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Funny, this same theme was taken up in a derogatory, manipulative "Dr. Phil" TV show last Friday.(A description, which is how I heard about it, is appended below). Coincidence?

Some other references, that provide a broader view than either the show or the NYT article:

http://www.unschooling.com/library/faq/index.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unschooling
http://www.holtgws.com/whatisunschoolin.html

One of the sources that encourages many to consider "unschooling" is a well-credentialed educator who now practices his profession in a non-institutional setting: http://www.altruists.org/static/files/The%20Six-Lesson%20Schoolteacher%20%28John%20Taylor%20Gatto%29.htm

His online free book "Underground History of American Education" is indexed starting at:
http://johntaylorgatto.com/underground/toc1.htm
A "quick tour" of this history, a kind of "readers digest condensed version", begins at
http://johntaylorgatto.com/historytour/history1.htm
Biographies of Gatto and his associates: http://johntaylorgatto.com/aboutus/index.htm

A recent (2005) book provides a taxonomy of reasons parents give for home educating:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1597815721/addhaircom-20?creative
So - Why Do You Homeschool? (Paperback)
by Mimi Davis

Here is the piece on the "Dr. Phil" show referenced above:

> Forwarding from another list. Thought you might be interested.
>
> The Dr. Phil show will be airing what homeschoolers in California
> think will be a very anti-homeschooling show this Friday. It was
> originally scheduled to be aired a month ago, but it was moved to the
> day after Thanksgiving. Some homeschoolers wrote in and complained
> after the taping, and the date was rescheduled, perhaps because they
> thought fewer people might be watching.
>
> Several California Homeschool Network local contacts were invited to
> be in the audience, and one of them wrote a detailed accounting that
> others who were there agreed was an accurate description of the
> experience. It was originally discussed on the CaliforniaHS Yahoo
> list, and Annette Hall put it on her website, so others could easily
> refer to it:http://localhs.com/scuttle/2006/10/great-school-debate.asp
>
> Dr. Phil's website now has a promotional video clip of the show you
> can watch to get an idea of how it's going to go: http://drphil.com/

I saw the show and it was not "manipulative" at all IMO. The father of the children had hated school as a child and was a HS dropout. The only answer the mother gave to any of Dr. Phil's concerns was "whatever the children want". In her case, I got the impression that the inmates were definitely running the asylum.

Home schoolers in the audience made the point that they use an approved curriculum and Dr. Phil was not at all negative about that approach. His point was that children as young as their children (all under the age of 10) don't really have the ability to predict the consequences of their actions and perhaps may not make the best choices of what to learn. I think this couple were pretty extreme examples of "unschoolers". They kept saying that they were giving their children the choice to go to public school or not, yet the childre had never been to public school to see what it was like. At their age, if you had given me the choice to go to school or to stay at home with my parents all day, I would have opted to stay at home also.

Another couple was on the show that disagreed about home schooling. The father was dead set against it, but the mother wanted to home school their children because she was deathly afraid that something would happen to them in public school due to the recent school shootings. She was going to use the more traditional home school curriculum and was going to make every effort to provide opportunities for socialization through other outlets. The main thing about this segment was that the husband and wife need to be in agreement about how their children will be educated.

I sent my children to public school because I was and still am a full time community college instructor and did not have the time (or the patience) for home schooling. I was not completely satisfied with their public school experience, particularly in the "whole language" method that they were using to teach reading at the time my girls (they are twins) were in school. Now, they both have associate degrees from the community college where I teach and one will complete her BS degree next spring. The other one is still working on her BA degree in elementary education while she is employed as a teaching assistant in a local elementary school. As an instructor, I have had the pleasure of having several home schoolers in my classes and without exception they were some of the best students that I ever had.

It is just my opinion that, although young children need the opportunity to express themselves, they also need some structure in order to become a productive member of society. In a job setting, an employee can not just show up whenever the spirit moves him and do whatever he wants to do. Even if he is self-employed or works from home, he must have some structure to his schedule so that he actually does "work" from home. In fact, my friends that work from home are actually much more disciplined than I am.

I am just glad that there are so many approaches (including charter schools and private schools) to the complicated subject of educating our children so that parents have more choices when deciding what is best for them and their families.