So we were recently asked this question about unschooling Miro. “Are there areas of study that you guide? Is any curriculum you insist upon?, what do you teach your kid?”
There’s vast difference between teaching and learning. My role as an unschooling parent: SUPPORT
I don’t play the role as teacher.
I don’t even guide Miro into learning anything,
I support him. I have shared my recent reflections as an unschooling mom, here, but my role is clear..
I support him.
The idea of child -led education means really, hands off, from the parent(s) in terms of determining what he learns. I don’t dictate that he learns anything, rather trust that he will. And he does.
Think about it…if some of the time I allowed him to choose, and the other times I imposed a curriculum based on my idea of what I think he should be learning, then Miro would have no ownership over his learning experience. I suspect he’d get lazy about his own education and since it wouldn’t really be his own experience.
I wholeheartedly think it’s important for him to be totally in charge. And you know what? He’s decided to write a novel. My son, the 13 year old novelist.. It’s in progress, but I promise to keep you posted.. In the meantime, be sure to check out his writing here.
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6 Comments
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Are you ever afraid he may not fall behind on the curriculum of official schools and hance have a hard time to get into college? That of course assumes he chooses to go? Just curious as we recently watched the movie Surfwise where the adult kids had mixed reactions in terms of their education. Wondering what your thoughts are on that…
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I am not a parent. I expect that parents must feel fear along with trust; always wondering “am I doing what is best for my child”. Who knows if this kid will have every option he wants available to him? Public school and traditional schools are no guarantee either, not by a long shot.
But I do guarantee that this kid, like all others that don’t have a serious mental handicap, can learn the basic math required to do alright on the SAT’s in less than a year. Probably way less. This assumes that he never bothered with pencil and paper math before. It only takes three years to learn algebra if you are trying not to learn it. Faith in himself, in his capabilities, and knowledge about what he wants are the prerequisites to happiness and success.
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Author
It’s a tough call, but I’ve got to believe that I’m doing the right thing for my child. I see Miro learning so quickly when he’s interested and empowered. He’s fluent in Spanish now, never haven taken any classes.Who knows, all I can do is trust I’ve made the right decision.
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Sometimes I am afraid of my decision, but I’m never afraid he doesn’t have what he needs. When he’s interested, he learns. That’s been the biggest lesson so far. I read this amazing article about unschooling and the future economy here:
http://www.lifelearningmagazine.com/1008/unschooling_prepares_kids_for_a_sustainable_economy.htm
Only time will tell….
Thanks Martin for your comments!
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It’s a short post for a good reason! Yes, I get fed up of being asked about “teaching” too, I never teach, I explain, I chat, I show, I take them places, but never teach. I really believe a shift is coming, we don’t need teachers any more, or courses or classes, everything you ever want to learn is online or in the real world. It surprises me when adults say they need to take lessons in something, you can teach yourself anything, it’s a hangover of the pre-internet age. Heck, you always could teach yourself anything from books, I taught myself HTML because I wanted to, but it’s way easier now.
