http://news.yahoo.com/video/health-15749655/extreme-parenting-radical-unschooling-19218933



,this mentality is scarier to me than mandatory health insurance,,,,do people REALLY see no difference between a parent and a child anymore and feel no parental responsibility towards guiding and teaching?

I don't even know what to make of this! This is crazy.

no link, too lazy to type it in. Gotta go to work actually. Later i will.

terribly sad. I do believe in exploring alternatives to our current educational crisis. However, this is just down right lazy and destructive!

You can just highlight, copy-n-paste the URL ... or click this:
http://news.yahoo.com/video/health-15749655/extreme-parenting-radical-unschooling-19218933 :)

exactly,, I know educated individuals who have done EXCELLENT jobs at home schooling children...... but leaving children to guide, disipline and teach themself? scary stuff,,

School is much more than the academic piece. The newsperson
stated that to the teens, with respect to sports - school exposes
a person to various sports - to be exposed to it would reveal
whether the person would like it or not.

It's also about social interaction - to socially interact with just a
few people here and there isn't enough. While the rest of the
kids are in school, these kids are at home, or maybe at the mall,
but they aren't interacting with their social peers.

And to have no "hierarchy", no rules, what's up with that? These
parents are sooooo misguided. These kids will have a big surprise
on their hands when they get older and get out in the world, when
they discover there is structure to it all.

The question, "what about when you go to college"? That was a
good question - and the girl said, "I'll just get a book and learn it".
Ha! I'd like to see these kids' GED test scores when they get to
the "pre-college" age.

THe kids can't be blamed for this though - it's the parents who
are at fault (IMO) for choosing this direction for their kids.

That's not really what unstructured learning is about, though. As I understand it, the child will learn everything that a "normal" student would learn, only at a self-determined pace. Since the existing education system was designed to fail (see "The Underground History of American Education" by Gatto), parents are wise to seek better ways of teaching their children.

better ways of teaching, I absolutely agree with. These parents idea of what that is , however, seems quite insane.

also, see the following from ABC news.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Parenting/parents-defend-radical-unschooling-instilling-proper-values/story?id=10422823

"There are already unschoolers who are already in college, graduated, in the working world," Yablonski responded. "This might be a new concept for a lot of people …[ but] it has been in existence for a while."

She also said that her children's "pursuit of whatever kind of higher education they want is going to be based on what their specific goals are in life."

Indeed, one viewer wrote that because of unschooling, her children were free to pursue and finish bachelor's degrees by the time they turned 20. Yablonski said that unschooled children "have absolutely been successful. They are holding jobs, raising their families ... they are productive, positive influences in their communities."

Honestly, it is kind of rescuing them...I mean for how much utter **** is spewed from the current education system it is a wonder that anyone is still alive after going through that pathetic excuse for education.

thats throwing the child out with the bath water,,, that education system instills social skills and knowledge of things REQUIRED to remain competitive in society on economic and social levels,,,,

permitting children to 'fly solo' with NO GUIDANCE and NO STRUCTURE is strapping the bomb on them before sending them in the 'real world'

School just finds holes they can exaggerate in order for more money, more money better pay. Start inflicting the youth with a mass amount of learning disorders? Well, now we are talking big bucks...it is pathetic now, even moreso now than it was when I was in school and my counselor told my parents I had ADHD.

The education system now is more ****ed than it has ever been, teachers are getting fired for teaching...and the new breed of teachers is more incompetent than the students they teach. Rooted all to the education system, overhaul is not needed, we need a complete staff review.

Sorry, but the education system in this country is sub-par at best anymore...wasn't always that way, but with the slew of completly madeup diseases with the constant taunt of financing because of them creates even more ridiculous issues.

This education system destroyed the youth they were supposed to be teaching, crippled them with the stigma that they suffer from something that doesn't even exist. We should all bow to that kind of power, but not as it is being wielded now.

Ah, but interaction with friends and employers do this socialization that you claim that schools do (even though Gatto, Griffin, and other psychologists refute this) more effectively and at a net benefit to both society as a whole and the individuals involved (whereas gov'ment schools are always a net loss)

One thing I've learned about schooling is that all children to not learn in the same manner. School districts do not have the time or money to teach each child in the manner that suits their learning ability. Many people don't think about different learning styles.

As for socialization in our schools today. I don't know about you but I believe schools today are a scary place with guns, drugs, teachers who don't believe in God, and I guess I could get on a soap box on this subject. There are good homeschooling parents who really do get their children interacting with the community and such. Many people are just misinformed and may not even understand. There are also support groups for homeschoolers. I know because at one point in my life I pulled one of my children out of school when a teacher threw a desk against the wall and my child hid under beds and really was terrified to go back to school. He was an elementary student at the time.

We all have gifts and interests and it really does depend upon the student. Unschooling is really about finding that childs interests and letting him or her learn in their style of learning. As a child you instinctively want to learn and explore just as a child learns to crawl then walk. He or she is curious about their surroundings.

Not everyone is into sports anymore than everyone wants to learn a musical instrument. I'm sure parents can agree that not ALL interactions with other students is good either in public schools.
I do know that from my own experience, homeschooling does make you closer to your children. You are aware of what they are learning on a daily basis and you can nudge them along. With my other kids who were not homeschooled I really didn't know much of what they were doing on a daily basis.

I believe that people should be allowed to decide how their child is schooled. Often it can be a religous choice as well because many homeschoolers do teach their children about the bible. They teach their kids about every day living. You know I was surprised when my daughter who went to public school didn't have a clue how to do a check or checkbook. I had counted on the public school system to be teaching my child and didn't even realize she didn't know things she should have known.

What I don't like is people who just pass judgements on others when they have no clue what homeschooling is. You can even do charter schools from home where a child has a teacher and does their work online and yes they do have opportunities to meet other kids who are just like them. The thing is there are many ways to school a child, but when you grow up in public school often you don't think outside of the box unless you know someone who is doing it.

We are all individuals so what works for one child, may not work for another. I don't know much about unschooling and I guess I just preferred to have a set schedule because it just seemed easier for me to keep track of things. I do know that as a proactive parent who schooled from home you are doing things with your kids that other parents aren't. Each day can be very exciting and you really don't know until you try it. It's not easy, but what in life worth doing comes easy anyway? Homeschooling was a fantastic experience, although I can't speak about unschooling since I didn't choose that route.

Thanks for sharing, mystique!

No problem, heavenlyboy! You know I don't speak up very often, but when something hits home... well I can write a book! LOL

This morning I was thinking how it's easy to send our kids to public school and to me that seems lazy in a way. It's only because I now do know how much WORK is behind homeschooling.... coming up with goals for your child, submitting all you do to the school district, having your child evaluated, and then there is the day to day learning which sure isn't always easy. To me, homeschooling is far more work for a parent than sending their child to public school. Yet the bond between my one son and I is a much closer bond because I gave him my time each and every single day.

You know I didn't get into homeschooling because I just decided it was the route I wanted to go. I asked the school district to move my son out of the classroom where this teacher lost her cool but they refused. I felt I had no choice but to find an alternate path for him. My son has stomach aches all the time and he was a nervous wreck.

I can not tell you how many people sit back and think.... "The poor child has no socialization." This is the first band wagon most people jump on, but they don't think about all the bullies in school or negative experiences which a child may be subject to which includes peer pressure. Some may say that you are not preparing your child for the real world because this world can be a cruel place. All I can say is my son and I had some really happy and worth while experiences that no amount of tax dollars can recoup. We went on field trips and I did things I know I would not have done had he been in the public school district. He had an interest in dolphins at the time and he was able to focus on that and learn about it and the jobs. Would he have done this if he were in public school? I don't think so.

Perhaps some unschooling parents can give us some idea of what life is like for them. I think we might all be surprised. Yet I wouldn't pass judgement on unschooling due to one family that you see on the internet. That is the whole idea here.... to learn and to open yourselves up to learning new ways of doing things.
I'm sure we could easily pass judgement on the teacher who threw a desk and I could say the public school system is a nightmare due to ONE person. JMO

I am a big fan of homeschooling,, but I dont believe children come in the world KNOWING what it is they need to know. THey know what they find INTEREST in but they need to know more than that...they need structure, they need guidance, they need math and reading and writing and reading comprehension,,,,and these are not things they will typically SEEK to learn on their own. The parents in the piece, by leaving children to fly solo, are teaching them a dangerous precedent that the world revolves around them and all that is significant is what they 'want',,,,and that is an unhealthy attitude and detrimental to MOST who have it.

As for socializing, the thing that no one has mentioned is that there are plenty of activities that you can enroll your children in, including county sports. My oldest is home schooled as well as taking martial arts, guitar lessons, and going to the park in my apartment complex and playing with all the children that he would be seeing on a daily basis in school. He is an extremely social person, but also understands the difference between play time and work time. With home schooling i have been able to teach him things that he would never get in the public school system, such art history. How many 9 year olds can tell you the difference between impressionism, and realism? Or who Socrates was? Our public school system is failing because it is one of the first places that the government cuts funding from. We don't ever hold the teachers accountable for the children that are continually pushed through the system with out being able to read or write. Can were seriously say that no one noticed that the child was struggleing.

I also didnt notice anyone mentioning the pack mentality when it comes to the bullying in the public schools. Where are the adults that are supposed to keep our children safe in these schools? We all understand that not everyone is going to like us as people, but what happened to teaching our children "if you have nothing nice to say, then don't say anything at all."

I saw this on the news the other recently....how boinking STUPID can people get ....shaking head....