Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Coming Out
Not that kind of coming out....what a dirty mind you have! ;)
I'm an unschooling mom. I am not a radical unschooling mom...just a garden variety unschooling mom. My usual answer to "What kind of homeschooling do you do?" is "Constructivist" because unschooling has become such a loaded term.
Some background might be necessary. Growing up I attended a private constructivist school. It was a *strict* constructivist...we didn't have teachers, we had helpers. The helpers assisted (and guided us) in developing yearly goals, monthly goals and weekly goals. They then put together materials to help us in our journey. Skills were gained within some sort of context. Math and language had *meaning* and were more than just worksheets. It was great.
Imagine my surprise years ago when I read some of John Holt's stuff. 'Da man was recreating the wheel by creating the word "unschooling" It's simply constructivism without the edu-speak.
As I take more ed classes at the local university, I realize more and more that unschooling (or constructivism) is a philosophy not used much in schools not because of a lack of resources but because people are scared of it. People that feel themselves to be unempowered (teachers under Every Child Left Behind?) do not have the tools to empower children to be self-directed learners. It's easier emotionally and physically to hand out a drill worksheet on addition than to sit and direct a child in the usefulness of addition or help children find uses for addition that are meaningful to them.
I believe constructivism as an educational philosophy works. It takes time to teach a child how to be self directed but it pays huge dividends. In our future economy it is going to be more important to be able to
I'm an unschooling mom. I am not a radical unschooling mom...just a garden variety unschooling mom. My usual answer to "What kind of homeschooling do you do?" is "Constructivist" because unschooling has become such a loaded term.
Some background might be necessary. Growing up I attended a private constructivist school. It was a *strict* constructivist...we didn't have teachers, we had helpers. The helpers assisted (and guided us) in developing yearly goals, monthly goals and weekly goals. They then put together materials to help us in our journey. Skills were gained within some sort of context. Math and language had *meaning* and were more than just worksheets. It was great.
Imagine my surprise years ago when I read some of John Holt's stuff. 'Da man was recreating the wheel by creating the word "unschooling" It's simply constructivism without the edu-speak.
As I take more ed classes at the local university, I realize more and more that unschooling (or constructivism) is a philosophy not used much in schools not because of a lack of resources but because people are scared of it. People that feel themselves to be unempowered (teachers under Every Child Left Behind?) do not have the tools to empower children to be self-directed learners. It's easier emotionally and physically to hand out a drill worksheet on addition than to sit and direct a child in the usefulness of addition or help children find uses for addition that are meaningful to them.
I believe constructivism as an educational philosophy works. It takes time to teach a child how to be self directed but it pays huge dividends. In our future economy it is going to be more important to be able to
- retool skill sets (self-directed learning)
- find information (ability to research facts)
than to memorize a lot of facts. But our drive to standardized testing forces teachers to focus more on facts than skills.
This is why we homeschool.
This is why we "unschool"
Comments:
<< Home
I was lucky enough to have teachers growing up in the british school system who allowed me to do exactly what you describe. They weren't supposed to do it, but they saw that it worked so much better for me that they took off the brakes, prepped me for lift-off, and sat back and watched.
Of course, when I reached Secondary school, that all went by the wayside, and I was forced into a structured environment and my grades slowly eroded over time. Although later on, they kind of got it in some classes. I never had to take a computer class, for example. They didn't see the point, and just let me explore.
I do think that it depends on the person though - some people handle rote learning much better than explorative learning - and vice versa. Trick is to find out who is who :)
Post a Comment
Of course, when I reached Secondary school, that all went by the wayside, and I was forced into a structured environment and my grades slowly eroded over time. Although later on, they kind of got it in some classes. I never had to take a computer class, for example. They didn't see the point, and just let me explore.
I do think that it depends on the person though - some people handle rote learning much better than explorative learning - and vice versa. Trick is to find out who is who :)
<< Home
