Posted on 11/27/2006 11:31:32 AM PST by kiriath_jearim
CHICAGO, Nov. 23 — On weekdays, during what are normal school hours for most students, the Billings children do what they want. One recent afternoon, time passed loudly, and without order or lessons, in their home in a North Side neighborhood here.
Hayden Billings, 4, put a box over his head and had fun marching into things. His sister Gaby, 9, told stories about medieval warrior women, while Sydney, 6, drank hot chocolate and played with Dylan, the baby of the family.
In a traditional school setting, such free time would probably be called recess. But for Juli Walter, the children’s mother, it is “child-led learning,” something she considers the best in home schooling.
“I learned early on that when I do things I’m interested in,” Ms. Walter said, “I learn so much more.”
As the number of children who are home-schooled grows — an estimated 1.1 million nationwide — some parents like Ms. Walter are opting for what is perhaps the most extreme application of the movement’s ideas. They are “unschooling” their children, a philosophy that is broadly defined by its rejection of the basic foundations of conventional education, including not only the schoolhouse but also classes, curriculums and textbooks.
In some ways it is as ancient a pedagogy as time itself, and in its modern American incarnation, is among the oldest home-schooling methods. But it is also the most elusive, a cause of growing concern among some education officials and social scientists.
“It is not clear to me how they will transition to a structured world and meet the most basic requirements for reading, writing and math,” said Luis Huerta, a professor of public policy and education at Teachers College of Columbia University, whose national research includes a focus on home schooling.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I homeschooled for a while, then allowed my children to go to a Christian school, and I also taught in a classroom. My goal through it all was to raise my children (or students) in the nuture and admonition of the Lord and to present them complete before God. I strongly believe that all (real) education is centered in the person and work of Jesus Christ and should guide the learner to seeing the Author of it all. My friend, a rocket scientist, sees God through the order and faithfulness of the physical laws which he (the scientist) is helping to uncover.
NAH...I JUST TYPE LOUD FOR THE HEARING IMPAIRED.....
YEP, JUST LIKE MY AURGUMENT....LOL....
Turn off your "Caps Lock" key. Yelling is rude.
Well yeah. I feel kind of bad now for not mentioning raising Christians , because to me that was a give. God gives everyone special talents. Learning to use those talents for the Lord's work is being productive.
HOW ABOUT "THIER KIDS KNOW HOW TO READ"
I HOPE YOU WEREN'T HOME SCHOOLED, THAT WOULD NOT BE A GOOD AURGUMENT FOR IT.
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LOL. No good ever comes from being the spelling cop.
I did. But take another example. Kids don't naturally gravitate to learning spelling and grammar and diagraming sentances. If you give my boy his head in directing his education, it will be memorizing the symbols of the various power rangers.
More power to the folks who unschool. I have no idea how they succeed.
Neither a spell-checker, nor a dictionary would have caught the error involved with the homophones "no" and "know." It was a proof-reading error and I believe it was confessed.
So the only way to raise Christian children is to use either a home-school or a private school? I hope you realize the absolute arrogance of that type of statement as many of us use public schools and have very strong Christian children who witness to other students and invite unchurched kids to attend services with them.
Oh oh. That would be "closely." :) It always happens at the worst time, no?
True... I was mostly speaking of the mispelling of "argument." My mistake in not being clear.
I'M SORRY I CAN'T SEEM TO FIND THE CAPS LOCK BUTTON...LET ME FIND SOMEONE PERFECT TO DO IT FOR ME.....
No. Sorry. I do it close. Closely just doesn't work for me. "Really closely"? You sure? No one in Texas talks like that:')
The unschoolers take schooling very seriously. The term is the problem.
Exactly, people hear unschooling and think uneducating. It's the process that is changed not the end result.
These kids are a little young for integral calculus or valence shell electron repulsion theory, and their parents don't necessarily intend to stick to the same educational program all the way through. When the kids are older and start developing interests like space flight, skyscraper design/construction, the parents will hopefully have the sense to suggest a course in advanced math or chemistry at the local community college or online. By that time the kids will probably have figured out that if they want to do some of things they're dreaming about doing, some formal coursework will be necessary, and they'll have their motivation.
Most of the better public schools have Advanced Placement courses in Calculus, Statistics, Physics, Chemistry, History and Languages well beyond the capability of parents to teach even if they do know what is in them.
HSers generally turn to public institutions of learning to teach such things if they are addressed at all.
TOO FUNNY....
LOOKED GOOD TO ME TOO UNTIL I HIT THE POST BUTTON....LOL...
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