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Just watched - that unschooling family seemed SO unhappy! I saw almost no smiles the entire time they were on. I suppose some of that might be on-camera nervousness, but they really didn't act like most unschooling families I know. I've never heard of that family. Not that I've heard of every family out there! But I know, or have heard of, some families from online discussion groups and conferences.
I did think they were enthusiastic at the science center. That is one huge difference I've noticed between schooled kids and unschoolers. When I've gone into schools, or have presented to school groups, the kids seem almost dead - very little life or engagement going on. The kids who DO show engagement almost invariably get punished or called out for "being disruptive". Asking a question is disruptive? Being excited about what they're learning is disruptive? Sadly, in my (admittedly limited) experience, yes.
However, the unschooling groups I've worked with have been JOYFUL and full of life and interest. They're there because they WANT to be, not because a teacher or parent told them they had to be.
Overall, that family seemed... down. Even their house looked sad.
I agree on both points. That family seemed like they just gave up....on education, motivation, and combing their hair. Not a good example of anything. And yes, schools do have a way to zap enthusiasm right out of kids. I've chaperoned field trips and even I am bored out of my mind or crazy trying to curb misbehavior, in the very same places that I take my kids to and we have a blast.
I got to the part where the family was at the pageant. I didn't care to any of the families in particular, but the pageant family (well, the mom) especially got on my nerves. One moment she's saying "we have to do what's best for our kids!" and the next moment, when asked about a college fund she responds that it's way more fun to watch her girls on stage than save for their futures. Nice...
While I respected the football family quite a bit for giving their son a safe environment off of the streets, I strongly disliked that they put SO.MUCH.STOCK into their son's football. If (heaven forbid) he has a "career" ending injury, what happens then? His whole life and future is ruined, all in the name of trying to get to the NFL.
The tiger parents were a over the top, but there wasn't anything they did (granted I didn't get to the end so I have no idea what I missed) that was extremely questionable.
The unschooling family was just sad. When the son was mindlessly playing the video game talking about how he was learning hand eye coordination I was a bit perplexed. Maybe an unschooler can clarify- is this what unschooling is really about? Letting kids do whatever they please because they might possibly be learning something? It just seems very silly to me, but maybe this family was just a bad example...
When the son was mindlessly playing the video game talking about how he was learning hand eye coordination I was a bit perplexed..
I don't suppose he had an end goal in mind for all that hand eye coordination?
Were I his Mother the Unschooler I'd also be making Junior look into what he could do with it. Become a surgeon. Mechanic. Butcher. The guy who pulls out the bad English muffins as they roll past on the assembly line.
But I guess that wouldn't pass the "unschooler" sniff-test? Too much interference?
Dateline: Crete
A self-proclaimed "unschooling" family of six, found dead at the bottom of the cliff. Says cousin Amos, back in the states, "Well little Johnny said he wanted to know where the term "cretin" came from, since he heard some kid on the playground call him one. So they packed up their bags and flew to Crete. Learning experience, they said - never did think SueEllen had all her poker chips stacked too neat."
According to reports, the Smith family arrived without incident, but also without luggage. Apparently, they didn't check thoroughly enough when they booked a reservation at the Bite-Me Inn - they picked the sand-trap because the name, in Greek, sounded nice. Bite-Me is known amongst the citizens as a notorious drug-smuggling house; when the luggage arrived in their lobby, the "porter" (one of the runners, Costa), brought it to his mom, who likes fancy American clothes.
The Smith family head, George, a willowy bespectacled man who enjoyed tinkering with electronics in the garage and organic kale farming, enquired about the luggage. Less than 24 hours later, the entire family was dropped off the cliff, near a now-defunct mizithra manufacturing plant.
If only they had done some -actual- schooling to learn, from a texbook, or even a simple google search online, they would have discovered that the word "cretin" has nothing to do with the island of Crete, and in fact derives from an iodine deficiency that causes spastic behavior.
If only they had done some -actual- schooling to learn, from a texbook, or even a simple google search online, they would have discovered that the word "cretin" has nothing to do with the island of Crete, and in fact derives from an iodine deficiency that causes spastic behavior.
What an odd little post! Most people I know would check google.
Hmm... Writing a post that has nothing to do with reality or the subject at hand, featuring the death of an entire family? You might want to check your iodine levels, Anon. Well, actually, your mother's iodine levels. If only you had done some -actual- unschooling (i.e., learning without coercion) and researched thoroughly, you would have found cretinism has to do with maternal hypothyroidism.
I got to the part where the family was at the pageant. I didn't care to any of the families in particular, but the pageant family (well, the mom) especially got on my nerves. One moment she's saying "we have to do what's best for our kids!" and the next moment, when asked about a college fund she responds that it's way more fun to watch her girls on stage than save for their futures. Nice...
While I respected the football family quite a bit for giving their son a safe environment off of the streets, I strongly disliked that they put SO.MUCH.STOCK into their son's football. If (heaven forbid) he has a "career" ending injury, what happens then? His whole life and future is ruined, all in the name of trying to get to the NFL.
The tiger parents were a over the top, but there wasn't anything they did (granted I didn't get to the end so I have no idea what I missed) that was extremely questionable.
The unschooling family was just sad. When the son was mindlessly playing the video game talking about how he was learning hand eye coordination I was a bit perplexed. Maybe an unschooler can clarify- is this what unschooling is really about? Letting kids do whatever they please because they might possibly be learning something? It just seems very silly to me, but maybe this family was just a bad example...
....yes, the pangeant mom was an odd example as well. $10,000 a year?? And the question about why she didn't invest that into a college fund, and she answered that it wouldn't give her that joy of seeing her kids up on stage? That... and the fact that college funds don't take credit card payments. It was just too much, though, when she came to the realization that beauty pagents are about beauty when her cute, but bratty kid won. LOL!
I do think that the tiger parents were extremely questionable. I can see the year around school..... I wish I had the $$. BUT.... three hours of tennis lessons immediately after, plus chess, and then drilling multiplication facts when you are 6? Now some kids are advanced and are naturally ready earlier, mine knew all her multiplication facts before 6, and we did do drills (she would join my older ones), but this boy was struggling, didn't even know what 9x2 was, and she was laying into him. He doesn't NEED to know it, its great if he wants to and it can be fun..... but that little boy was miserable!! Insisting someone work at an advanced level not because of their capabilities, but because of your own agenda, is just mean. I almost cried when he said he wants to do "nothing, just nothing"! How many times does he get to do that???
Unschooling family.... yes, has GOT to be just a bad example. Hand eye cordination as an excuse for video games, LOL, its how my 11 year old would like to unschool. right after he ate half a cheesecake and explained he was experimenting with how the digestive system works. And trying to grow bacteria on his socks, sheets and teeth by avoiding brushing and laundry. He would build forts all day long learning architecture. He would LOVE it!
I don't suppose he had an end goal in mind for all that hand eye coordination?
Were I his Mother the Unschooler I'd also be making Junior look into what he could do with it. Become a surgeon. Mechanic. Butcher. The guy who pulls out the bad English muffins as they roll past on the assembly line.
But I guess that wouldn't pass the "unschooler" sniff-test? Too much interference?
Uggghhhh. That whole "hand-eye coordination" thing smacked to me of parental coaching, in case they got asked about video games. Kids CAN and DO learn lots and lots from playing video games, but it's not something most kids would articulate; that's not how most unschooled kids think. They don't think, "I am learning X from this activity." They do the activity, and learning happens.
I love this quote, from a former student at Sudbury Valley School: "Outsiders would ask, 'What classes do you do?' And you'd think, "Classes? We don't do classes, you know. Look around. There are no classrooms here." They'd say, "What did you learn today?" and we'd think, "What did we learn today? What are you talking about?" Because it wasn't as if you went into the library and learned your facts for the day. You had a dozen conversations with people. We weren't learning subject by subject. We were learning in a much more organic manner. You would be doing a lot of different things and you would learn them in little bits and pieces that would start adding up to much bigger pictures. You wouldn't really know where it came from a lot of the time. By the time you were done learning about something, information was coming from so many different sources, from books and from people you were talking to, and from a long drawn out experience, that you had no idea how you learned it."
And what you asked about too much interference... I think that depends on the unschooler! There's NOT a focus on end results; I don't look at my son's love of drawing and think, "Ah! There's a career there!" I get him more paper and if I come across an interesting medium, I'll point it out to him or maybe bring it home as a surprise (without expectation).
There's a collection, somewhere on Sandra Dodd's site, of writing folks have done about "end results". If I can find it, I'll post it here.
That's actually the answer to the most basic question I had. So a couple more that tie in with it: Do unschoolers focus at all on the child growing up and earning a living? Are interests in something ever focused on so the child will be able to get a job? What happens when the unschooler is 20 and has all kinds of info in his head but is totally unprepared to get a job and has no qualifications?
(Gosh I have so many questions, lol. I need to start reading up on all of this.)
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to them both!
