Without getting into Why, I’ll echo Tate’s original observation. My siblings and I were homeschooled to middle/high school and all tested into competitive programs, with not much more structured education than algebra and grammar basics.
I homeschooled my two sons in the 90’s. I read a book I believe was called ‘Unschooled’. It was about a family of 4 children who all went to universities like Harvard. Very little they did was what you’d consider actual ‘school’. I modeled most of our school from that book. The only books we actually used were for math and language arts. The rest was involving them in every day life. We lived in Denver at the time and there were lots of opportunities for educational pursuits. We’d go to the museums and zoo every month. They read lots of books about what they we’re interested in. I guess you could call it self-directed learning. Actual School probably lasted no more than two hours a day. They were involved with playing sports, too. My youngest is also a musician. He taught himself how to play the guitar. There’s so much more that I could talk about that we did but you get the point.
They both went to college, one becoming a nurse and the other works in the tech industry. Although, my second son dropped out of college. They’re both doing. extremely well. They have families and children and if I may say so are very smart! They know way more than me and I often wonder how they got like this!
So, that was my experience. I would do it all again, too.
Appreciate the reply. I just happened to be reading Cayley's biography of Ivan Illich just before I read this, criticizing the false-scarcity that is created when education is institutionalized so... there you go.
I’ve been trying to reply ever since you wrote this and finally got around to it! This was just my experience. I wish they had a school like yours available when they were in school. I look forward to all your posts.
I don't know about the time question regarding home school vs. institutional school. But, one of the good arguments for institutional schooling is that there are parents who, if they did home schooling, they'd have their kids do very little other than watch (non-educational) video day after day. Those kids would never have a chance.
This goes with the "slowed down by the slowest kid in class" remark. If that's true, and instead of being in the classroom, those kids were being neglected by their parents at home school, the classrooms would run faster.
Yep, thanks. I didn't want to write a long aside, but I almost included some note about "of course I'm speaking very generally here, no doubt there are some people homeschooling who do a TERRIBLE job, and for those people" etc. etc..
Without getting into Why, I’ll echo Tate’s original observation. My siblings and I were homeschooled to middle/high school and all tested into competitive programs, with not much more structured education than algebra and grammar basics.
I homeschooled my two sons in the 90’s. I read a book I believe was called ‘Unschooled’. It was about a family of 4 children who all went to universities like Harvard. Very little they did was what you’d consider actual ‘school’. I modeled most of our school from that book. The only books we actually used were for math and language arts. The rest was involving them in every day life. We lived in Denver at the time and there were lots of opportunities for educational pursuits. We’d go to the museums and zoo every month. They read lots of books about what they we’re interested in. I guess you could call it self-directed learning. Actual School probably lasted no more than two hours a day. They were involved with playing sports, too. My youngest is also a musician. He taught himself how to play the guitar. There’s so much more that I could talk about that we did but you get the point.
They both went to college, one becoming a nurse and the other works in the tech industry. Although, my second son dropped out of college. They’re both doing. extremely well. They have families and children and if I may say so are very smart! They know way more than me and I often wonder how they got like this!
So, that was my experience. I would do it all again, too.
Appreciate the reply. I just happened to be reading Cayley's biography of Ivan Illich just before I read this, criticizing the false-scarcity that is created when education is institutionalized so... there you go.
I’ve been trying to reply ever since you wrote this and finally got around to it! This was just my experience. I wish they had a school like yours available when they were in school. I look forward to all your posts.
I don't know about the time question regarding home school vs. institutional school. But, one of the good arguments for institutional schooling is that there are parents who, if they did home schooling, they'd have their kids do very little other than watch (non-educational) video day after day. Those kids would never have a chance.
This goes with the "slowed down by the slowest kid in class" remark. If that's true, and instead of being in the classroom, those kids were being neglected by their parents at home school, the classrooms would run faster.
Yep, thanks. I didn't want to write a long aside, but I almost included some note about "of course I'm speaking very generally here, no doubt there are some people homeschooling who do a TERRIBLE job, and for those people" etc. etc..