The gift that keeps giving:freedom in learning

Maybe you are new to this blog. This post is for you. This year, give the gift that keeps giving. Give the gift of freedom in learning: unschooling, self-directed learning. For those of you who can't go all the way, there's no reason why you can't apply much of the philosophy to your children's lives. And for those of you who are already having your own unschooling adventure, consider these brief words a confirmation of what you already know about freedom in learning.

Here's what you'll be giving or rather, should I say, 'enabling':
1. The gift of time. Less business is more. This means more time to get into the groove -and to stay and be saturated in that groove. It means more time to find that groove and get really good at whatever it is their interested in. On the other hand, there's more time to experience a wider portion of the world out there!
2. The gift of flow. Let the creative juices flow uninterrupted.
3.The gift of self control. This is a gift we all wish could have been nurtured in us starting from a very early age.
4.The gift of initiative. It is a gift to be able to take initiative and be responsible for one's actions.
5. The gift of family and community. This year, plan to share your kids more.
6. The gift of adventure. Create your own. The unknown can be scary. The sooner the kids begin to accept that, the faster they learn preparedness for the unpredictable; the sooner they are able to welcome surprise into their lives.
7.The gift of wonder. When you are following your interests, you will never cease to be awed by the sheer mystery of things.
8.The gift of self knowledge. With more focus and less chatter and busy work, 'know thyself' becomes clearer.

Freedom is contagious. These gifts spread into other lives; into the community and the world, encouraging others to go on and do the same.

The Audacious Learner

Thanks to Life Learning Magazine for featuring my Audacious Learner piece, first published in  The Journal of Unschooling and Alternative Learning.

And here it is:

I keep a blog about self directed, authentic learning and recently, I read an article called “Blogging with Audacity” written by Skellie, a woman who'd studied what makes a successful blogger. As I read, I noticed that her ideas about blogging audaciously parallel the very attitudes I would prescribe to approaching learning.

I describe 'the audacious learner,' as exhibiting desirable behaviour to learning new things: that is, being daring and taking risks. All breakthroughs, new ideas, original thoughts are acts of bravery. Getting to something fresh means first stepping into the unknown.

What does it mean to take risks when it comes to learning and acquiring new skills? To start, there has to be interest. Without interest, learning is a very unpleasant affair. You can nurture it, but you can't teach interest. This belongs to the individual; it has to come from the learner.

When you are enamoured by what you are interested in, keen to find out everything there is to know about it and then some, there is no question of allowing fear to stand in the way; this is a hallmark to being an audacious learner.

I recall as a little girl in England, how frightened I was at the thought that I would have to one day read the 'big girl' books my sister was reading at the time. I was afraid, at the tender age of 5 that I would be embarrassed in school because I didn't know how to read.

And when I eventually went to school and we were asked to read 'one on one' with either the teacher or one of her helpers, I recall that I was not allowed to take home the next reader up because I had stumbled on one of the words (one!!) in the first reader. I still remember the word; it was "away."

But I was determined to go home with a new reader and so I went to one of the helpers and read the book to her and this time, got the word right.

The helper, smiling encouragingly at me, told the teacher I needed the next reader up. But the teacher cried, "Shame on you! You sneaked to the helper and cheated."

I was not allowed to take the new reader home, and although I felt embarrassment as she had intended, I was far more indignant that a great injustice had been done. Luckily for me, I was never one to be easily put off.

Behaving and acting out of the norm, going beyond one's boundaries, these are attitudes that are not encouraged especially within the context of public schooling. The opposite is true: they are strongly discouraged. (This brings to mind Ken Robinson, as well Seth Godin: “time and again, the curious are punished”)

But breakthroughs are made by the non-conformists and unconventional.

And that requires stepping outside of one's comfort zone, the familiar or the contrived. It requires imagination. As Einstein famously said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution” (Calaprice, 2000).

In “Blogging with Audacity” (Skellie, 2008) writes a list of what, in our society, it's conventional for people to do and then contrasts it with how non-conventional, successful people behave.

The author writes that it’s conventional that people:

Don’t ask for more than is offered to them
Don’t try to talk with people who are better known or higher status than they are
Don’t admit their failings and mistakes
Don’t celebrate success publicly
Don’t try things that could fail badly
Don’t change their mind once it has been made up
Don’t give up, no matter whether circumstances and goals change
Don’t question what everybody else does
Don’t ask others for help
Now take this list and like Skellie has done, replace the 'don'ts' with 'do' and you have a portrait of the Audacious Learner.

"Don't ask for more than is offered to them?"

Try stopping audacious learners, who will go as far as they want because they know that they are the masters of their own learning. "Nobody gives you an education. If you want one, you have to take it," says educator and author, John Taylor Gatto in a recent article entitled take back your education. "Only you can educate you—and you can’t do it by memorizing. You have to find out who you are by experience and by risk-taking, then pursue your own nature intensely." (Taylor-Gatto 2009).

And because of this confidence, audacious learners are more willing to “approach and talk with people who are better known or higher status than they are” (Skellie, 2008).

It's the will to know, the thirst to 'go and get it' that drives a bold learner to talk to those who are 'already there.'

If their first efforts to open a dialogue fail, they try new and creative ways to get the conversation started. They realize the best way to learn how to do something is talk to people who has done it before. They also know that, because most people assume that experts will be impossible to get a hold of that very few people actually try, making the chances of success much better than they seem (Skellie, 2008).

I think of my oldest daughter, an aspiring writer, who on her own initiative has contacted authors she greatly admires and has interviewed them on their writing techniques and how they write, in order to get ideas on how to develop her own skills. In most cases, she was met with approachable, supportive writers who gave her encouragement and useful advice.

Don’t admit their failings and mistakes?

We learn from making mistakes. If we are afraid to make a mistake then we will never do anything exciting because we already know the outcome of our actions - predictable and boring. Failing is part of the process.

This is one of the worst aspects of institutionalized education: it's bad to make mistakes. You learn to live in of fear of failure. The focus becomes passing tests, at the expense of learning and so we become timid and small in our approach to learning new things.

"They DO try things that might well fail. Because what if they don’t? And if they do, will it really be so bad?"(Skellie, 2008). With audacity comes asking that 'dumb' question and not being afraid of appearing stupid but admitting to not knowing when you don't know. What do you have to fear except a bruised ego at the worst? But if you approach the problem as an adventure other, unforeseen paths suddenly open up to you.

Don’t change their mind once it has been made up?

We can all relate to this one. "You want to what? Quit? No, no. You can't do that. You'll be a quitter. Besides, if you quit, you might never have another opportunity like that again...” and so on. But permitting yourself to change your mind, or recognizing a lost cause and giving up when it makes common sense to is being flexible and that flexibility

will allow you to be able to see other avenues for growth and new goals.

Don’t question what everybody else does?

Question authority is one of my favourite quotes to my kids. Question, question, question. Don't take everything for granted. The Dead Kennedys (1985) told it like it is (although crudely): "The dumbest buy the mostest." Not because something is deemed ‘normal’ does it mean it’s right or inherently good. "They don’t assume (without thought) that popular beliefs are correct, or that popular courses of action are the best ones. They temper the wisdom of the crowd with their own observations and research” (Skellie, 2008).

When you approach learning with an open and inquisitive mind, when you are daring enough to make use of the opportunities that arise and 'carpe diem,’ you are forging your own adventures. What you will gain will be something of your very own and who knows where that will take you?

Unschooling on a budget.

The children want more. As they get older, their interests get more expensive. There are ways to deal with this.

1. Become a really good bulletin board scanner. "There's always something," I check out every bulletin board I see (online as well): in cafés, at the rec centre, and my favourite, the local university has all sorts of amazing opportunities. For example, go to the music department and they'll be offering top-notch free concerts. Go to the Science department- there are all sorts of public lectures. Our university has all sorts of community engagement projects and events. They also have resources such as the planetarium and they offer programs such as 'Let's talk science' for kids. There are also lessons such as dance lessons and rock climbing that are taught by skilled students and that the public can attend. There's the local campus radio station that is always looking for spoken word content- doing a show like we did (Radio Free School) was one of the best ways we had to get access to all sorts of interesting and amazing people to interview!

2. The library. The holy library- I kiss its floors. Books, dvds, games and of course notices of upcoming events that are free, free, free.

3. Get organized. Arrange group lessons and get reduced rates for the individuals in the group. I do this with soccer where a bunch of parents get together to hire an instructor.

4. Get organized. Offer to teach a skill to a group (could be kids, could be adults) in exchange for a skill the other person has. For example, I taught French to a group of unschooled kids and one of the moms taught art.

5. Make use of free online resources. There are tonnes! Use Youtube to learn how to do stuff.

6. Use the school. Sometimes, you might be able to use school resources.

7. Make stuff. Learn basic skills that will come in handy. Cooking. Gardening. Container gardening. Sewing. Knot tying. Guitar. Cleaning products. Personal care products. It is fun and you can teach your kids about toxicity of products etc.

8. Do projects with other people. Collaborate.

9.  Be a history buff, know your land, know what grows around you. Plan a ‘stay-cation.’ 

Join the fun! Volunteer,why don't you?

 10. Save money. Stop buying junk foods, fast foods etc. Don’t buy drinks and bottled water. You will say a fortune if you avoid eating out and buying crappy food.

11. Are they still waiting for YOU to do it all?  Encourage them to get out there and make connections. Network. Volunteer. Volunteering opens up all sorts of opportunities so get out there and serve others. You’ll also grow as a person. Opportunities are not likely to happen when you are stuck in the house most of the day.

12.  It’s not too soon for them to get a job. Keep your eyes open. It might be something like shelving books or sweeping floors. They might have an entrepreneurial streak-help them start their own business. Starting at age seven, my youngest daughter used to sell her zine at small press fairs and take in some nice spending money. Then she went on to do dog walking for the neighbours. Two of my gals offer music lessons (violin and piano) because they've gotten that good.

13. Change your mind-set. Think creatively. Be inventive.Don’t think 'impoverished.'

7 conditions for 7 things kids need to succeed

Thank you CBC for the article entitled ‘The 7 things kids need to succeed: Character traits include grit, self-control and social intelligence.’
This piece is based on the work of journalist and author Paul Tough, ‘How Children Succeed—Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character.’
There were a few thoughts that immediately popped in my mind when I read the article. The first thought was ‘how do we define success?’  I appreciated the mention of what ‘becoming successful adults’ means, according to Tough and that is ‘being successful in achieving their goals.’
Great! We are on the same path here. But where our paths separate is in the way to achieving their goals.

Lots of freedom from conformity!

Don't expect school to teach the 7 personality traits for success as outlined by Tough: grit,  curiosity, self-control, social intelligence, zest, optimism and gratitude.

I argue that schooling is not conducive to promoting most, if not all of these traits. Why? Because however well-intentioned, schooling starts from a place of compulsory, obligatory education that has little to do with what really promotes these traits. I'd argue that these traits are developed in-spite of schooling. Rather, the basis of these traits stems from passion.
We must begin with what grabs us; what has us eager to stick it out with-through thick or through thin-because we are deeply interested in, or committed to that thing.
You’ll continue to have a tough time nurturing curiosity, zest, grit etc without the foundation of love of whatever it is that the kid is into.
For example, if a kid hates everything that is being taught in the classroom, yes they might develop the self control to not break every pencil in the room. I ask you though, wouldn't that child’s experience of achieving self-control be so much more meaningful to her if she learned self-control by being intrinsically motivated through the pursuit of her deepest interest? She would be facing the inevitable obstacles as they come from a place of authenticity, rather than some made up school situation-where the 'reward' is hollow.

So I will offer my 7 conditions necessary in which to develop those 7 personality traits for success:

1. The freedom to pursue what interests the child.  This develops zest.
2. Time. Plenty of uninterrupted time to explore, think, create. This promotes curiosity.
3. Opportunities to fail. This develops self-control.
4. Opportunities to succeed. This nurtures optimism.
5. Including the child in the everyday world- exposing him to as much of the world as possible.   This promotes gratitude.
6. Encouraging the child to contribute to the community-his opinion is valued and needed as much as the other. This nurtures social intelligence.
7. Nurturing the belief in self. Not by praise and flattery but by supporting that child’s interest. This promotes grit.

Did you know?
Britain has produced a range of remarkably gifted multidisciplinary scientists and scholars who are sometimes described as polymaths. The group included, in recent times, Bertrand Russell, A. N. Whitehead, J. B. S. Haldane, J. D. Bernal, and Jacob Bronowski. Russell commented that the development of such gifted individuals required a childhood period in which there was little or no pressure for conformity, a time in which the child could develop and pursue his or her own interests no matter how unusual or bizzare. Because of the strong pressures for social conformity both by the government and by peer groups in the United States -- and even more so in the Soviet Union, Japan, and the People's Republic of China -- I think that such countries are producing proportionately fewer polymaths ....
- Carl Sagan, The Dragons of Eden (Ballantine, 1977)

What should an educated person know?

I've asked myself many a time, what constitutes an educated person? What should an educated person know in today’s ever-changing world? John Taylor Gatto wondered too and in his essay ‘The Curriculum of Necessity or What Must an Educated Person Know?’ he shared with readers a list of qualities that Harvard University issued to students. Not surprising to me, these qualities are less about academics and more about the person’s ability to be adaptable in thought and flexible in his or her approach to daily living. Here’s the list:
1) The ability to define problems without a guide.
2) The ability to ask hard questions which challenge prevailing assumptions.
3) The ability to work in teams without guidance.
4) The ability to work absolutely alone.
5) The ability to persuade others that your course is the right one.
6) The ability to discuss issues and techniques in public with an eye to reaching decisions about policy.
7) The ability to conceptualize and reorganize information into new patterns.
8) The ability to pull what you need quickly from masses of irrelevant data.
9) The ability to think inductively, deductively, and dialectically.
10) The ability to attack problems heuristically.

‘Without guidance.’ ‘Alone.’ It really hammers home the idea of independence in thought. The way I see it, the logical conclusion to being educated leads to taking responsibility for one’s actions in the world.
Other top universities have issued similar lists. Here’s Princeton University’s list of skills that make an “educated person”:
The ability to think, speak, and write clearly.
The ability to reason critically and systematically.
The ability to conceptualize and solve problems.
The ability to think independently.
The ability to take initiative and work independently.
The ability to work in cooperation with others and learn collaboratively.
The ability to judge what it means to understand something thoroughly.
The ability to distinguish the important from the trivial, the enduring from the ephemeral.
Familiarity with the different modes of thought (including quantitative, historical, scientific, and aesthetic.)
Depth of knowledge in a particular field.
The ability to see connections among disciplines, ideas and cultures.
The ability to pursue life long learning.

Summarizing these qualities, it becomes clear that education begins with YOU the learner. Education is not dumped into you. Education is pursued doggedly, lovingly, with an independent will, with the desire for mastery, for truth, for freshness and innovation. Education is about building character. It’s about being part of and contributing to the community. An educated person is a creative person, a creative thinker, a person who can think for themselves and act accordingly. To be educated means to be able to teach yourself. Increasingly, in today’s world having acquired degrees and such is not enough to be considered educated. An educated person seeks to know her/himself; who they are.

Opportunity Knocks (Amanda Palmer and the Grand Theft Orchestra).

When band member of the succulent Amanda Palmer’s 'Grand Theft Orchestra' put out a call to  area violinists and cellists to play the Toronto concert, our 15 year old daughter took the initiative to put together a video of herself playing. She sent it on. Weeks later, she got the news. She was in! When the music arrived via email there were only two days in which to learn it.

She pushed on. One piece was particularly challenging the requiring a phenomenal speed. She felt there was no way that was going to happen in two days time. “Too difficult,” she emailed back. “It’s okay. You can simplify it,” he replied. What a relief she felt.

Then the big night arrived. She played up there; alongside another violinist, cellist and viola the youngest musician the band has ever played with. “Definitely one of the highlights of my life!” she said after the event.
“It’s because she said ‘yes’,” my husband insisted.  'Yes' is the key to opening up opportunities.
I agree. But there is also the idea that opportunities come to those who are prepared. Be prepared for when those opportunities come knocking.

Of course the challenge is recognizing an opportunity when it presents itself. Sometimes we are looking and waiting and waiting for that opportunity when in fact it is right there, under our nose.

Mark Twain once said, “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”
You can listen here.

Remembering Maggie Hughes; fellow spoken word radio producer and friend.

"The push must continue." Maggie Hughes.

Maggie Hughes has passed.
I remember meeting Maggie from my days doing community radio at McMaster University campus radio station, CFMU 93.3 FM. That was from 2001 to 2007. She had her show about social justice, environment and poverty issues. We had Radio Free School- a show supporting folks who educate their kids without school. We supported each others programs and I recall fundraising for the station and donating to her show; and she donating to ours even though she was on a fixed income.
That's the kind of person Maggie was; when she saw a need, she rose to the occasion. She gave and she expected others to follow her example.

She spent time helping me figure out how to best record an interview; what technology worked with what, and sometimes she would try to dump one of her old recording devices on me--although I'd tell her I didn't need another piece of ancient equipment banging around my place.

Later on, when I started working with Environment Hamilton, a local not-for-profit, Maggie of course was frequently at the fore, making sure that the work we do to help protect and enhance the environment in Hamilton was communicated through "The Other Side."

Maggie lived that other side. And her mission in life was to give voice to those who can not speak for themselves; all the time exposing those who try to screw the good people of Hamilton over with their sneaky deeds. She'd always ask, "What can people do?" to help fight injustice; and she'd get right to work.

Maggie. At least once a week, staff at Environment Hamilton knew that when the phone rang, it would be Maggie to share the latest (justifiable) concern of the day. She would call to give us an update on the emissions from the industrial stacks she would faithfully monitor -emissions that contribute to the pollution and degrade air quality which in turn severely impacted her health, (she would be house-ridden on many a smoggy summer day).

Sometimes she called just to be reassured about personal issues she was having, certain that she would find a sympathetic ear. She knew she could be a "pain in the arse" as she sometimes called herself and at many events where she was recording a show for her long standing program, she'd worry that her MS would kick in and she'd not be able to speak. Worse, she feared she would do something stupid to embarrass herself; "If I start acting weird, can you take over the recording?" she'd ask, ever finding a way to make sure the word got out.

I'd often suggest that she take on a student she could mentor to help with the program for those days when she was too sick. "A good idea but I want someone who will stick around-someone invested in the community,"she'd insist.  She wanted to ensure that the person she poured her time and talent into would be as committed to the program as she was; a challenge for certain, because Maggie was particular and she wanted things done 'her way or the highway.' It would be no easy feat matching her tirelessness!

But now she has passed and I bid her farewell. Good ol' Maggie. You gave it your all. You were a champion of the people and I will always remember you at your best: racing down the City's streets, this woman all ablaze, riding your wheelchair like it were some kind of royal chariot; sporting a jaunty cap atop your short and spunky hair- as good as any jewelled crown ever was; your eyes burning fiercely behind wire-rimmed spectacles.
And I'll remember you too as you were on your better days when you would walk and that was thrilling to see; you striding about like you owned the place- because you did. In those moments, like a queen overseeing her realm, you owned the place when you'd stand up for your beloved Hamilton, putting your body on the line day after day after day, so that others could have healthier ones.

Am I risking too much to unschool?

There's this false assumption that if you’re on a modest income, you can’t unschool. The thinking goes that unschooling is for the financially secure; those who can afford activities like travel, entertainment, exposure to costly cultural events, cutting-edge resources and of course tutors.
This is certainly untrue in my neck of the woods. Nor is true in almost every other unschooling/homeschooling milieu I know of. Most families I know who unschool have financial constraints. These families are usually one income households on tight budgets, or parents running their own businesses, or parents who work part time. These families make it happen. They barter services, they're constantly on the look out for free opportunities. The library is their greatest supporter. The great outdoors is a steady friend and teacher and of course community resources are invaluable. Redefining expectations of what a 'good life' is is key to successful unschooling.
Still the question arises; are we risking too much to unschool? What happens in the event of an emergency- say a dental emergency? What happens if you can’t make your mortgage payment and it’s your fault- because you should have put the kids in school and got a real job?
It can be a really tough call when you decide to give up job opportunities (that you studied hard for besides) in order to unschool your kids. Family members can be quick to criticize you and you secretly wonder too, if you are crazy.

It boils down to priorities and priorities do change. When my kids were little I was determined to stay home with them so that living in city housing was the only way our family could live on one income to make it happen.

Having too little money can cause untold stress; that’s why many unschooling moms try to maintain a part time gig, or some arrangement to earn money while the kids are very little. This also helps keep your foot in the ‘working world.’
If the stress of  having too little money becomes unbearable, families will make arrangements to put kids in school for a year or so and continue to use the unschooling philosophy in their homes. You have to do what you have to do. I know people who wish they had not stuck it out with unschooling; their children suffered too much because of the poverty they were in. This is particularly true when a couple does not see eye-to-eye on unschooling; that is, when one parent is not on board with the idea and only consents to do it grudgingly. If both parents are on board, it makes unschooling on a budget a whole lot easier.
Reality Check; the economy, in general, is in rough shape and maintaining a job that has long term benefits is getting harder and harder. Making one's own way looks like a good alternative and if that includes unschooling, then all the better.
I call on all unschoolers to be active citizens for unschooling. This means making working to ensure universal medical care continues to be available; that affordable housing is available, that there are community gardens and other opportunities available. To unschool we need to have those basic necessities met. This is the same for kids who go to school; if they don’t have daily meals, if they live in a shelter, if they have no decent coat or shoes to wear,  it is going to be a whole lot tougher to focus on what is being taught in the classroom.
My next post will be unschooling on a budget.

Unschooling Answers

She contributes:Marsh Clean-up.

I was recently interviewed by a group of University of Houston, Texas students for some research they were doing on unschooling.
Here are some of the questions they asked followed by my answers:
* What are your opinions of unschooling?
That’s a broad question but I will try to answer it. Unschooling does not mean uneducated. To the unschooing philosophy, curiosity, good old fashion curiosity precedes education. You have to start with a desire to know something and that thirst is what moves it along. Conveniently, that’s something we are all born with. We are all natural born learners.

* What are some common misconceptions about unschooling? How do you disagree with them?
"Unschoolers are not well rounded." " Unschoolers aren’t socialized." "You can’t go to uni or college if you are unschoolers."
I’ll usually counter with no one is truly well rounded. Or I might question the concept of well roundedness. Well roundedness at what price? Mediocrity all around?
Socialization? An unschooled kid is going to have more of an opportunity to be socialized-- to a wide segment of the population!
 "Unschooling works if you are rich," is another misconception. "Unschooling works if you are exceptional.  You can't be 'average' and be successfully unschooled."
This is all unfounded nonsense. Unschooling should not have to be forced into a position where it has all the answers to education. It’s one form of educating- it is a really good one for some people. I’d say for most people because just like we know kids can grow up without being punished, without being beaten so too can they grow up without going to school. Also, no one wants to grow up stupid and uneducated!
It’s an approach – an outlook that basically says, learn what you want. The rest will follow. Just like the old adage, follow your bliss. It’s the same people-doubters doubt that too,don’t they? Unschooling keeps you on your toes. It’s something I’ve noticed around unschooled kids- they take initiative quickly. Of course, there are those who are less motivated or feel that they should be in school. So go ahead! Go to school.
 Unschooling is not for the ones who like to be lead, who crave direction, who find comfort in the norm, the regular, the routine. Unschooling can seem like a wild adventure or endless boredom. It can feel like opportunities are everywhere; "Where do I begin?" or it can be like, "I don’t know what I want to do. Someone tell me!"
And both can live side by side comfortably once you get the hang of it. Need help? Go and get it. That’s where my role comes in as a parent. To find guides, all the time, the learner is steering this ship.
Schools should be using more of that 'self-directed,'' go get it ,' attitude; helping kids to find what they want to be if society really wants to build stronger, independent thinkers. They need to nurture the natural thirst to be the best person you can be. I think unschoolers are really lucky because they have that opportunity every single day. It’s up to them to use it. We all have that opportunity mind you- just that it is less obvious.
* Could you tell us about your blog? How could it help people have a clearer view of unschooling?

We started with a weekly radio program called Radio Free School. It was all produced by my husband and I, including our kids who came up with ideas about what they wanted to learn about that week. So it was a show, by for and about homelearners that ran for seven years. Some of the shows included self-directed learning advocates such as J.T. Gatto, Grace Llwellyn. You can hear archived shows by following the links right here on the blog. A book will be coming out soon (hopefully!) that includes many interviews we conducted over the years with leaning advocates of unschooling as well as grown unschoolers!
The blog serves to demystify unschooling, to give support, to share thoughts and ideas.
* What is school like in comparison to unschooling in your opinions?
Apples and oranges. School is prescribed, linear, usually no deviation from what the curriculum dictates. Unschooling is freedom in learning, self directed. It can become very structured too though- when you put all your energy into what you want to be doing. The only true dictate is follow your nose. Also, unschoolers have more time.

* What are your thoughts on the ageism and class rank instilled in schooled individuals?

It’s a shame. I think schools have an opportunity to be so much more than what they are if they could give up the fear, if they could share power but as Gandalf says, "There is only one master and he does not share power!"
Kids could teach one another- I see that all the time and it was like that before. More inter-relatedness like with unschooling. My 13 year old daughter plays with her 5 and 6 year old cousins and hangs out with kids down the street who are 11 and 10. She is not bothered by that. It’s because I think she knows that just because you are small doesn’t mean you have nothing to contribute.
So school misses that opportunity for kids to make real meaningful contributions to the community- because they are so locked up in the 9 to 3 or whatever time they leave at, within an institution with a few teachers and their peers. With unschooling, you get to go out a lot more.

Part II: About Beatrice's daughter

1. Could you tell us about your daughter?
I have three actually. But lets's focus on the youngest (13).

2. How and why did you decide to let your daughter become an unschooler?

I decided long ago that living a live of surprise,adventure and learning from a place of curiosity and love was more authentic then going to an institution that eats your time up.

3. Is there anyone in your extended family who disagrees with your decision to let her unschooled? How did you deal with it?
There are family members but I have never been one to worry about what other people think. I am strong that way. Besides, they observe the results all along.

4. When did she first know that she is different from schooled kids? What are her reactions then?
Outwardly there is no immediate difference- like yellow noses or purple chins. It is how they approach situations. They seem to have a broader understanding of things- not so desperate to hide ignorance; not afraid of failure of doing the wrong thing, of not fitting in, of making a faux pas.  They stand up for what is wrong even at personal cost to their selves.

5. What are your roles in helping her discovering her interests? How can you be sure that she is interesting in learning new things instead of staying home and playing around?

Be observant. Notice things. Questions. Ask. Think. Pay attention.

I am there to help her find the assistance/guide/coaching she needs – to help her find her own mentors. To push her if she wants me to.
First of all, playing around as you put it is fundamental to learning. We forget that is how all learning begins and in fact that element of play is crucial to invention, discovery, creativity. It is vital that children play and actually they don’t even make a distinction between work and play. So playing is fine. As kids grow they seek more- they want to learn more. We continue to encourage them to challenge themselves by taking lessons, reading, reading, watching youtube videos, going to lectures at the university, in the community, community engagement environment, art, etc activism. and so on.

6. How is her typical day of studying? How does she learn? Does she find any difficulties or challenges to overcome during her unschooling?

We go out a lot. We read a lot.  She writes a journal. She takes classes she is interested in. She does a lot of sports. If she wants to study then we work together. She meets other friends to study art, or biology. Life is challenge- of course she finds challenges but intrinsic motivation is what makes her seek to learn more. Also the thought that other kids are learning certain things is a curiosity and a challenge sometimes! (she is competitive!).

7. What are her hobbies or favorite subjects? Do you remember when she first started pursuing it?
She loves dogs. She fosters dogs. She loves soccer. Running.  Art. Writing. Reading. Her sisters play violin, piano, reading and science. “Of course I like science. I don’t like to study it. I can feel comfortable knowing there is a whole field out there that I will never know about. I can live with it," to quote her older sister (aged 14 and in highschool).

8. Does she encounter any difficulties in her social life? Does she have cousins, friends, etc. that are currently in school? How is her relationship with them?

Youngest is the most social! She has absolutely no difficulty whatsoever in social situations.

9. Why did she decide to go to school?

 She wanted to try it out because she was curious about it.  She wanted to meet more people. Also her best (always been schooled) friend was going.

10. Does she ever feel a sense of inferiority to the schooled majority, in any way?

No. Maybe the opposite even! She knows that there school is not the end all be all of he life. "I never let school interfere with my education," to quote Mark Twain.

11. Even if she feels like she has an intellectual advantage over other students, does she feel as if she has missed out on anything? On the other hand, has she ever encountered someone who is schooled, and felt they had missed out on something by being schooled?

Her friends envy her- her happiness, her social ease and well being. Her confidence. That she can  go back to unschooling if she wants to.
12. What does she expect to be in the future? How may schooling and unschooling help she achieve her goals?
An animal behaviorist! She gets to meet her idol- Jane Goodall!

Too Much Mum!

There comes a time in every unschooler's life when they look around themselves and what they see is mum. And more mum. And mum again. The ‘too much mum’ scenario is inevitable-especially as the kid moves into his or her teen age years. That’s when they get antsy to stretch their wings further afield.  And they are absolutely right. They do need to and must push on. It's time to set a different pace, expand their circle of engagement and their circle of friends and acquaintances. What do you have prepared for them?

If you’ve been unschooling by the book then stepping up to higher levels of action should happen smoothly. If like most of us, you’ve been too busy with a little thing called life, then you might not have given the most important part of unschooling the attention it needs- by this I mean seeking out opportunities consistently, exploring the world immediately around you, creating your own opportunities. I can imagine panicked heads nodding in agreement, right?

Chill. Not all teens are going to make a mad dash for the likest answer (school). For those who value their freedom, the route to go is simply to step out of the house. Take the bus, or cycle down town and look around. Go into offices.Visit the radio station. Visit the newspaper room. Go sit in on a university or college class. Heck, sneak into the local highschool, why not?  Does your city have an environmental group that could use volunteers?  So many not for profits could use a hand. Or maybe you want to start a business- check out the chamber of commerce, the city hall etc etc for ideas.
Next, why not take a friend and together hop on a bus and go visit another city for the day? Or   a new trail system? The idea is to push yourself out of your comfort zone-before the idea fads away.

What if it’s the case that your unschooled teen seems unmotivated to try new things? Sometimes waiting it out produces results. One mother sat it through, but continued to offer and facilitate excursions and opportunities. However, the youth was more interested in working on his computer at home. This went on for a good year. Now, he has had enough and has started to want more social interaction. So of his own will, he has joined a local group of computer geeks and tinklers.
He has also taken an interest in visual arts and has started visiting art centers and is planning a trip across country to see some of the main art museums. Getting a job first though!
Don't forget to check out the 'not back to school camps' that are popping up, as well as the many online forums for kids to dialogue and 'meet' one another.

Please send on comments and ideas to support unschooled teens.

Be a Nerd.

Don't forget to be AWESOME!

Nerdiness is officially cool! Really. Think of all the kids dressed up as nerds who came knocking on your door last Halloween. Maybe they did it because everyone else was doing it. Or maybe, since everyone else is doing it, it's  now okay to let loose your inner nerd. Still, dressing the part doesn't truly make you a nerd.What then is being a nerd about?

Let yourself be silently drawn

by the stronger pull

of what you really love

Rumi

I'm hearing from nerdy circles that to be a nerd is to be, "Into things."

Nerdy, self-named, “Neo-Modern Cyber Hobbit” daughter gives me this definition: “A nerd is someone who cares passionately about things to the point of obsession.” Dr. Who, anyone?

“When people call people nerds mostly what they are saying is, ‘You like stuff,’” says John Green Nerdfighter, (“We fight against suck....we fight for awesome. We fight using our brains, our hearts, our calculators and our trombones”), Vlogbrother (of Hank Green) and founder of Fight World Suck.

What this translates into is that you’re earnest.  You’re enthusiastic

“Nerds are allowed to LOVE stuff like Jump up and down in the chair can’t control yourself, LOVE it,” Green enthuses.

Hell no, we won't bore!

Nerdiness is good news for the planet. When I look at all the cool things nerds are doing, it's like they are part of a movement that is saying, "Don't be afraid to be who you are. Reclaim your interests, discover new ones."

What is a nerd? From Cyber Hobbit's younger sis:

"Everyone is a nerd if they have a personality."

All things Unschool

Appreciation? Yes. Appreciation circles? No thank you.

Have you ever been publicly appreciated? Have you ever had to sit in a circle with a bunch of other people and do a ‘go around’ where each person is pinned down, and has to endure ‘touchy feely’ comments describing the myriad ways that they appreciate you? Did you have to offer appreciation in turn-obligated and put on the spot while doing your best to appear gracious and sincere?

That’s what happened to me at a working retreat I was on. Stunned by this unexpected ‘team building exercise,’ I refused to participate directly- saying only that I appreciated the entire group as ‘salt of the earth’ and for their dedication to the work they do.

I do not like feeling forced to do things- it’s the rebel in me to blame. To my mind, there is a time and place for offering appreciation. Just like I drag my heels and feel resentment when the pressure to join in to say, Christmas spirit, so too do I drag my feet when such situations are imposed on me. I don’t like it and being stubborn, I won’t oblige-or I’ll do it my way.

There’s something wrong with this picture for the following reasons:

• When we are all forced to ‘appreciate’ the other, it is not authentic. Appreciation can be offered in ways that are less obvious. One person told me afterwards that she felt uncomfortable, paralyzed about what people would say about her, worried that they wouldn’t say anything nice. She felt like it was like a popularity contest and was disappointed because she only got four comments. “Why didn’t you say something about me?’” she said, but there was a hidden grievance.
• I think the whole exercise ends up messing with people’s insecurities- and we are adults. I can only imagine what that would stir up in kids. So to me, this ‘appreciation circle’ is akin to praising- they are in the same category and both suck.  Just as we are told that praising kids is harmful to them because what we are doing is actually judging them, so too is the appreciation circle business where after the ‘appreciation’ people are left pondering why they said such and such and not so and so: “Oh, they didn’t say anything about my leadership skills. Does that mean they think I’m not a leader?”

“Public opinion is a weak tyrant compared with our own private opinion. What a man thinks of himself, that it is which determines, or rather indicates, his fate,” said Thoreau.

Contrived situations like the ‘appreciation circle’ tend to suggest and even impose on the person being appreciated,  how others view that person, subtly shaping the way we view ourselves.  In the end, what I think about myself is more significant than what others think about me. So please, no praise, no appreciation circles around me!

I am curious to  hear from others about their thoughts on the topic. Do you find merit in the exercise? Do you use it?

The Mother (Jane Goodall's supporter).

"I was born lucky to a truly amazing mother," begins Dr. Jane Goodall at tonight's lecture put on by BurlingtonGreen.
"Mother had a big influence."
Goodall recalls going to bed with earth worms at age 2.5 years old and her mother telling her they would die because they needed the earth to live and she bursting into tears.
When she was 5, she visited a farm with her mother (they lived in London). She was so curious about how hens laid eggs and kept asking people where the eggs came from. Not getting a satisfactory answer, she remembers hiding in the barn and then "waiting and waiting and waiting for a hen to come and lay an egg."
Her mother could have yelled at her for having caused everyone so much concern and fear searching for her hours on end, "possibly killing the excitement and interest,” but instead mother sat down with her and listened to her tell her story about what she’d learned in that barn.

Books were important. They couldn’t afford a bike let alone books but her mother read to her and she gave her Dr. Dolittle books which was how she learned to read, "because I was so deeply interested." Between 10 and 11 she found 'Tarzan of the Apes' in a used book store (she still has it) and read it over and over.
“That started the dream of going to Africa, living with the animals and writing books," Goodall shared.

Again, it was her mother who supported her (this at a time when she was the ‘wrong sex,’ as girls were not encouraged to dream big). While other  people scoffed at her, laughed at her saying, ‘Set your sights on something attainable," her mother said, “Work hard, never give up and you will find a way.”

She adviced Jane to do do secretarial work and save her money because they couldn’t afford university. Turns out that being a secretary for a documentary films in London worked to her advantage. When an old school friend invited her to go to Kenya, she was introduced to  archaeologist Louis Leakey,curator at the Natural History Museum. This lead to him offering her a secretarial job because he was so impressed with her knowledge and passion on the subject of animals.

Eventually, Leakey offered her the opportunity to study chimps. She said yes immediately. Her dream had come true. She was young, untrained but an American business man gave some dollars towards a six month trial. The stipulations were such that she had to have a companion and who was it who came with her? Her mother (who bore up under all the tough conditions-including snakes and spiders!!).

When Goodall was desperate because the chimps, never having seen a "white chimp" kept running off so that she couldn’t study them, her mother boosted her morale. Mother pointed out all that she was actually learning a lot: how they move, what plants they were feeding on, how they made their sleeping platform etc.
Goodall says it was really sad that her mother left before the break through with the chimp using the twig as a tool to get a the ants; stripping the leave so as to modify a tool.

She talks about how how studying the chimps she learned that they were very much like humans.
She found that there were good mothers and not so good mothers. The mothers who were attentive, not overly tolerant, affectionate and playful and most importantly supportive, had offspring who would grow up to play more prominent roles in society. In contrast, the off spring of ‘bad’ mothers were tense, and nervous in the community so the key feature to Goodall's mind was that of support.
As in the case of the chimps, so in her case: “My mother supported me.”

More insights (not related to mothering):

Jane talked about Leaky saying she had to get her own money as he wouldn’t always be around and to do so. She needed to get at PhD. “No time to mess about with a Bachelors degree," said he, so she went straight to Cambridge where she was told she was doing it all wrong; "You weren’t supposed to name the chimps, etc etc."
Jane had many other insights and stories she shared with the audience. She spoke about her Damascus moment in 1986 when at a conference she was so moved by the presentations she came as a scientist and left as an activist. Still passionate about saving the chimps she realized that it was all interrelated-Africans living in poverty,deforestation, resource extraction. "How can we try to  save the chimps when people are so desperate?" she asked herself.
Her strategy? Asking the question, "What do you feel will make your lives better?" From there, answers and results started to emerge that addressed all these issues including saving the chimps.

The presentation was heartening as she talked about her successful involvement with youth through the roots and shoots program that she’s established and the Jane Goodall Institute.

A little sand in the gears of the system

I remember a conversation I had with John Taylor Gatto over the phone. He said to me-about changing the system- that you, "develop the mind of a saboteur."
"You look and move like everybody else, you don’t draw attention to yourself, but from time to time, you find where the gears are meshing and you put a nice handful of sand in them."
He said if they come to majority with independent critical minds, with a good attitude towards things, without expecting change to come easily, enjoy the struggle of testing themselves, "the biggest handful of sand will be your children."

That day has already come.

In my experience, the children who are growing up/have grown up outside of the education system seem to have a different perspective/take on things. Outwardly there is no immediate difference; they don't have yellow noses or purple chins. What is striking to me is how they approach situations. They seem to have a broader understanding of things. For them, the long range view. They tend to see the world not from a place of 'should and have tos' and 'musts' but rather,  'how can this be different?' They seem less afraid of speaking up, are not so desperate to hide ignorance- not terrified of failure, of doing the wrong thing, not worried about fitting in, or of making a faux pas.

That is why my oldest is in the throes of a confrontation with a teacher who thinks statistics and facts are not to be believed and that our society is actually a matriarchal society. Here's what she said to my daughter: "The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. At home, I'm the boss even though hubby might think otherwise." And to validate her position, she added that she knows many other families for whom the situation is the same as hers.
Suffer fools gladly? Not my girl. Raised to question authority, she has to speak up; she feels she would be going against her true self if she sat there and swallowed blatant ignorance.Let's hope that the price of her challenging isn't too high. The trick is figuring out when to push and when to pull back isn't it?

School cramping her style?

So, my unschooled daughter started school. Grade 9.
As school folks know, the school year began on Tuesday.
Daughter went on Tuesday. She went on Wednesday, and Thursday. On Friday, recognizing an opportunity when she saw it, she accompanied her father and grandmother to the nation's capital city for a visit to her cousin's.
Should I have let her skip school? Barely days into the new experience and she is already taking off.
I've said it before, once an unschooler, always an unschooler.
I ask her about her first impressions of high school are: how was her first day? She notes how easy it is to slip into a situation where she's done almost no 'desk work' and it's not  a disaster.  "How little most kids actually know- facts included."

What really left an impression was that the school day is so long. "Why does it have to be this long? We could do all that in half the time. We could go in twice a week."  Her sister agrees: "There should be an 'intense school' option that goes for three months or so."
It doesn't have to be the 6 hour day every day plus homework.

I hate waste of any kind.The fact is, school is a time guzzler. If you're going to insist on school, then for pity's sake make it worth people's while. Stop wasting their time, their youth their energy their creativity, their LIVES.
With school, it's a drawn out affair. It's inefficient. It's expensive. It uses up far too much of our resources; human and otherwise.I know, I know. It's a multi-billion dollar business. I get it.
Even the structure of the day revolves around the school year and while everywhere work is becoming more flexible school remains as rigid as a ruler.
So? What happens now? "Testing, testing," daughter says. She'll see.

Common Misconceptions About How Kids Learn.

September’s here again. Glorious, vibrant month!  September: tinged with nostalgia at the passing of another summer. The weather starts to cool down, the woods are alight with leaves turning, the city gets down to business and what do we do? We smother it with school. What a squander.
But since we will insist on packing them off to school, it’s worth taking a look at common misconceptions about how children learn. And here they are:
1. Kids must learn socialization from other kids.

Do we really believe that socializing children to the ways of our world is best left to those youngest, most immature of our society--their peers?  Do we really think that a child, who is surrounded by people in his /her family and community, is not being properly socialized?

2. Learning must be drilled into kids otherwise they would want to hang out all day, playing video games for the rest of their lives.

Have you watched young children trying to learn something new? The energy, the determination the focus they bring to the task is astounding.  They’ll give you hell if you get in their way or try to stop them, or do it for them.  Learning is natural to humans. 'First do no harm' should be the going motto for every parent, school teacher etc.

3. Kids want to grow up to be stupid and lazy so we have to force them into learning.

I don’t think I’ve ever heard any kid say, “When I grew up I want to be a bum.” No. They want to grow up competent, confident, contributing members to society. Let’s help them get there by respecting what it is they want to do.

4. Education can only take place guided by curriculum. And deviation from the curriculum is a strike against the learner and that learning is irrelevant (because it is not government approved or because you should learn it in grade 10 not grade 6, or you should have learned it in grade 6 not in grade 10).

The belief that we need a prescribed list of what we must know, followed in a precise order is fraudulent. Kids are natural learners; they want to learn--at their own pace.

5. You don’t know something unless you prove it by passing a test--at which point you know it.

 And then don’t know it anymore because you only studied it for the test and promptly forgot it.

6. The curriculum is law forever and ever.

Until someone challenges it.

7. Kids must learn how to deal with bullying and knocks to their self-esteem so that they can go out into the world and as grown-ups, endure the bullying of their bosses/spouses/neighbors etc.

Raising children in a respectful environment makes them more resilient when the knocks inevitably come around because they would have learned self respect and self love. A sage once said, in a world that is insane the best thing for a child is for the adults around her to be sane.

8. Experiences kids gain at school are better and more valuable than those experiences gained anywhere else.

The prom. The locker. The boredom.The cafeteria. The gym. Yeah, but I’ll pass any day for the café, for the open market, the used book store, the university lecture hall, the swimming pool, the art gallery, the library, the community, the open trail,……..

9. Learning happens in bit size pieces.
Maybe so. In my experience, learning happens in great, hunking gulps.

Why must we all learn the same thing at the same time?

I am one of the 200 'Globe and Mail School Council' panelists chosen from across the country to inform G & M journalists on matters concerning education.  It sounds important; you get to weigh in on timely issues of the day. I must say, I was rather discouraged at the first big question they asked:

Where do you stand on the practice of kids being educated at home? When parents become the teacher, and the home becomes the classroom - does it work? And beyond that, how can home schooling improve?   

Why did they have to start with picking on homeschooling?  Everyone and their dog has an opinion(usually mis-informed)  about homeschooling. “Oh I know homeschoolers who think Indians deserved to be put in reservation camps.” “Yes, yes. They are academically capable but they are weak when it comes to conflict!” “Oh socialization this and socialization that.”
Hello? When was the last time you spoke to a homeschooled kid?
You know what I feel like saying on that council?  I feel like telling most people to go get educated about homeschooling. Don’t just spew out your random notions.

When are people going to get it in their heads that homeschooling is not mom and child locked together in a basement, no other people involved, hiding away from the rest of the world, lest the child be contaminated by outsiders and different people and strange, fanciful  ideas like evolution and homosexuality?
Reality check:sooner or later if you are living in the world-yes even that chained up homeschooler will eventually have to emerge from the basement- you are going to bump up against ideas and people who are different from you. Like any schooled kid, you will be open to new ideas or you will not.

Do schools teach tolerance? Hardly. Do they teach you to respect other people? While authorities are looking. I am sure that all the racists and bigots out there were not all home-educated.
We celebrate cultural diversity in Canada. Why can't we celebrate educational diversity as well?
 It is pointless to say that had your child been homeschooled, he would have missed out on the chance to play in the school brass band. So what?  Life is such that another opportunity, a different opportunity would have arisen instead. Maybe he would discover a love for the guitar and then gone on to form a band of his own.
I can't understand why so many school people are indignant of and even hostile to this idea. Why must we learn the same thing at the same age at the same time?
Is it because it is easier for the adults to classify and control kids? Is it easier to interact with kids if you know what grade they are in and what they supposedly have 'covered?'

Read here for the 'article' the G&M came up with.

Whose Education? Take responsibility.

I've been looking through past blog postings and came across one I wrote for the Learning Revolution Facebook group for their weekly message- about two years ago now. I wrote about responsibility in education in the context of freedom.

It started like this: With freedom in education comes responsibility.
We have to be responsible for our learning; we have to take responsibility for being in this world. That's my message to you. I think it is the most important message you can 'teach' a kid.

Being responsible, taking responsibility is difficult to do. It means that you are accountable for your actions. It means admitting your mistakes and errors and having to do something about it-and not blaming someone else. That's tough. I want to say 'even for adults' but let's be honest, adults aren't that great at it. 

Who likes to admit that they are in the wrong?  That would be revealing weakness or ignorance and looking like a fool at times.

Viewed this way, school can provide such a relief; just let the school do it all for you. If it goes wrong, blame the school. If it goes right, credit the school. The school is a monolith; it will absorb all.

Taking responsibility forces you to understand that you are not the most important being in the world. Life would be that much easier if we learned from infancy that we are neither more important nor less important than the next person. Most of us learn it the hard way. Others never learn it.
But taking responsibility for your actions, education, life, is empowering. The secret? The more you do it, the better you become at it, the more you grew as an individual.

Learning in freedom and becoming educated in freedom means we need to give that freedom that we want for ourselves, to make decisions, to impact the world around us, and yes-to take responsibility of our actions as we grow- we need to extend it to our children. As much as you can, put the learner in charge of his/her learning.

John Gatto has said it over and over; you don't get an education.
"Nobody can give you and education. Education must be taken by those who want one. The will and dogged persistence of the seeker are the only essential tools needed to become educated. Teachers, text, money play only minor roles and papers, pencils, tests play no role at all."

That's taking responsibility on the road to self mastery.

As parents, educators, students, people interested in a learning revolution we can help a child or young person see that they have abilities, they have potential, so that they truly believe it but that they must take on that responsibility for themselves.
The challenge is one that they will want to accept.

In the post, I wrote the following:

Take very young kids. It's, "No. I do it," and "Let me!"
They want to do things; they want to challenge themselves. They are deeply insulted if you try and do it for them.

So in our commitment to revolution in education, let's nurture that compulsion for self autonomy. Let's not allow that urge for self sufficiency and inquiry be quelled or squished in our zeal to provide education.
I think we would do well to remember that when talking about autonomous, self- directed learning, our children are not the ones who need it the most. Our kids are perfect beings before the schooling mentality reaches them.
It is we, the adults, who need to divest ourselves of unexamined beliefs and the imprisoning expectations of society's well meaning people.

Is Unschooling Elitist?

 Some people insist that unschooling is elitist; “Public school isn’t good enough for you?” they’ll ask.
They’ll compare this practice to the methods of the rich who can afford to have the best in private schools and tutors for their children, trips, vacations, resources and general privilege.

Other people think that keeping kids out of school to educate them at home is doing a disservice to those who fought so that education could be universal; going against the school system is sacrilegious. What about all those unfortunate kids over in Afghanistan or Ethiopia who would give an arm or a leg to go to school?  What do you say to that, when you turn up your nose at public schooling?
Here’s a quote from one such downer who knows very little about unschooling. The
person sent this in response to my article on why I unschool:

To me this article smacks of elitism and onesidedness and is smug to boot. It assumes that all parents are able to guide their children's education. Well that's wrong. Many parents are not able to read well enough, or let alone teach. It takes an educated parent to be able understand education. I wonder what the Mexican janitor would think if he came across this article, if he could read it, (here I am, working my butt off to put my kids through school, so they could have a better life, better than mine, and what, I'm doing it wrong?) Single mums? Poor mums, in the inner cities? No trees, no grass,  no snowflakes. School is where their kids go to get any kind of teaching, or positive attention. What about the 'educated', 'rich' mums. A doctor perhaps. Should she just dump all that schooling to unschool her kids? The 150 years argument makes no sense, because this is the world we live in now. The professions that exist now are pertinent to now, not to 150 years ago. And women can be fulfilled outside of the home, away from their kids.
What is the endpoint of any type of education? Overall? Overall, I think it is to make a living. Practical, prosaic, unpoetic, making a living. I am sure there are many creative and free-thinking people among the homeless who line the streets of any town. Does unschooling lead to better employment opportunities, more professional success? That's the question you unschoolers need to ask, I don't know, but I can tell you a snow-flake never filled an empty belly.

People who think like this are missing the point.
I ask those who call unschooling 'elitist,' would you call breastfeeding elitist because rather than drinking formula, the baby is receiving breast milk--natural and tailored to his growth and well being? Would you call that mother a snob? Hardly! It would be ludicrous to claim elitism is at the core of her intention. And so it is with unschooling that some parents see educating their kids as being natural and wholesome for their family.

Let's take energy. Should ‘developing countries’ go through their own industrial revolutions and burn coal rather than straight to renewable energy if they have the chance to do so, because that is the proper way to do it since Westerners did? Of course not.
So if as parents we view unschooling as a healthier way to educate, and we can and want to do so with our children, why should this pose a threat to the education system? Why should we be beholden to this institution just because others fought so that all could have so called universal education?  Why is guiding your child's education without public school seen as elitist and wrong?
Innovation isn’t fair. Deal with it.
--------------
School: a level playing field?

Has anyone asked poor people what sort of education they would like?
Who has bothered to query the poor if the school system works for them?
In my opinion, knowledge is not power if the knowledge you have does not empower you. What is the use of knowing things that are useless to you?
Read Ivan Illich's classic Deschooling Society .
Ivan Illich said, “For most men, the right to learn is curtailed by the obligation to attend school.”
I take the position with Illich that public school can never provide universal education.
Back in 1970, Illich wrote in Deschooling Society 

Institutionalized education and the institution of the school are producers of merchandise with a specific exchange value in a society where those who already possess a certain cultural capital derive the most benefit. 

Here’s what Ivan Illich had to say about the so called mythical ‘leveling field’ that schooling is supposed to provide:

Many students, especially those who are poor, intuitively know what the schools do for
them. They school them to confuse process and substance. Once these become blurred, a new logic is assumed: the more treatment there is, the better are the results; or, escalation leads to success. The pupil is thereby "schooled" to confuse teaching with learning, grade advancement with education, a diploma with competence, and fluency with the ability to say something new. His imagination is "schooled" to accept service in place of value.
Medical treatment is mistaken for health care, social work for the improvement of
community life, police protection for safety, military poise for national security, the rat
race for productive work. Health, learning, dignity, independence, and creative endeavor are defined as little more than the performance of the institutions which claim to serve these ends, and their improvement is made to depend on allocating more resources to the management of hospitals, schools, and other agencies in question.......

It should be obvious that even with schools of equal quality a poor child can seldom catch up with a rich one. Even if they attend equal schools and begin at the same age, poor children lack most of the educational opportunities which are casually available to the middle-class child. These advantages range from conversation and books in the home to vacation travel and a different sense of oneself, and apply, for the child who enjoys them, both in and out of school. So the poorer student will generally fall behind  so long as he depends on school for advancement or learning. The poor need funds to enable them to learn, not to get certified for the treatment of their alleged disproportionate deficiencies.

What needs to change, what is already changing, is what as a society, we give value to. Education to further consumption or education to further contribution towards a decent society for all?

Why I Unschool

Here's a piece that I wrote from Parents Canada magazine. I am very pleased with the piece and that it got into a mainstream magazine. It's my unschooling story.
Unschooling: A step further in self-directed learning.
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It’s early winter and I’m a volunteer at the local elementary school. I have high hopes of becoming a school teacher and want to gain some hands-on experience. Inside the classroom, 28 little children sit in their chairs, working on their ‘paper cutting skills.’

I glance up from supervising a child when a most wondrous sight catches my eye: snow flakes are softly falling outside the window. Great, fluffy flakes float gently down from a purple sky. It brings to mind a cherished snow globe I had as a child. It was a famous landmark – the Eiffel Tower I think – encased in a plastic dome. When I shook it, the little white flakes would descend in a swirling mass, to land at the bottom. Then I’d do it all over again. The toy would amaze and amuse me for hours on end.

It’s a magical world, but the teacher has a different opinion. She hurries over to the window where the children are already gathered to watch the snow fall. Swiftly, abruptly, she draws the curtains closed. “The children are getting distracted,” she says.

The suspicions I had been harbouring about the nature of schooling and how it might actually prevent learning are being confirmed in this very classroom. These curious minds are missing out on experiencing falling snow. They don’t get to observe, engage, or be awed by it. Judging by the looks on their faces, they know they are being cheated but can’t do anything about it. Instead, under the teacher’s management, they must return to their seats and complete the assignment before the bell rings. At that point, they will move to the next learning opportunity that’s been prescribed for them.

My hand hovers uncertainly over my pregnant belly. Is this what awaits her?
Read more here:
http://www.parentscanada.com/school/unschooling-a-step-further-in-self-directed-learning