If you thought homeschooling was bad (and if you don't think homeschooling is bad, don't send me hate mail), now there's something called "unschooling."The Baltimore Sun article introduces us to a mother who takes her four unlikely-to-be-properly-employed sons to a park, where they "explored the park's craggy earth and tossed large and small rocks into standing water to test the laws of gravity."
See, I can't completely bash the home-schooling movement, even though many examples of this come from the severely fundamentalist crowd (and if you're a severe fundamentalist, don't send me hate mail!) and also because it's fun to do so, because I can see how a dedicated parent (one who is educated as well) can deliver a mostly well-rounded education to a child.
However...throwing rocks in a pond? Like, I can do that with my kids and send them to school.
I especially loved this little tidbit:
"It's different from sitting in front of a desk all day," said Provine's oldest son, Marcus, 8, adding that his friends in traditional schools say they would rather be unschooled.Uh...no shit. Let's see, Mr. Average 8-Year-Old Boy, would you rather...sit in a classroom for six hours or more, or enjoy "an outing at the park — or even hours spent playing a video game [, which could be] just as valuable a teaching resource as Hooked on Phonics."
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Guess the better alternative is put the student in a classroom and let the teacher beat your child with verbal abuse! Would changing schools be better ~ No for you get another yet teacher that is only there for the check and the summer off! Ok there are GREAT teachers out there! But for some reason they are the few that care about each child not just a room of kids that you tell what to do! I would have loved to stay home and home school ..maybe I would have learned more for being in school was just a social event where you either got bullied or were the bully! There are lots of ways to be SOCIAL! And does everyone keep the 10 friends they had in elementary! Doubt it! Why is it so hard for everyone to have an OPEN mind on a persons choice on how THEY raise THIER own children! This is supposed to be a FREE world,.. ya right! That is why WE have to have our kids in school and why WE have to pay taxes and why WE are not really FREE after all! We all have our own opinions but so many to judge others on how THEY live!
ReplyDeleteOnly MY OPINION! A mother of one in school and one home-schooled~ looking heavily into UN-SCHOOLING both of them!
PS There are plenty of people out there with an education from going to school that are working at Mc Donalds and others that are not working at all ... so the comment~ "four unlikely-to-be-properly-employed sons to a park"
ReplyDelete~is kind of rude for you can not say something you know nothing about! Oh and wether UN-schooling NON-schooling HOME-schooling better that than being bullied to death! Plus school is a waste of time.. if you are there to educate ..why do they need to have limits and regulations of how they learn!
Do YOU actually know anyone that is not working because they were home/un/non-schooled!I know plenty that are schooled and not working! You know you can learn how to read/write and math on the computer or from books from the store! Oh and most of the stuff the teachers do in the school ...they have a BOOK that they READ from and are told how to teach! Hmmm seems anyone can be a TEACHER then!
Sorry just had a little more to say in MY OPINION!! thanks and please judging others is not why you should have this blog! This is how it sounds!