Radical Unschooling

Radical unschooling is just that, radical! Some swear by it and some swear that it creates basically naieve adults that have no knowledge of anything outside of their own sphere. These are opinions of course. What you need to realize is that there are as many ways of homeschooling as there are homeschooling families. There's no one right way to do it, and there's no law against combining different philosopies and approaches to customize the experience for your own family. In fact, no matter what they use, most homeschoolers will tell you that THAT is the primary benefit of homeschooling. Customization.

If you're considering doing "both" by which I assume you mean some school-at-home and some unschooling, then what you are really trying to put together is what is known as a "classical" education, which is what I chose for my kids. I feel that it combines the best of all worlds. It's also a time-honored method of childhood education with a fabulous track record. Most of the founding fathers of our great nation were educated at home, by their parents in the classical style. It created the great free-thinking, but deeply ethical and principled men that made our wonderful nation possible. It is the traditional approach to educating children and it's tested and true.

What I do might look like unschooling (not radical by any means, but mild unschooling) to most people. My son and I explore what interests him and I use these things to broaden his education in all subjects. I don't believe that education can be divided up into arbitrary "subjects" when the world is obviously a wonderful conglomerate of every "subject" in every way, and compartmentalizing it invalidates the value of the whole. My son and I have what I call "conversations" that cover practically every subject in one shot and often involve sketched diagrams or handwritten lessons and explanations along with some more formal practice with things like math.

For example: we were reading Amy's Eyes by Richard Kennedy (a WONDERFUL book by the way) and there was mention of Scurvy. My son asked what that was, so I explained that it was a disease and what the common causes and symptoms were. I didn't know too much about it though, so we looked it up online and we learned a TON of stuff. We learned about Hippocrates and the Hippocratic oath (Hippocrates was the first to "discover" or "categorize" scurvy.) Of course we couldn't talk about Hippocrates without talking about ancient Greece and the roles of the physicians and philosophers of the time (history). We also learned that a vitamin C deficiency is the main cause of scurvy and why it was most common among sailors (health). We learned about modern food preservation techniques (science) and we spent some time rooting through the pantry looking at preserved foods that could fend off scurvy (some reading and health again). Next time we were in the store we ran some math problems to see which was most cost effective: buying preserved foods rich in Vitamin C, or buying fresh fruits and vegetables (which also led to a lesson in fractions, decimals, percentages, division and multiplication when we got home). We wanted to know which foods have the most vitamin C, so we looked that up too and found out that strawberries have a TON of vitamin C. We made sure to talk about it again the next time we were picking strawberries for my annual several batches of strawberry freezer jam and talk about how likely it is that the jam I make every year contributes to our super healthy constitutions all winter long (I make enough jam to last at least a year every spring). etc... etc...

This is one example of many things that were going on at that time. During that time period we were also learning about vulcanism (which started with a discussion about Hawaii which is where my son was born), which led to a discussion of tectonic plate action, which lead to a discussion of the solar system (because of the volcanoes that have been discovered on other planets and moons and us speculating about how they might have been formed), which lead to a discussion of astrophysics (my personal favorite hobby), which lead to a discussion of theory v. fact and the scientific method, which lead to a discussion of what empirical evidence is and where it is found (mainly in the fossil record) which lead to a discussion about geology and so on....

My son is only 8 years old.

So no, we're not working out of a text book or a pre-packaged curriculum, which some would consider "unschooling" but I do not believe that we are unschooling because we are constantly learning, day in and day out and there are a few more formal type lessons in there for the more technical stuff. It is a classical approach to education in which the parent is a "facilitator" in a child directed education. I offer my experience, knowledge and research skills and we learn together about what he's interested in. Of course I bring up a lot of things that he hadn't thought of, but that's my job.

At any rate, I'm not too sure where I was going with all of this! lol! Maybe I'm just trying to give you something to chew on. Of course, the most important thing is to observe your children closely and do what helps THEM the most.

Best of luck! I think you're making a fantastic decision with benefits that are going to resonate in your family for generations!

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Edit: Oh yeah, and my FAVORITE part....how much do you think my 2yo is picking up just from "contamination"? Isn't that GREAT to think about? :)

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And I'd also like to disagree with the previous poster. You don't have to "stick to a schedule" or "plan lessons". I certainly don't. We spend less that 3hrs. a week on formal "lessons", the rest of the time is spent in daily life, allowing the world to teach us the things we need to know. I'm very relaxed. I let my son watch TV and play video games, he stays up very late for an 8yo, but he sleeps late too, so he's on a good sleep schedule, it's just not what most people consider "normal" since it's shifted around to later than most kids his age have. Don't be afraid to shuck labels and think outside the box. Also, my son has plenty of "extra-curriculars". They are out there and you don't have to send your kids to government school to get them.

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And yet ANOTHER edit! lol!. In regards to socialization, please read The Socialization Trap by Rick Boyers. The reason most homeschooled children have a hard time with "peer interaction" with government schooled children is that government schooled children are not learning real world socialization techniques, so homeschooled kids find it hard to relate to them. Government schooled children are in an artificially narrow, age segregated environment all day and are basically raised by their peers. Most kids graduating these day (most, ladies, not ALL) don't even know how to talk to someone that isn't their own age. I've seen it time and again with my own two eyes! I want better for my kids. Read the book, it'll open your eyes. My son has no problem holding a respectful conversation with anyone that will talk to him. THAT is real socialization!

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Homeschooling is exactly that...schooling at home. You, as the parent have the right to do it anyway you want as long as you follow the law. The laws are quite easy to follow. We school 180 days as required, probably more. Some days are heavier than others and some are outings, just like a public school child would receive. I laughed when I saw a day in the NYC school system spent learning how to care for puppies (I think it was on an episode of Reading Rainbow). My kids, at 7 and 10, had already assisted in delivering a breech colt and couldn't understand why kids their age had never held a puppy before....

My husband and I feel our primary goal is to teach our children to think and reason. The academics are taught, but education is so much more than simply passing the tests. I teach all the required subjects but they may not get taught the grade year that the school system specifies. I try to teach to my children's enthusiasm. I have seen wonderful results. My oldest just graduated from high school and has had her university adviser for her doctorate program for over a year now.

You need to choose the path that you think will be most beneficial to your children in order to succeed in this world. This needs to be your definition of success, no one else's.

God bless,

M.

Oh yeah, sure. Radical Unschooling is as well known a philosophy in the homeschooling world as Cry It Out or Lamaze is in the Parenting world.

To note: There's Unschooling & there's Radical Unschooling. They are very very different from each other. Radical Unschooling is extremist. Like christianity or islam vs extremist christianity or extremist islam.

We unschool in part. LOL, as Dyreka said... there are as many ways to homeschool as there are homeschooling families. As long as we're on this track... just ditto Dyreka. ((lol...edits included!))

The names of the philosophies can get a bit confusing/overwhelming in the beginning. Don't sweat it. Just for example we're "eclectic" which means we borrow bits from here and there as we like them. To be technically accurate ;) we would be "Montessori - Charlotte Mason - Thomas Jefferson Education - Classical - Unschooling - Collegiatesque - Unit Study - Homeschoolers". Shrug. What works works. We, also, are very relaxed. To simplify it we're about a 40/40/20 split between Montessori/CharlotteMason/EverythingElse+ :) :) :) The way Dyreka explained her days and "conversations" is soooooooo dead on close to what we do I'm actually sitting here however many thousand miles away laughing. I know several hundred HS'ers in person, and a few thousand online. I can count on one hand the number who HS in a way similar to the way we do. We do use some curriculums (for latin & jumping off points in other subjects). But yeah. We all do things differently. It's part of what is really amazing about HS'ing. We get to tailor things to our kids and our families so that they WORK.

Here's the best site I've found for the philosophy breakdown.

http://www.homeschooldiner.com/guide/intro/main.html

Because each link is written by those who practice the philosophy, it's free of negative bias. (LOL and we've ALL got negative bias. Just look at how I compared radical unschooling to radical religions... I don't personally like extremist things, and it shows in my word choices and analogy. As far as I know not a single radical unschooler has ever put 10's of thousands babies on pikes in Ireland like the puritans did, or bombed buildings like al quaeda... but because I chose those 2 extremists groups... you got my not-so-subtle bias towards. <laughing> Which I'm pointing out so my good friend Jen doesn't thwack me upside the head when she next sees me. Jen IS a radical unschooler and her kids are grand. One is going into aeronautics and the other into stage/theatrical makeup. Just because someone doesn't LIKE a thing, doesn't mean it can't work fantabulously. To each their own.) But back on target: The site is fantastic, and has reeeally good links to get a person conversant with philosophies and lingo.

The parent site http://www.homeschooldiner.com is a killer resource in and of itself.

To talk with more people in the trenches, as it were, check out yahoo groups. I think I'm on 10 or 15 homeschooling boards there. Some philosophical (like secular charlotte mason, or montessori), some developmental (2e homeschooling, or adhd homeschooling), some that are completely off topic, etc. Kind of like a virtual teachers' lounge. A great place to learn, vent, bounce ideas off of people, get recommendations, find out what's going on in the world, etc.

I am not familiar with the book you mention. But I do have several friends who homeschool, and I used to teach in public schools. So here goes:

Before you decide to homeschool, take a look at yor relationship with your kids. Do they tend to push back a lot, or is there a lot of power struggle going on? Or are they quite compliant? Most kids will do more for someone who is not their mom. This is one reason why I send my kids to public school; we are quite often butting heads and I know that if I was their teacher, too, it would be a constant battle.

Next, go to your state's office of education (call them or go to their website, actually) and get all of the requirements they have for homeschooling. It varies from state to state, but there are checks and requirements to make sure the children are really learning and keeping up with their public-schooled counterparts (usually it's much less that what a home-schooling mother will teach, but make sure you know all the hoopes you'll need to jump through).

Next, take a look at yourself. I'll admit it - I'm a mother who needs some time with kids gone! Some mom's are GREAT with kids there all the time and being responsible to teach them, but not all moms are. How willing are you to make a keep a schedule, to stick with schooling when it's schooling time, to educate yourself on any subjects you aren't yet a master of, and to teach as many lessons on the same topic as you have kids? (No, you can't teach a 5 year old and an 8 year old the same math lessons, without modifying at least). Homeschooling takes a LOT of work.

On the other hand, my homeschooling mommy friends LOVE what they do. Their kids are amazing and can do a lot of different things. They really believe that they are giving their kids a better education than the schools do (and I believe they are right up there, at least). And I see that they network and help and support each other.

I do agree that both "types" is the best way to go. I send my kids to public school and they get so much there that I can't give (bell choir, vocal choir, jump rope team, cup stacking, power hour with many varied activities, reader's theather, art, full-immersion Spanish, etc). [Okay, maybe I could if I really worked at it, but these teachers etc are trained profesionals]. Then they come home and I see where I'd like them to grow a little more in one direction or where they aren't quite getting a concept and fill in those gaps. But mostly I can be the mom first and not the teacher, so we can play and have fun and nurture their emotional growth (and morals and learning to make choices and stuff they can't teach fully in school). I honestly believe that if I was teacher and mom, my relationship with my kids would suffer and they wouldn't respect me as much (again, that's just me, other moms feel it makes them a better mom to be teacher too).

Anyway, sorry this is so long, I hope it helps you.

Hello Gibby,

I've heard of "radical unschooling", seen the Good Morning America segment, read the voluminous online comment firestorm which followed the GMA spot, and as an unschooler (defined as not tied to anyone's curriculum), I recommend you read the book, but don't stop there. Read Charlotte Mason and John Taylor Gatto too. Read the weekly homeschooling blog roundup called the "Carnival of Homeschooling". Through the CoH, you'll learn of many very helpful online and local resources, and see through the eyes of homeschoolers of varying philosophies. Education is good; and as the teacher, we must know our subject much better than our students.

At the end of the day, all the homeschoolers I know use their own personal mix of philosophies, even those who belong to a government charter school, and even those who use a particular curriculum. We all mix it up a bit; nobody I know is "pure" in their approach to homeschooling. Like an earlier commenter said, after educating yourself, you'll choose methods and materials which are suited to your children and to your own strengths and talents.

Enjoy your journey, and congratulations for taking responsibility for your children's education.

I haven't heard of his method, but I did 'unschooling' for 3 years with both of my kids. We'd go to the store, "I have $5 to spend on apples, how many pounds can I get?", "If meat is $2/lb, how many pounds can I get for $11?", things like that. We'd have mini-quizzes in the car while running errands, where they'd take turns naming 3 mammals, seeing who runs out of ideas first. Things like that. I'm not sure how it'd work as the kids get older, but we really enjoyed it a lot.

Please don't judge radical unschooling, or the Martin family, based on the recent mainstream media coverage. Both the GMA and Nightline stories were biased to the extreme, grossly misrepresenting and oversimplifying the philosophy, with the selective editing and prejudiced commentary purposely skewing everything to be as shocking as possible.

Both Dayna Martin and the parents interviewed by GMA (Christine Yablonski and Phil Biegler) wrote blog posts about their experiences with those shows; the posts are extremely informative, especially regarding what was edited out. Their blogs are also an excellent way to get to know the families better "first hand". :-)

"Nightline Truth"
http://thesparklingmartins.blogspot.com/2010/06/nightline...

"What we wish the media shared about us..."
http://livingtheunschoolinglife.blogspot.com/2010/04/what...

"The Questions I Wish They Had Asked Us"
http://livingtheunschoolinglife.blogspot.com/2010/06/ques...

Just make sure if you homeschool that you address the socializing component and make sure that you do some outside classes or other things to give your child/children exposure to dealing with peers and working cooperatively( oh and being patient) I have seen a lot of homeschool kids that end up doing ok academically, but who struggle a LOT with peer relations and just the social aspects of interactions. Good luck

I started reading a lot of "methods" including unschooling, and while I have not read Dayna Martin's book, I do think that SOME child-led learning is good. For example, my daughter suddenly got an interest in space so we studied the planets and went to the planetarium. It was so easy to teach her about it because she was interested! She just soaked up the knowledge. I'd much rather have her be interested in a subject than try to force her to learn something she really doesn't want to. Then it's not learning, it's forced memorization.

She does not have a choice on learning language arts or math. However, I do try to make it interesting for her; we read books she picks out as well as going over the classics. I try to introduce math in a real-world setting so it's more than just numbers, it's something she sees she can use.

My approach has not been total unschooling, but I try to hit her interests. It just makes it easier. I also find that answering questions she poses makes for great lessons, we too have researched things at the library and internet just from a simple questions she had. She loves it!

I still laugh when people worry about socialization--as if that was the main reason we send our kids to school! I love how my daughter can get along with kids of all ages: younger, older and her own age.

Good luck! I think if you also broaden your research to different styles of homeschooling you'll find the combination that works for you!