Unschooling NYC

Our first meeting this morning began at 9am, so after rousing the kids at 7:30, we went to the hotel restaurant for breakfast.  Lovely breakfast.  They had everything from waffles and eggs to oatmeal and yogurt and fruit.   On the not so lovely side, they also had a very large screen TV blasting CNN’s morning news, so as I sit down with my two slightly bleary-eyed kids, this is what I hear, “Murder in High Schools!   Is this a growing trend among bullies?”   Lots of overly concerned voices coming from the news anchor and her panel of ‘experts’, and then … Read more

Greetings from Lafayette, Louisiana!   Have I ever mentioned that I love to travel?  Anywhere?  I. Love. It.   And my kids do, too.  They start a trip and become these amazing people who are calm, entertain themselves for hours and (hardly) ever quarrel.   They are road (and sky) warriors.
For the last two years, all of our travel has been of the road variety.  It’s hard to believe, but Ben was only 4 years old the last time we flew.   We’re going to make up for it now, though – this week it’s Lafayette Louisiana and next week we’re off to … Read more

It is an indisputable fact that no matter how many precautions we may take – no matter how much we spend to ‘childproof’ our house (I always thought this was a strange expression – when you waterproof something, it keeps water out.  Does that mean when you childproof your house, you’re trying to keep the children out?), accidents are going to happen.   I’ve been reading more of Lenore Skenazy’s book Free Range Kids, which spends quite a bit of time pointing out how ridiculous and over done most of these ‘safety’ measures are.                         Inspired by her hilarious rant, I went … Read more

For those of you who don’t know, Mark Frauenfelder is the editor of “Make” magazine, devoted to do-it-yourself projects including everything from a home-made stereo system to an LED tank top to an origami spinner.   He also has a new book out titled, Made By Hand:  Searching for Meaning in a Throwaway World, which I have yet to read but which I will be taking with me on our upcoming trip to England.     Mark also attends every Maker Faire event.  Maker Faire is a gathering of do-it-yourselfers who come together to show off their crazy amazing things.  Kids and adults … Read more

“What about Math?”  “How will you teach your kids Algebra and Geometry?”  “Do you worry that they won’t learn Math?”

As I’ve said before, I don’t worry all that much, anymore, about Math.  But sometimes it seems everyone else is obsessed with it.  It is the number one question I get when I talk about unschooling.   Other homeschool families spend a lot of time making sure their kids are doing math, discussing it and comparing math curricula.   Our schooled friends are the same, endlessly talking about math struggles and homework.   What is all the fuss about math?   Do we all … Read more

John Taylor Gatto talks a lot about the fact that the U.S. Dept. of Education is a huge jobs project and one of the largest employers in the country.  Try to reform the system, make it more efficient and you would cause a lot of people to lose their jobs.   I’m beginning to think this extends to other professions as well, who make a good living off of all the syndromes and psychoses with which school children are diagnosed.   I wrote a while ago about Preschool Depression.   Well, yesterday the Times printed an article in its’ Health section titled, “When … Read more

The lure of science experiments is something that for some reason, I cannot resist.   I have visions of us creating these amazing things, of the kids being enthralled and wanting to know ‘how does that happen?’.  So every now and then, I get sucked in to buying a science kit, or in this case a complete basics Physics and Chemistry ‘curriculum’.   Yes, I know, it flies in the face of unschooling, but I thought I’d just leave it lying around (strewing, as Sandra Dodd calls it) and one day Maya or Ben would say, “Hey, can we do this?” and … Read more

The decision to homeschool or unschool your child or children means you enter the ‘fringe’.   You are a radical to some, a freak to others, and just incomprehensible to most.    I’ve read comment boards on line in which one person called homeschooling parents ‘megalomaniacal control freaks’ who are only interested in ‘programming’ their kids.   Others are convinced that all homeschoolers are part of an ultra religious sect (you pick the religion) whose goal is to keep them away from the evils of mainstream society.   Still others believe we are dooming our children to a lifetime of social ineptitude.    Even people … Read more

I had an email this morning from a friend of mine who teaches at Ivy Tech, a college in my hometown of Columbus IN.  He told me that he has several students who were homeschooled, and the one area in which they struggle is essay writing.   None of them had ever done it and didn’t know how.   He encouraged me to make sure that my kids know how to write essays.

I thought a lot about it and decided that from one aspect he is correct.   If either of my children decides they want to attend college then it would … Read more

Have you ever taught yourself how to do something or set a goal for yourself that no one else knew about?   I’m sure you have.  (I’ll bet almost all of you taught yourself some aspect of using the computer or smart phones, whether it was texting, emailing, surfing the Net, etc.)  And doesn’t it feel good when you get it right, or achieve the goal?

I taught myself how to quilt.  Or I should say, I wanted to learn how to quilt, so I went out and found the resources and information I needed in order to learn it.  I … Read more