Unschoolers Anonymous
I went to my first Unschoolers’ meeting today at Barnes and Noble in Norwalk, CT. I feel curious to see if the Unschoolers are my kind of “tribe”. Do I feel comfortable with them? Am I really a closet Unschooler?
(Right now I am a Montessori based, homeschooling type with a few traditional additions to the curriculum but inwardly feeling like trying unschooling)
It turns out that I really like these mothers. These mothers really observe their children. They have realized that their children are different and do not like the way other adults in authority positions treat their children. So far so good!
They seem to wait until their child expresses interest in something and then see if they can assist in facilitating that learning, whether through them, a trip to a library, a mentor, a class or whatever it takes until the child is satisfied. They seem to have children with strong interests in things like chess, for example. Many were participants in the recent production of Shakespeare on the Grange (see post 2 days ago). They seem like normal, caring parents.
What I liked was this idea that they didn’t want to impose other peoples conditioning onto their children without the child’s permission. There was an atmosphere of deep respect for the child and allowing time for the child to unfold his or her passion, at his or her pace, in his or her space.
I also like that they all had children at various ages and brought some with them. Their children were extremely polite and well rounded…and some even stayed and participated in our discussions. I enjoyed their perspectives. I even met teens that had been unschooling. They were doing volunteer workat nature centers, libraries, schools and were very involved in the community. They were calm, centered and looked very happy.
Overall, I liked them a lot and wanted to exchange contact information!
Just when I thought I might be fitting into this group quite comfortably, I happened to ask the wrong question… which is for your information.
How do you know that you really believe in unschooling or whether you just can’t be bothered giving all the required lessons and perhaps want to sleep in with your children?
Not good.
But I will still go back to the next meeting!
May 20th, 2009 at 1:20 am
Hilarious!
You made me chuckle out loud at work.
I too am one for the foot in mouth question.
There’s nothing worse than that dead cat bounce feeling when it’s greeted with shock.