Gypsy Child

ABC, Good Morning America did a segment they called Extreme Homeschooling.

It was about Unschooling. I wrote a post on April 21, 2010 about this. This post is a continuation of this subject.

I was on the  Moms like Me. site and the discussions there  inspired me to write this.

jeffersonAngel ask if unschooling isn’t illegal and was wondering if parents shouldn’t go to jail for this.

There are many details left out of this whole story and therefore this subject should not be judged so quickly. Like most things, people have a tendency to judge very quickly without obtaining the facts, they think a news channel will do this research for them when in reality the news is often bias.

Unschooling is a very loose term. It is describing a type of learning that does not follow the conventional school method. This is America and we are suppose to be free. Free to make our own decisions. We also need checks and balances to make sure that freedom does not cross the line and be harmful to others. Children are particularly vulnerable. Regulating this can in itself be tricky. Who gets to decide what is crossing the line?

Most states allow unschooling. The way they regulate it is by doing evaluations by a certified teacher on a yearly basis to see that the child is not staying stagnate. If a parent lets their child watch TV all day every day then that parent/child would not pass the evaluation. That parent would have to change what they do on a daily basis or risk breaking the law. You must show that you are putting in the proper hours toward learning and that the child is advancing in what he is learning. You have to keep a daily log to show this. The parent keeps a log and so does the child. Unschooling children have to do this as do home schooled children. This piece of information was missing from the ABC report.

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ABC, Good Morning America did a segment they called Extreme Homeschooling.

It was about Unschooling. It was edited with much bias.

Too bad as there is so much good happening with children that are unschooled.

Here’s a comment I posted at end of post on ABC’s  web page.

Unschool does not mean no school. Please read on:

I have four children whom I unschooled (UnS) all for most years of their education years. I have a son who is in his last year of getting his PhD as an electrical engineer: he interns with NASA. Another son who just got excepted to UCF and my daughter is now in high school, an honor student, class president, cheer leader, the list goes on. Another graduated from culinary school.

Here’s an example of how it works. You have to pay attention to your children, see what interest them then present things that support that interest: books, movies, documentaries, field trips.

Not all UnS  have cable so all day TV watching is not even an option. People get hung up on this all day TV watching topic. Kids are naturally curious and watching TV all day is not the desire of children who are taught that tactile experiences are more fun. How are they taught this? By going on field trips, by playing with soil when they are planting gardens, by smelling foods as they stir up a batch of cookies or muffins.   Most parents that keep their children home all day do so because they want their children to learn more healthy than what a school classrooms can offer so those parents are going to be very involved in their childs lives.

Not everyone can UnS so calm down everyone. The reason they can’t is because you have to be around your children to pay attention to them. For many parents this just is not possible economically. Too bad because UnS children are usually such balanced, social beings.