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Rebroadcast: Unschooling

AIR DATE: Monday, December 22nd 2008
Download the mp3 for this show.
What if kids never went to school?

Due to the difficult travel conditions this morning we have postponed our scheduled program about people bereaved by suicide. Instead, a special re-broadcast of our earlier show on unschooling.

Unschooling is a new approach to homeschooling - but one that explicitly rejects curricula and state guidelines. Parents follow a children's interests and expect learning will happen along the way.

Check out the very lively comment thread from the program and add your own thoughts and experience. Unschooling is not well documented but its popularity appears to be rising along with the clear rise in homeschooling.

Stay tuned for schedule updates - here and on the air!

I see the need to incorporate a kid's interests in education. Allowing a child to wander among topics and hope for the best seems unproductive. What if the kid doesn't like math - then will she never learn math? More formal, structured education curricula have been around for a long time and they seem to work pretty well.
Will Perkinson —
I'm a third grade teacher in the Beaverton School District. I agree with the philosophy behind "unschooling" -- having children follow their passions and to study/learn that which interests and motivates them. Within my classroom at Rock Creek my students have huge control over that which they want to learn/read/write about. However we do have state and district standards/agreements which guide my practice -- but such standards do allow me a great deal of freedom to teach broadly according to my students' interests. I encourage and guide my students to pursue their passions, while drawing upon my expertise and training in how children learn. My method of teaching is based on inquiry/questioning/constructing knowledge in a hands-on way. My students are engaged, eager and excited to learn. I'd like to tell the families who home school that the ways in which public schools are meeting the needs/interests of our students are not such a far cry from what they are doing at home!
ruddyma —
It seems to me that for many families, unschooling will be the equivalent of "Every Parent A Montessori Teacher." But I don't think every parent actually has that ability or skill. And so it may become "Every Parent An Ineffective Teacher."
Krasnaya Zvezda —

Comments are now closed.

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