twoforjoy Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 Great piece. I hope it hasn't been posted yet--I don't think I saw it--and apologize it it was. http://life.salon.com/2011/10/12/a_home_schooler_goes_to_college/ The author was unschooled, but a lot of what she talks about is what I want my more structured schooling to be like for my kids. An excerpt: And it’s hard for me to explain it to them. Because unschooling, for me, worked a lot like living. It wasn’t a dramatic political statement about our broken society. My parents decided not to send me to school because they liked hanging out with me. It sounds too simple. Were they radical anarchists or free-love types? Nope. They were just two brave people who believed that kids are naturally smart, and will naturally learn the things people need to learn to get by. As a result I am very polite and pretty bad at math. My parents were entrepreneurs. They were running their own business when I was born. They thought they could probably make it work. They didn’t think they were smarter than other people; they just trusted themselves to figure it out. For me, home schooling meant getting to read all day and then read all the next day. It meant being able to apprentice myself to the adults whose work I admired, spend a lot of time playing in the nearby brook, write the books I couldn’t find but wanted to read, try directing Shakespeare plays and competing in classical piano and learning some Greek, all without having to worry about what might happen if I failed. Home schooling was about making mistakes that didn’t have bigger consequences than momentary embarrassment. Because I didn’t have grades. I worked hard to get better, because I cared about being better, because, I think, maybe people just care about that. And then there was the occasional math textbook and online biology course, which Mom researched and purchased when she got nervous. Sometimes she became overwhelmed with concern. What if I fell behind the school kids? What if I didn’t go to college? It was important that I could still be good at the things people were supposed to be good at. I wasn’t worried. I was happy. I love the idea that her parents homeschooled her because they liked hanging out with her. Honestly, while that wasn't why we decided to homeschool initially, it's become the main reason that I keep doing it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MtnTeaching Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 Great piece. Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathleen in VA Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 Excellent article - thanks so much for sharing.:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happyhomemaker25 Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 Did you read the comments? Ridiculous. I did enjoy the article though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LibraryLover Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 :) Love that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twoforjoy Posted October 12, 2011 Author Share Posted October 12, 2011 Did you read the comments? Ridiculous. I did enjoy the article though. I have a personal policy of never, ever, ever reading the comments on internet articles. I'd like to retain some faith in the goodness of humankind. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TXMary2 Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 The girl that wrote this article has a blog called Skipping School. I have been following her awhile. She is a great writer and I love all she shares about her school experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sassenach Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 I have a personal policy of never, ever, ever reading the comments on internet articles. I'd like to retain some faith in the goodness of humankind. ;) I think I need to adopt that policy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lakerks Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 Enjoyed reading it. Thanks for sharing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denise in Florida Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 I have a personal policy of never, ever, ever reading the comments on internet articles. I'd like to retain some faith in the goodness of humankind. ;) I agree. Sometimes I read the comments and it just makes me sad. :glare: Maybe I should give that up for Lent next year. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 I've gotten to where I find the comments on homeschooling things sort of trite and amusing now. People clearly think they're being insightful and saying new things when they're all just saying the same ignorant things as each other. So I actually *did* look at the comments and was a bit shocked to find that they weren't anti-homeschooling so much (though they were that too) as convinced the author was a self-absorbed narcissist who was socially inept. HUH? I found college boring too. Worse, I never learned to be a drunk college party girl. Does that mean I'm a narcissist too or that I just got a decent secondary education and our standards for college level work have slipped? Oy. I might need to stop looking at comments again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy2BaMom Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 Yes, the comments show that there continues to be tremendous resentment toward homeschoolers. I wonder why it is so threatening to people? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrookValley. Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 Eh, internet article comments. Yuck. Yeah, I'd avoid those too. I continue to be confused by folks who seem so to be offended by the very idea of homeschooling. In my experience it has been similar to the negativity I have encountered when people discover that my entire family is vegetarian. They get absolutely defensive if it comes up (and I don't bring it up or preach to people about it. If it comes up in conversation, fine, I'll talk about it). As if my choices about what I eat are a threat to them, or as if my choices are somehow a judgement on their choices. Trust me, it's not; I could care less what anyone eats and I definitely don't care to pass judgement on them for it. Same goes for schooling. I made the choice that best fits me and my family. It's none of my business what other folks choose to do. I assume they are making the best choice for their child(ren) as well. The young lady who wrote the article seems like one cool girl. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jennifer3141 Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 Wow on the comments. They are actually frightening! I'm adding, "So my kids don't have to go to school with the children of internet comment leavers" to my list of reasons why we homeschool. :001_huh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrookValley. Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 I'm adding, "So my kids don't have to go to school with the children of internet comment leavers" to my list of reasons why we homeschool. :001_huh: :lol: Seriously! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happyhomemaker25 Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 My husband tells me to skip the comments, but I just can not. It's like an addiction. LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jane in NC Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 Despite the warnings, I started reading the comments. Reiterating what others have said: good article, just stay away from the comments! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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