Hi Clay. Thanks for commenting. Yep, I understand those concerns. But I'm glad to hear the post hit a chord with you.
I'm so glad to have discovered your blog, by the way. I've been keeping up with you since JJ linked to it here in these comments. 
Thanks Musing. I always feel better when I hear that people still feel good about their decision to unschool once their kids are older!
I'm going to see if I can get those books from the library JJ. They sound great.
Just a quick "well-said" from a reader having his first cup of coffee of the morning. A pleasure to stumble upon this post.
As a ten-year classroom teacher, I can tell you that I nodded along with each paragraph's critique of the "benefits" of schooling. They can be provided by intelligent parents in a million superior ways, _without_ all the time-wasting and otherwise destructive side-effects schools have on the young.
I will admit to worrying about home-schooling and unschooling being done by the wrong sort of parents. But I also have the same sorts of concerns about schooling done by the (many) wrong sorts of teachers and administrators - so it sort of evens out.
Again, thanks for an enjoyable read.
Hi, Colleen,
We homeschooled our four kids from kindergarten thru highschool (they're all 17 and over now) and unschooled for the last decade or so. Best thing we ever did.
It takes a lot of patience, sometimes, to see the fruit of unschooling but it is so worth it.
(found you thru Blog Nosh)
Something I blogged last spring about this:
Daniel Pink of course, says that linear left-brain, info obsessed thinking is so last century!
“The last few decades have belonged to a certain kind of person with a certain kind of mind – computer programmers who could crank code, lawyers who could craft contracts, MBAs who could crunch numbers. But the keys to the kingdom are changing hands. The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind – creators and empathizers, pattern recognizers and meaning makers. These people – artists, inventors, designers, storytellers, caregivers, consolers, big picture thinkers – will now reap society’s richest rewards and share its greatest joys."
This book describes a seismic – though as yet undetected – shift now underway in much of the advanced world. We are moving from an economy and a society built on the logical, linear, computer-like capabilities of the Information Age to an economy and a society built on the inventive, empathic, big picture capabilities of what’s rising in its place, the Conceptual Age. A Whole New Mind is for anyone who wants to survive and thrive in this emerging world . . .
This swells in significance when you remember all these lawyer-brained folks pass all the education laws and set all the standards.
That linear lawyer brain, much less the braggart super-CEO motivational speaker showboat (also described in this Sunday piece) don’t fit the minds we want our kids to develop for the future a la Howard Gardner, right?
Thus it suggests we could start by electing different kinds of minds to lawmaking, if we’re really serious about systemic change for kids on campus. . .
I might add about the "job" question, that it's probably true that a radically unschooled child will find all sorts of ways to live and work as an adult, without feeling sentenced to such a passive, overscheduled employee fate! (gee, Learning in IN, tell us how you REALLY feel about jobs LOL!)
Daniel Pink btw, wrote a great book you could read to help deschool and un-job your own attitudes while your children are thankfully still too young to pick up on it. It's called "Free Agent Nation" and while there's a chapter or two specifically on home education and other alternatives to regular school, the beauty of it is how he ties that same attitude into all of society, especially work.
Later of course, he wrote the AMAZING "A Whole New Mind" which is very much about learning and thinking and education in modern society, and how our old ideas had better change fast before we stunt our children with them. . .
Hi Learning.
Try these blogs:
http://cockingasnook.wordpress.com/
http://sandradodd.blogspot.com/
I'm sure there are many more. (Can anyone else recommend a few?)
Oh, and be sure to check out the links in my side bar under "What is Unschooling?" if you haven't already.
There's an unschooling magazine that usually has an interview with an unschooled young adult and hits on some of the topics that concern you. Of course, if you read the post on my lack of a tidy gene, it won't surprise you that I can't find my most recent copy. I also can't remember the name of the magazine. Anyone else know what I'm talking about?
Oh, and my aunt had the same question a few months back and JJ had a terrific answer. Read my aunt's questions and JJ's comments here: http://thenewunschooler.blogspot...4/new-
post.html
As far as dealing with deadlines etc, I'd say that as kids get older they'll probably start to become interested in things that may require regular meetings, making deadlines, etc. anyway, so you don't need to worry about teaching them to deal with them. They might start a band and need to make it to practice or a gig on time; they might join a community college class; maybe they'll decide to do some volunteer work. You certainly can offer suggestions if they seem to be having trouble once these things start to come up (naturally and in their own time). If you have a sure-proof method for meeting deadlines don't keep it to yourself! But you have to accept that your way may not be their way. I really wouldn't worry about it, though. I think they'll learn all that stuff when they need to learn it. And the truth is, some people just aren't good with deadlines or schedules and they never will be. Everyone deals with them differently. My husband prepares for everything well in advance. When we drive to San Francisco he gets his toll for the Bay Bridge out and ready when we leave Los Angeles! I, on the other hand, wait until the last possible moment to do everything. I guess I just like doing things in one big frantic rush. I used to beat myself up over it but I've realized now that it's just the way I prefer to do things--it's not right or wrong. It actually kinda makes me happy. Weird, huh?
Have you read "The Unschooling Handbook" by Mary Griffith? That's a great book. And I just got my copy of "Deschooling Gently" by Tammy Takahashi, which looks really good as well. If you're thinking of trying radical unschooling (which is not nearly as scary as it sounds) you should read Rue Kream's book "Parenting a Free Child." Actually, I'd recommend that one even if you think radical unschooling wouldn't work for you. It gives you a glimpse of what parenting can look like when you go against a lot of the common wisdom (and it looks great!)
Thanks for reading and commenting!!
I am SOOOO glad I found this blog and more specifically this post. So well written and so convincing! I am a mother of two toddlers (2 and 1). I have been researching homeschooling and recently unschooling to see which would best fit my family. I do know my children will not be going to government school...beyond that I am still trying to figure out. I have some questions. I have qualms about unschooling in a completely "I want to know how this affects my child's life" way. If a child is unschooled it is basically a child-led education. I get that. What I worry about is what happens when that child grows up and realizes there are times (a LOT of times) when things he/she doesn't necessarily want to do HAVE to be done? Like at a job...there isn't that "what would I like to do today" freedom. There is structure, timed breaks, deadlines, and check lists. Will that be a shock for a child who has lived his whole life doing whatever his heart and mind led him to do? Do you know of any blogs where there are Moms of children who have grown up unschooled that talk about how well their children are adjusting in this crazy world of ours? I don't know how new this is but I just recently heard of it. Is it a tested method? I don't want my kids to be beta testers LOL. Thanks in advance!
You really shouldn't have doubted yourself :0)
Can i just say again how lucky Jerry is to have you as his Mum?
Not sure if I have ever said that actually- but I sure have thought it!
Thanks guys. And thanks for those links, JJ.
WOW....beautiful post!!! I'm glad I finally went to the LIFE is Good yahoogroup to see what's going on after conference...that's how I found your blog brava!
Yes, I've been following Clay and know exactly what he means. I too want to do away with all of the fluff and wasting of time in a public classroom.
Trouble is, I have this pesky student loan to pay off. And I absolutely love to share the joy of learning with kids, so I don't want to lose that. I don't know where I would go, if not the classroom. I'm watching to see what Clay does next.
I'm not quite as brave as him...yet.
And find your voice you did!
What a great post.
Mindy, these other power of story posts by teacher Clay Burrell might be what Colleen read and can't quite remember:
"I’m not sure how much longer I want to work for schools. I’d so much rather teach."
Part One
Part Two
What's the real goal of education and can we accomplish it?
Here's a good think piece on that riddle -- Why Education is So Difficult and Contentious"
And Dawn found something the other day I'd never seen (and therefore can't vouch for but it's sure interesting!) about how teachers and schools first came to confuse comparative grades and tests for (what had until then been considered) real education --
That should probably be its own post Mindy! Asking myself that question is one of the ways I help myself to calm down if I'm having an unschooler freak out (like when I suddenly think we need to break out the math book and protractor) because the answer usually has very little to do with knowledge and much more to do with holding onto that desire to understand the world around us. I feel like I just read something about this question somewhere but I can't think of where. If I remember I'll post it.
By the way, there were lots of teachers who unschool their kids at the Life is Good conference!
I'm a 5th grade teacher who tries to provide snippets of this type of learning. But you're right, we're ruled by the clock and "we have to stop investigating what light does because it's now time to go to Art."
I am a teacher who is drawn to unschooling! But I don't have children yet. Anyone know how a teacher can make a living by helping others unschool? (Is that an oxymoron??)
Anyway, I have another question that perhaps you all can help with. I've been trying to get an answer to this: What do we consider a "successful" adult to be? Because I think we have to answer that before we can figure out how best to create that, whether it's through public schooling, homeschooling, or unschooling.
And by "successful" I don't mean money-wise or career-wise. I mean successful as in living life.
Any thoughts?
Even after a couple years I still have trouble speaking clearly and intelligibly when people would like to chat about unschooling. Think it has anything to do with school??? Of course it does!
Some of my better posts have been born of conversations I couldn't finish, or questions I have been asked. This is a GREAT post. I enjoyed every word!
I think that there is no need for you to only point people in the direction of others...you are doing great! What you have shared here is fantastic & articulable.
We are always learning and we are always 'new' at something. Life is a journey, which does not begin once we reach a certain age or once we leave school (if we ever *choose* to go there).
The humility of age helps too, Alastair. Honest. I knew everything about how other folks should rear and educate their kids when I was in my 20s with a doctorate in education -- but no actual children, experience or inexplicable failures to interfere with what proved to be my ignorance .
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