Response to segment on unschooling by an unschooler

[HtownTomboy]

Public school for me was just a little better than jail (never been to jail though)

You're forced to be in a limited space with people you don't know and most of them act like animals, horrible food on plastic or styrofoam trays, being told when and what you can say, do, or wear... yeah my kids are definitely getting unschooled just with tutors in language, music, health, or whatever they're strongly interested in

[tribblesnz]

Thanks for uploading this - and all your other videos (that I'm so going to check out!). I am 36 years old, and self-educated myself on a lot of stuff despite going to school. I'm pretty sure that we'll unschool our son (who is not yet a year old) but feel I need to work up the nerve for standing up to "the people" around us (including his grandparents). Your voice is helping. Thanks!

[TheLibertyMinute]

Thank you very much for sharing this. I'm about to send you a message about Unschooling. I hope to hear back from you when you have time!

[asubjectiveopinion]

We should regard schools as a safety net for those who lack the time or inclination to educate their children themselves.

They are like welfare, it's nice to know that it's there for those in need, but I hope I never have to use it.

[paxguerilla]

I homeschooled, mainly self-taught until college, half of which I did out of classrooms. So I am interested, why do you choose the term unschool rather than homeschool? The theory and experiences sound very similar. I now have 3 children, and they also learn at home. I am not really fond of either term, we simply say that we "learn at home."

[goatprincess84]

@paxguerilla I use unschool because if I say homeschool, people think that means doing "school" at home. Which was not what I did...unschooling isn't really the best term, I agree. Why choose a word that only implies what you're NOT doing? It's better to use a word that implies what you ARE doing. But since the unschooling definition matches what I did, that's what I use. I'm all for saying "learned outside of a classroom" or something along those lines though.

[fashiongurl37]

This is my first year in s a public school I am in 8th grad; I have always gone to privet school with small classes, I'm also Dyslexic. Two thing I really, really, do not like about the public school is that we sometimes have lunch at 10:00 in the morning! That is not lunch time, when I am home I normally eat lunch between 12:00 in the afternoon, to 3:00 3:30. (WTH) having lunch at 10:00, and having no other times to eat in till you get home. The other thing we can NOT wear hats inside.

[StupidTalkingTree]

just have to say, you are amazing. I've been unschooled since I was born, I'm almost 14. Never stepped foot inside of a school. Just recently started researching unschooling after going to NBTSC last week. & I didn't know about the good morning America video until tonight. & I'm just as pissed about it as you are, it makes unschooling sound like all it does is dumb kids down, & that's sure as hell not true. Well, just wanted to say you're really amazing. Thanks for making this video. <3

[bsenghor1]

YOU ARE THE LADY!!!!!!!!

[angelique1795]

I found your insight very interesting, inspiring, and informative. I have always wondered about unschooling and how it works...thank you.

[spongebobjazzpants]

if i'm interested in something at school and the bell rings, then i'll go home and study it more. it's not like my curiosity about a subject stops when the bell rings. i've learned A LOT of things in school, some useful, some aren't, but i've learned A LOT of things on my own outside of school. not going to school altogether will make you miss a lot of experience. and wont you get bored at home all day?

[goatprincess84]

@spongebobjazzpants bored? oh heavens no. check out my video, "what do you do?" . Going to school can make you miss out on a lot of experiences as well. Sure, I missed out on the "typical" school experience, but I got that in college...and frankly from what I've heard, I don't feel shafted that I missed out on high school. but I don't mean to say that school kills curiosity entirely, or for everyone. My intent is to defend unschooling, not knock school.

[shasanni]

u have beautiful eyes young lady =)

[jamiedoer2]

I don't understand why people are convinced that a lack of schooling makes me a social loser. School isn't the only place I'll ever have to interact with humans. There are the librarians at the library, the employees at GameStop, the people I pass on the street every day, and the people I'm in Youth Orchestra with, etc. Besides.. Am I REALLY the one with bad social skills if other people think sitting next to someone for eight years makes them a friend?

[goatprincess84]

..."curious in a school setting" sorry. Typing on an iPhone is no good for edits :-)

[goatprincess84]

@omorosepanya, also "children who are naturally curious like Kennedy"....having worked with kids from 0 - 19 I can safely say I've never met a kid that wasn't naturally curious....that is, at least not until they were forced into public schools that squashed their innate curiosity. Not that you can't be curious, but it certainly does a lot to tamp it down.

[goatprincess84]

@omorosepanya my family is by no means affluent, my parents both work and are quite middle class on the financial spectrum. I can't offer any stats on unschoolers because there aren't many, but as in all walks of life there will be variance...I'm no genius, but I'm smarter than your average cookie. Some unschoolers will be smarter, others, less. What I want to get across is that unschooling is not an impediment to learning, tho it might work better for some than others.

[OmorosePanya]

Also I'm not trying to be hateful or anything so I apologize if I am coming off that way. I just want to learn more about it.

I am legally blind btw so I think your career path is awesome. :D

[OmorosePanya]

So how many unschoolers are like you? How many unschoolers have parents with options like yours? And what happens to the students who DON'T learn the things they should at least learn?

I wonder if there are any valid statistics about their academic and vocational ability as compared to their formally educated peers, because I refuse to believe that most children (in my country at least) are in environments like yours.

Also, you should speak louder :D

[GraceAlone71]

Thanks so much for making this video. I want to unschool my two teenagers, and four year. It's a real inspiration to hear from parents, and unschooled adults who've through it. =)

[myheartsingz]

let's create ever better ways to help our children BLOSSOM at every level, in BODY, MIND & SPIRIT! Let's take part of the Pentagon's budget and dedicate the most brilliant , loving, empathic BE*ings to guiding the way! ( and use the rest of the budget for other good deeds!) Get rid of the prison/industrial system known as "public education."

[Celephaith]

But maybe I'm wrong here. Maybe we all are. Is it possible that we're in denial of the truth? Is it possible that some kids are simply too stupid to succeed in school, and no matter what policies we try to implement in our school system, they will ultimately fail because we neglect to include the "dumbass" factor?  Maybe the idea that anyone can do good in school if they just "apply" themselves is a mass-deluded fantasy we tell ourselves because the truth is too horrible to bear.

[Celephaith]

Public school reminds me of a large corporation. Policy comes from a board and must be followed in Borg fashion by every school within the collective. There's no room for individuality, creativity, or flexibility. What works for one school, by the laws of statistics will certainly not work for them all. It is a sadly flawed system that needs a major overhaul. Moronic ideas like No Child Left Behind and teacher pay based on their student's performance have not helped whatsoever.

[RhiSaLinn]

You put together a wonderful and articulate video. You sound like a fascinating person and I'm glad your parents invested so much time and energy into helping you become the person you are. Not to mention the time and energy you invested in yourself.

[ftmichael]

Thanks for this awesome video! I love hearing adult unschoolers tell their stories, since they're the 'evidence' that unschooling works, and the more evidence we put out there, the less people will be able to say that successful unschoolers are isolated cases.

Regarding learning languages: sounds like your Spanish is going well, but if you want another resource, notesinspanish[dot]com has a load of podcasts that I've found v helpful. Also radiolingua[dot]com has a load of languages on offer.

[OmorosePanya]

@ftmichael My problem is that the "evidence" tends to be too biased. Either only talking about the successes or the failures. I think it's good for children like Kennedy(sp?) who are naturally curious and have parents who can so heavily invest in their children, but are most unschooled children like her? Are most unschooled children as smart and successful as her and her brother?

How many parents are even capable of pulling that off, I wonder.

[ftmichael]

@OmorosePanya Yes, most unschooled kids are like that. Go to an unschooling conference and pay particular attention to the teenagers and grown unschoolers; you will be very impressed indeed with what unschooling has done for them. :)

[OmorosePanya]

@ftmichael I'd prefer stats based upon a representative, random sample. I believe there are an estimated 150k unschooled students and I doubt that most of them them attend a particular conference.

So I'm guessing that the majority of successful unschooled children (in the USA at least) come from fairly affluent families? I can't fathom how the lower-middle class, the working class, and the underclass, which constitutes over 70% of the country, can make this work.

[ftmichael]

@OmorosePanya That's exactly why you should be talking to actual unschooling families - many are working class and lower-income. They'll be more than happy to tell you how it works for them. There are Yahoo groups galore where you can learn more - the unschoolingbasics group comes immediately to mind. If you want to learn more, start there. As far as I know, all the educational studies out there are on schooled kids. As more unschoolers become adults, maybe someone will conduct a study.

[ftmichael]

@OmorosePanya Actually, check out some of Dr Peter Gray's stuff. He's a psych professor at Boston College who's conducted & published research in comparative, evolutionary, developmental, and educational psychology; published articles on innovative teaching methods and alternative approaches to education; and is author of Psychology (Worth Publishers), a college textbook. He's also author of a regular blog for Psychology Today Magazine, accessible at psychologytoday[dot]com/blog/f­reedom-learn .

[IrishFaery2]

Bravo! Thank you for sharing this.

[Abacuseducation]

Kudos! Nicely done.  Public schooling is inevitably mediocre, but home and unschooling is whatever you make it -- which can be very good, as in your case, but not everyone is so lucky. It's still very hard to do worse than public school.

[goatprincess84]

@Abacuseducation thanks! I very much agree...if I'm going to make a mess of my education, I'd rather do it myself than have someone else do it for me :-) Unschooling has, at the very least, imparted a great deal of personal responsibility on my shoulders.

[Pentazoid111]

@goatprincess84 So , what period has been your greatest magnitude of intellectual growth throughout your unschooling career?

[goatprincess84]

@Pentazoid111 it would be really hard to say. I don't feel I've ever experienced a time in my life when I wasn't learning all the time. I still consider myself an unschooler in some ways - I started circus school this year, along with continuing my work on Spanish and mixing musical tracks and recording an album with my friends - all new stuff, all exciting! it was the same when I was younger. each year, some new learning experience presented itself.

[goatprincess84]

Thanks for the encouragement, both of you!

[leavesof3]

Thank you for posting this.

[Frenchy7652]

Smart young lady thank you