Comments on: Way Leads on to Way

By: About That Bee Book — Here in the Bonny Glen

About That Bee Book — Here in the Bonny Glen — Thu, 14 May 2009 04:04:26 +0000

[...] It reminded me of the John Stilgoe book I kept raving about last year, Outside Lies Magic. Remember that one? What Stilgoe did for me with power lines and telephone poles, Rowan Jacobsen did for me with bees [...]

By: 2008 in Posts — Here in the Bonny Glen

2008 in Posts — Here in the Bonny Glen — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 16:23:44 +0000

[...] Stilgoe knocked my socks off and got me contemplating how Way Leads on to Way and how Every Face I Look at Seems [...]

By: minerva66

minerva66 — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 04:46:17 +0000

Great discussion. Not an unschooler myself, but have some leanings. Up through 8th grade I provided basics with workbooks and filled in with whatever was right in the moment. I have made my kids study some particular subjects they didn’t want to do, so they can be on a path to get into and pass college classes. Basically, you take it a step at a time. We are not very scheduled. Have fought the schedules always. This is not how I learned as a child, and the farther we go with the homeschooling, the more I feel the most important thing is to teach the Learning Process and very basic (reading, writing, but not so much grammar, math, research). And provide opportunities for exploration-whether it is outside, museums, art or writing groups, etc. If they know how to learn, they can learn on their own as adults. I love your post, because moments that affirm that homeschool is best are those linking moments. My kids look up things on the computer for fun. They discuss things for fun. I didn’t do that myself til college. And have been doing it ever since, so homeschool is natural for us. I think that is the way learning should be.

My oldest is 16 and 1/2 yrs. Most of his day is running websites, research, and blogging. I have let him go with it, because he has learned so much through it. We do some math and science together. Not spending much time on regular class work. Sometimes I feel guilty about it, but I’m not too worried about success for him. He’s going to make his own way, and he has confidence I never had.

My middle son is 8th grade and hasn’t found his direction enough to motivate himself. He wants everything to be easy, and it’s not. He sees what his brother is doing and wants what he has without the work. But to be fair, his brother was similar at that age.

By: Kathryn H

Kathryn H — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 20:23:17 +0000

I just wanted to reply to Ana Betty who asked how you deal with those voices in your head telling you that you need to get serious as the kids grow older, and that they won’t learn anyhting if you leave them to choose……I can’t say I have a solution to all that, but I certainly empathise with the feeling
Funnily enough, though, for me it was the pressure I was coming under to ‘get more structured’(more ’schooly’) with my older boys that really made me finally confront those voices. I’ve alwasy tried to be as little ’schooly’ as possible, though of course it creeps in. But when I had people telling me that now I had no choice but to ‘get serious’ and stop messing about, I was annoyed! I said to myself, look, I hate the whole school approach, I know it doesn’t work, so there is no way I am suddenly going to get all schooly!’ But what was the alternative? I felt I was staring into a black hole…..and that’s when I ended up here. I was fighting for the right- for the chance- to be with my kids and ENJOY being with them, but I needed some justification for that, to answer all those ‘voices’. I’m still working through all that, and these discussions are a great help!
Oh, and do not feel guilty about taking a day off to try to work all this out- it is so important that you do, and you need space to do that. If it’s any consolation, I have essentially taken the last 6 months off I couldn’t carry with status quo, but neither could I let go and happily unschool. I’ve been in a no man’s land for so long, and am trying to climb out of it! Hope this is of some small help
PS My boys LOVE Zoo Tycoon too!

By: Meredith

Meredith — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 14:27:07 +0000

Michele, this is SO good to read, I can imagine how proud you must be I’m not afraid of home education for high school anymore, not that I ever was, but when they’re so little, it seems so far away and untouchable, but examples such as yours make it all so much easier to work towards, thank you!

By: Michele Quigley

Michele Quigley — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 01:11:21 +0000

In my experience it prepares them well for college. My “unschooled” son is finishing up his second year of trade school/college (it’s a trade school that became a college) doing exactly what he wants to do – cabinet making – and doing it very well. I am so proud of him because he has worked hard and now has a valuable skill that will serve him well. Because the school he attends is now a college and not a trade school he was required to take many other classes (literature, math, science and history classes) and he has worked hard and done very well (top grades!) in all of them. His plan is to go on and get a business degree because he wants to own his own business.

He was unschooled through high school. He followed his interests and much to my disdain did very little writing (though always liked math). But he writes well now because he has to if he wants to get good grades and he does want that. He’s doing what he loves and he’s doing well because it was his choice and his way – the way that worked best for him. He’s turned into a very confident, reliable, mature young man. Can you tell I’m proud?

All that to say yes I think you CAN pursue this style of learning and still prepare your children for college. But it a lot of ways I feel it was more like he was preparing himself and because he had freedom to explore it gave him confidence to look at other options and think about what he truly wanted to do. I have to be honest though and tell you that he didn’t pursue this at first but instead went in the direction of the military. But things there fell apart (for which he is glad now) and it forced him to look at something else and when he did he found his joy.

By: Elaine

Elaine — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 23:47:52 +0000

I agree with much of what you’ve written, but have to ask about how it will impact future options. Is there a way to pursue this style of learning and still prepare your children for college, if that’s where their purpose takes them? How far do you “look ahead,” which I realize is the antithesis of living in the moment, but perhaps something parents will always do…