has been unschooling her kids for many years. She was telling me what her fifteen year old is up to. He apparently spends 30 hours a week doing on-line gaming. He does nothing that most people would consider "school," whether "fun" or "creative" schoolwork or avant garde schoolwork or otherwise. Basically gaming, and hanging out, and Pokemon, is what he spends his time doing.

 

She was telling me [and I know nothing about on-line gaming, so I may not be explaining it quite right] that when he signs on, the gamers have to sometimes wait for enough players to play, so they chat amongst themselves while they wait.

 

He called to her one day while on the computer, "Mom! So much learning! So much learning! My head hurts from all this learning!"

 

She explained to me that in these chat discussions, he was learning a wide variety of things. For example, one player lived in France, and he was talking about something about French culture -- that sort of thing.

 

She told me, quite proudly, that "he was getting an amazing education!" this way.

 

I agree with Cindyz that this is sad and educational neglect. I believe these are the situations that give homeschooling a bad reputation. How does one convince themselves that is an education?

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You are completely off base.

 

Unschoolers are absolutely into mastery, as much as anyone else.

 

What they may choose to focus on at any given time may not seem important to you.

 

There is a paradigm shift required for you to understand unschooling.

 

You value traditional education.

 

More than video gaming.

 

Unschoolers don't impose value judgements on what you learn.

 

IOW some unschoolers may find that online gaming is as important TO THEM as Latin is to a WTM frequenter. And that's ok.

 

 

So basically you are really off base with your supposition and you are imposing judgement based on an anecdote.

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Okay, this situation has me really thinking, and it's more about the specific family than unschooling. How does she give this kid a transcript for college? The child is obviously smart because he's convinced his mom that he's getting a great education while getting to play all day. :D

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I think your post is spot on.

 

I think unschooling can work -- as long as there are parameters. I've met too many unschoolers who do allow the gaming situation to go berserk and I don't think that's beneficial. Period.

 

And my computer geek husband totally agrees. He says the parents who think their kids are learning about computers from gaming are kidding themselves.

 

New subject: I just taught my boys the "state of being" verbs. (And, I might add, we had fun doing it.) Am, Is, Are, Was, Were, Be, Being, Been.

 

They knew at seven that there are four different kinds of verbs.

 

Sounds like it doesn't matter, but as a writer I can tell you this sort of foundation building does matter. And if unschoolers want to say it doesn't then, sadly, their own kids will tell them it matters. . . one day.

 

Good post.

 

Alley

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But quite often, that kind of "learning" really does lead to more in-depth, comprehensive, useful learning.

 

There are thousands of adults who went through schools with their textbooks and credits and everything else school-related whose heads are filled with facts but who have nothing *useful* in there.

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Thank you for posting your epiphany! This is what always stops me in my tracks when I start inching towards unschooling. I've read a lot about it, and I can't help but wonder, if you've never had the opportunity to build skills over time (like basic math skills, writing, etc.) how then can you expect to be able to jump into essay writing, higher level maths and difficult reading when (or I suppose, if) you get to college?

 

I do know that for some types of people, unschooling works really well. But I think for most people, that structure is needed in order to learn. I know with my own children, they might come up with good ideas on their own, but if I didn't step in and guide them, those ideas would fizzle out into nothing while they sat around complaining about being bored. :001_rolleyes:

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I'm not an unschooler. My worry in the younger years has always been that I believe you need to build the scaffold, the base support for learning later on, or the little bits about lots of things. Plus of course how to read, do basic math and so forth. My degree is in Cognitive Science, and I recall studying how people categorize and "learn" new information by tagging it and relating it mentally to things already learned as the optimal situation. But at some point you have to create the solid beginnings. So that has always been my worry about unschooling the grammar school years. That is a time of building scaffolds to me.

 

I can totally see unschooling high school and beyond (probably middle years too). Our entire adult lives are basically unschooling, following interests and passions, at least if we are at all fortunate. :D

 

We are classical in our theory, but I try with each progressive year to turn a little bit more over to my kids in following passions and not being too overly controlling (as is my nature!) on the exact topics all the time.

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A few random, unstructured thoughts:)

 

I read the book Why Don't Students Like School in which the author states that it is very difficult for a student who is behind to catch up. But unschoolers tend to take the opposite view: children that are behind catch up very quickly when they decide to jump in and learn it (esp when they are beyond that age and decide to catch up on their own). Example: in the other post, someone brought up the unschooled student that learned to write an essay for college entrance.

 

I really liked the book Why Don't Students Like School, but it is directed at teachers and has that very structured, schooly approach. What resonated with me is how students struggle to learn something when they don't have the context behind the learning in order for it to make sense. This can be true for unschooling AND schooly students - getting a variety of background info is essential for building on later. I'd love to explore how unschoolers might get this background info vs how schooly students get the background info. Another important point in the book was that people ARE naturally curious, but they don't like to think too hard! LOL. Why do we enjoy crossword puzzles but we don't solve algebraic equations in our spare time? We like to be challenged, but only slightly - if the task becomes too difficult, we won't undertake it. Again, it would be interesting to explore how unschooled students are sufficiently challenged - how far will they go when they want to learn something but it proves difficult? Likewise, how do schooly students respond to challenge?

 

I like Dan Willingham's writings about Overlearning, etc (author of Why Don't Students Like School), however, I've also found this guy interesting:

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/freedom-learn

He takes the opposite approach from Dan Willingham and favors unschooling. I don't necessarily agree with him, but it is an interesting contrast to Dan Willingham's approach to learning.

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There are a lot of unschoolers in my area. Actually, almost all of the homeschoolers are unschoolers. I am not drawn to that lifestyle because I am a planner and a box checker. I make sure that we study things that interest my children and try to make things fit to their personalities and learning styles. I am seriusly considering doing a more unit study or CM approach, but classical makes a lot of sense to me.

 

That said, if a kid is "learning" only by chatting with people in online gaming sites, that is sad and completely irresponsible. I am not saying that he isn't learning, but that isn't enough for a 15 year old IMHO.

 

The thing I have learned more than anything else about homeschooling is not to judge what others do. It is impossible to get the true story or really understand what someone else does. I only wish for the same from people when it comes to my family's homeschool. I have found that there are good and bad homeschools in just about every form (Classical, CM, unschooling). Unschooling is DEFINITELY not for me, but it really works for some people.

 

It does seem that the homeschool horror stories seem to always be there which makes everyone suspicious of homeschooling general. My mom has very serious doubts about my homeschooling because of a couple of families that she knows.

 

I do appreciate your post. I really don't understand unschooling that much and your post made a lot of sense to me!

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I am not an unschooler, but I wanted to comment. I have some friends who are unschoolers. We need to remember, there are many forms of unschooling. Maybe your friend with the teenage son is not unschooling.....maybe she is really non-schooling and calling it unschooling.

 

Please don't let your friends situation define "unschooling". From what I have seen of unschooling.....that is not it at all.

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Thank you for posting your epiphany! This is what always stops me in my tracks when I start inching towards unschooling. I've read a lot about it, and I can't help but wonder, if you've never had the opportunity to build skills over time (like basic math skills, writing, etc.) how then can you expect to be able to jump into essay writing, higher level maths and difficult reading when (or I suppose, if) you get to college?

And yet many unschoolers go to college and do quite well. :001_smile:

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IOW some unschoolers may find that online gaming is as important TO THEM as Latin is to a WTM frequenter. And that's ok.

 

 

 

I am usually a live and let live kind of person, but really, to say that mastering World of Warcraft is as valuable as learning Latin in developing one's mind is hogwash.

 

I point to a recent post on the Radical Unschoolers Forum as evidence.

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I am not an unschooler, but I wanted to comment. I have some friends who are unschoolers. We need to remember, there are many forms of unschooling. Maybe your friend with the teenage son is not unschooling.....maybe she is really non-schooling and calling it unschooling.

 

Please don't let your friends situation define "unschooling". From what I have seen of unschooling.....that is not it at all.

 

 

ITA. I have friends who unschool and her delightful children are learning, albeit in a way that is not right for our family. I think the term "unschooling" can serve as a cover for "non-schooling" but, done right, unschooling can be a good way for some children to learn. Unfortunately, I think for some parents "unschooling" has become almost a political stance, sometimes to the detriment of the children. If that's how your child learns best, go for it. But if that's the approach that the parent wanted to take but it's not working for the child, the parent has to try another approach. This doesn't always happen.

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I am usually a live and let live kind of person, but really, to say that mastering World of Warcraft is as valuable as learning Latin in developing one's mind is hogwash.

 

I point to a recent post on the Radical Unschoolers Forum as evidence.

 

:iagree::iagree: (And I play World of Warcraft.) :)

 

Please don't let your friends situation define "unschooling". From what I have seen of unschooling.....that is not it at all.

 

Anyone can define unschooling for themselves. It's one of those terms that's loose enough in it's definition that it can mean a multitude of things. When we discuss unschooling, it would be helpful if we defined the type of unschooling we're talking about.

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You will find many unschooled children who do not only learn things passively. You will find many whose parents inspire and encourage a pursuit of things that are valuable, challenging, and useful. There are people who call themselves unschoolers who do career planning with their kids and assist them in figuring out what they need to learn to reach their goals. On the other hand, there are a LOT of unschooled kids who plan to be video game designers. ;)

 

Your friend sounds like a "radical unschooler" or maybe "anti-schooler."

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I am usually a live and let live kind of person, but really, to say that mastering World of Warcraft is as valuable as learning Latin in developing one's mind is hogwash.

 

I point to a recent post on the Radical Unschoolers Forum as evidence.

 

I read the first several comments and they seem to be supportive of the gaming. :tongue_smilie: ITA with you, though! There is not going to be a whole lot of support for unschooling here, at least as defined by video gaming ones youth away. :lol:

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You are completely off base.

IOW some unschoolers may find that online gaming is as important TO THEM as Latin is to a WTM frequenter. And that's ok.

 

 

So basically you are really off base with your supposition and you are imposing judgement based on an anecdote.

 

You cannot possibly be serious.

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I read the first several comments and they seem to be supportive of the gaming. :tongue_smilie: ITA with you, though! There is not going to be a whole lot of support for unschooling here, at least as defined by video gaming ones youth away. :lol:

 

And, we are not going to do Latin here (eta or video gaming!) :001_huh: :D Touching on some root word stuff, probably. Spanish, definitely! :tongue_smilie:

Edited by JENinOR
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I read the first several comments and they seem to be supportive of the gaming. :tongue_smilie: ITA with you, though! There is not going to be a whole lot of support for unschooling here, at least as defined by video gaming ones youth away. :lol:

 

That's my point. They were supporting the child CONTINUING to play despite his mother's concerns. The first responder on that thread...omg. I can't even go into how crazy I think she is.

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I love the idea of Unschooling. But I am to lazy and live too normal a life for Unschooling to work the way I imagine it working the best.

 

In my unschooling dreams I imagine a TV free lifestyle, with tons of great books and life projects going on all the time. We would have a year round garden, major hobby projects, tons of fun field trips, and instead of toys we would have creative materials stacked in every corner. Waldorf like materials that you just can't wait to get your hands on. Then we would cook meals from all over the world every night, and spend our evenings playing games, acting out plays, and reading to each other. I would know fabulously intreresting people who wouldn't mind my kids going to work with them and learning about all kinds of different careers, and they would find their passion early and be able to form a mentorship with a trusted family friend who would take them under their wing and share a wealth of information.

 

But then I wake up and realize that I have 5 loads of laundry to get done, that no one but me ever remembers to replace the empty toilet paper roll, and that it is 5pm and I forgot to defrost something for dinner. :D

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I love the *idea* of unschooling, with actual learning going on, but my ADD/OCD/Type A personality made it a nightmare for us... :tongue_smilie:

 

ITA that there are as many types of unschooling as their are unschoolers. Some people call educational neglect unschooling. Others provide an extremely rich learning environment where the children just absorb the world.

 

It is a matter of finding the right fit for the family, specifically the child. (I have had dc who LOVE workbooks. Yeah, that was totally frowned upon by some unschoolers. But others felt like, if that was what the child wanted, so be it, as long as it wasn't imposed upon the child, but requested by the child.)

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I have a very visceral reaction to that group. It's like a cult. Those kids are doomed.

 

 

:iagree::iagree: If you disagree there, beware. An unschooling friend of mine posted there regarding the unlimited access to very violent video games that SOME of the members there allow their children, and he was vilified.

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I was in a homeschool group and on a message board with self-proclaimed unschooling guru Sandra Dodd. I was unimpressed by her AND her dd, I never met the boys. The dd was begging other parents to teach her to read (at 11 years old!) because her mother didn't have time. Most of the other unschoolers in the group provided no learning for their kids. The kids spent the days in front of tv and computers or in comic book stores. Alot of them were very ill-behaved on field trips and even got homeschoolers banned from popular field trip venues.

 

I've read success stories about unschoolers and was very intrigued. I can see how it could work. Unfortunately, the way I saw modeled was a disgrace and a dis-service to the kids.

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I am usually a live and let live kind of person, but really, to say that mastering World of Warcraft is as valuable as learning Latin in developing one's mind is hogwash.

 

I point to a recent post on the Radical Unschoolers Forum as evidence.

 

This thread has left me in complete shock. As someone who was once addicted to wow and other games like it (although not as bad as these children are), I just cannot imagine allowing and encouraging and catering to that lifestyle. Cutting all of his food into finger food and calling ahead of time so he can hurry out to carry in the groceries and rush back to the game? Are they serious?! Everything else that I can think to say is completely inappropriate so I will leave it alone.

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Wanted to pipe in and say all unschooling discussions should start by defining unschooling :) I learned that after reading loads of loaded threads!

 

I've seen fair unschoolers, great child-led schoolers, and wonderful classical schoolers. I've also seen Epic Failures at each genre.

 

I couldn't get through the second posting on the video game thread.....I I can't teach balance to my kids? I can't provide balance for them? WHAAAAT?!?!?!?!

 

It sound ridiculous to me that anyone would do any activity for that long, but hey, what do I know? Maybe that boy will grow up to create French video games.....good luck with that kid, good luck.

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Wanted to pipe in and say all unschooling discussions should start by defining unschooling :) I learned that after reading loads of loaded threads!

 

I've seen fair unschoolers, great child-led schoolers, and wonderful classical schoolers. I've also seen Epic Failures at each genre.

 

I couldn't get through the second posting on the video game thread.....I I can't teach balance to my kids? I can't provide balance for them? WHAAAAT?!?!?!?!

 

It sound ridiculous to me that anyone would do any activity for that long, but hey, what do I know? Maybe that boy will grow up to create French video games.....good luck with that kid, good luck.

 

 

Part of the problem with allowing them to find their own balance is that there are no imposed reasons to find a balance. The kids don't have to pay for shelter, clothing, food, the games they play...I think it would be more valuable and real if the kids had to make their own money in order to pay for what they wanted. Most of us find our balance out of necessity. If we won the lotto and had servents to cater to our every need, would we still "go to work" (however you define your daily tasks) each day?

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I am usually a live and let live kind of person, but really, to say that mastering World of Warcraft is as valuable as learning Latin in developing one's mind is hogwash.

 

I point to a recent post on the Radical Unschoolers Forum as evidence.

 

 

As someone who had a serious problem with online gaming I can't believe the advice that Mom was getting from other Mom's. To allow a child to play a game to the exclusion of eating and sleeping is not supporting their passion, it is neglect. I played Everquest during the time when my older children were teens/adults and before we had the younger 2 kids. It was crazy how adictive those games are set up to be. They act one the theories of Pavlov and Jung, and since there isn't an 'end' you can't finish the game.

People have allowed their children to die, gotten divorced, lost their jobs, and committed suicide from online gaming adiction. To pretend it doesn't exist and that there is something wrong with the mother for being worried. WOW....I am in shock.

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I respect your epiphany about unschooling, but can we please not make the sweeping idea that this is the way all unschoolers think and live. I live in an area where almost all the homeschoolers are unschoolers and I'm friends with many of them. Every single one of these unschooled kids does the "building on" type of learning. All of them have passions (violin, pottery, creative writing, meterology, tennis, spelling bees etc.) that challenge them. I have no doubt that these kids will succeed at whatever they choose to do in life. It is truly tragic when children are abandoned to do nothing but play video games, but this is certainly not what all unschoolers do.

ETA: I once heard that unschooling is good for all children but not all parents. The reason I don't unschool is because I am not the right type of parent, and I don't think that the mum the OP mentioned is the right type of parent either (although she and I are very different).

Edited by Aquinas Academy
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I love the idea of Unschooling. But I am to lazy and live too normal a life for Unschooling to work the way I imagine it working the best.

 

In my unschooling dreams I imagine a TV free lifestyle, with tons of great books and life projects going on all the time. We would have a year round garden, major hobby projects, tons of fun field trips, and instead of toys we would have creative materials stacked in every corner. Waldorf like materials that you just can't wait to get your hands on. Then we would cook meals from all over the world every night, and spend our evenings playing games, acting out plays, and reading to each other. I would know fabulously intreresting people who wouldn't mind my kids going to work with them and learning about all kinds of different careers, and they would find their passion early and be able to form a mentorship with a trusted family friend who would take them under their wing and share a wealth of information.

 

But then I wake up and realize that I have 5 loads of laundry to get done, that no one but me ever remembers to replace the empty toilet paper roll, and that it is 5pm and I forgot to defrost something for dinner. :D

 

 

I agree. I know a few unschoolers, and I'm in awe of what they do. It seems like it takes a lot more work than simply buying curriculum materials for each subject and working through them sequentially!

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I am so sick and sad from reading the first few comments about the gaming thread. I can't believe they're supporting wasting his life. I've been there, I was an mmo addict that played 80+ hours a week and almost threw my life away. Had I not stopped, I would've lost my now-husband. I would never have had the child I have now, not the life and happiness I enjoy. My only dreams at that time were to grow old playing in a virtual world and never stopping. I definitely didn't learn anything substantially educational.

 

That's so sad, and I hear it a lot with radical unschoolers, but I know that's not the lifestyle of all unschoolers. I do think some unschoolers pull it off admirably, but I know it's not for us. I wouldn't have the energy to do it as I envision.

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Wow, that is sad. Notice how it's completely the MOM'S fault. SHE is the one with the problem, according to them. Let the kid play video games for twelve hours a day, all night long if he wants. Don't require him to do chores. Don't expect anything from him.

 

If he keeps this up, I'd hate to be married to him someday.

 

A neighbor of mine was married to her second husband for less than two years. He was addicted to video games. It CAN be a very serious thing.

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I respect your epiphany about unschooling, but can we please not make the sweeping idea that this is the way all unschoolers think and live. I live in an area where almost all the homeschoolers are unschoolers and I'm friends with many of them. Every single one of these unschooled kids does the "building on" type of learning. All of them have passions (violin, pottery, creative writing, meterology, tennis, spelling bees etc.) that challenge them. I have no doubt that these kids will succeed at whatever they choose to do in life. It is truly tragic when children are abandoned to do nothing but play video games, but this is certainly not what all unschoolers do.

 

ITA. (except I dont actually respect this "epiphany" ie radical generalisation based on one anecdote).

 

I also know that those who do allow their kids to waste their entire lives on gam... excuse me, I mean those who choose to allow unlimited gaming have the full support of the radical unschooling community as much as the kid who decides to become a violinist or olympic athlete.

 

There is a lack of judgement in the radical community on what constitutes worthwhile learning.

 

Some people have no gaming systems or TV. Others embrace those as tools for learning. Generalizing is very hard.

 

All I know is the ultimate turn off for me is the whole "children are honored guests in our homes" line. I find that FAR harder to swallow than the video gaming.

 

If you are truly interested in unschooling, with boundaries but without value judgements, Kelly Lovejoy is one of my favorite sources for information. You can google her.

 

At any rate, unschoolers dont recognize that certain subjects are important to the exclusion of others or that there is a need for a diploma outside of their child's desire to earn one, so you're firing blanks there.

 

The idea is that if a child wishes at some point to embrace a concept in a regular school course they'll manage to do so fine with intrinsic motivation.

 

That is what I do so appreciate about unschoolers- the idea that INTRINSIC motivation is what gets you furthest.

 

 

 

Another source for info, entirely different, not my cuppa IRL but the blog is interesting enough and a lot less annoying. Check out "swissarmywife". You can google her too. I find that pair difficult to swallow, myself.

 

 

 

Sandra Dodd, the second post on the video game addiction blog link is a radical unschooling maven. She is THE radical unschooler. her name is known far and wide and she is articulating the essence of what radical unschoolers believe- that your children do not need you to manage them.

 

Since basically, most of us can't accept that at all, we'l mostly never understand unschoolers who do see it that way unless we TRY to make that paradigm shift or at least see how someone could.

Edited by calandalsmom
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I am usually a live and let live kind of person, but really, to say that mastering World of Warcraft is as valuable as learning Latin in developing one's mind is hogwash.

 

I point to a recent post on the Radical Unschoolers Forum as evidence.

 

:001_huh: wow. I did not get very far in that thread. Seriously, it made me nauseated. :ack2:

 

I love the idea of Unschooling. But I am to lazy and live too normal a life for Unschooling to work the way I imagine it working the best.

 

In my unschooling dreams I imagine a TV free lifestyle, with tons of great books and life projects going on all the time. We would have a year round garden, major hobby projects, tons of fun field trips, and instead of toys we would have creative materials stacked in every corner. Waldorf like materials that you just can't wait to get your hands on. Then we would cook meals from all over the world every night, and spend our evenings playing games, acting out plays, and reading to each other. I would know fabulously intreresting people who wouldn't mind my kids going to work with them and learning about all kinds of different careers, and they would find their passion early and be able to form a mentorship with a trusted family friend who would take them under their wing and share a wealth of information.

 

But then I wake up and realize that I have 5 loads of laundry to get done, that no one but me ever remembers to replace the empty toilet paper roll, and that it is 5pm and I forgot to defrost something for dinner. :D

 

:iagree: I love the idea of unschooling. In a perfect world I would implement the skills of classical education in such a way that would effortlessly follow my children's passions into the deep recesses of all paths of knowledge, leaving no gaps and an intelligent, responsible, well read in every area young adult as the result. Visions of the VanTrapps singing in the fields, background music not excluded . . . reality check! That is not how it would look like here, and honestly I don't know* any family that it would look like this (not saying they are not out there, just saying I don't personally know any.)

 

I was kind of hoping the OP's friend's example was the exception and "real" unschooling doesn't look like that, but from that thread, if nothing else is seems that there is quite a "un/school of thought" ;) that leans in that direction. scary.

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One of the catch phrases of unschoolers is that a lot of what schoolers do is fear based. What if??? based.

 

I see a lot of reactionary thinking on this thread, tho i am not comfortable myself with radical unschooling. I don't think its quite as dire as some here assume.

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