tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70481231003599730962024-03-14T01:17:59.567-07:00unschooling every dayone family's journey learning all the timeUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7048123100359973096.post-83039162232423915452014-04-11T12:42:00.000-07:002014-04-11T12:42:19.713-07:00Justin and I to share our unschooling experience<span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">Justin and I are presenting at the Florida Unschooling Conference, called Un in the Sun, at the TradeWinds Island Resort on St. Pete Beach in October. For those who unschool or who are interested in unschooling or just a tad bit curious abo</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; display: inline; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">ut it come on out to one of the best Florida beaches for that weekend and check it out. <i class="_4-k1 img sp_7w9zuu sx_cd0b3e" style="background-image: url(https://fbstatic-a.akamaihd.net/rsrc.php/v2/yH/r/eUYfuBIR9S1.png); background-position: -153px -799px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: auto; display: inline-block; height: 16px; vertical-align: -3px; width: 16px;"></i> A good friend of mine and author of Parenting For Social Change,<a data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=1399394400&extragetparams=%7B%22directed_target_id%22%3A0%7D" href="https://www.facebook.com/teresa.g.brett" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Teresa Graham Brett</a> is also presenting, among others. Hope to see some of you there! <i class="_4-k1 img sp_7w9zuu sx_cd0b3e" style="background-image: url(https://fbstatic-a.akamaihd.net/rsrc.php/v2/yH/r/eUYfuBIR9S1.png); background-position: -153px -799px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: auto; display: inline-block; height: 16px; vertical-align: -3px; width: 16px;"></i> If you're interested in more information on the conference you can click here: <a href="http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.uninthesun.com%2F&h=qAQFjFzUD&s=1" rel="nofollow nofollow" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://www.uninthesun.com/</a></span><br />
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Below is the announcement made on the Florida Unschooling Conference Facebook page:</div>
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<span style="color: #333333;">The Un in the Sun planning team is excited to</span><span style="color: #333333;"> </span><span style="color: #333333;">announce the next speakers in our lineup for the conference in October - Kathy Brown and Justin Brown, a mom and son team from right here in the Tampa Bay area.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333;">Kathy Brown spent a decade as a </span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #333333; display: inline;">reporter and editor at The Tampa Tribune before resigning to become a full-time caregiver to her newborn son, Justin. That decision 18 years ago led her and her husband, Joe, to investigate alternative ways to parent and educate. After learning about unschooling and observing their son’s natural ability to learn on his own, they decided unschooling fit perfectly with their parenting style.<br /><br />From the beginning, Justin has experienced the freedom to explore his own interests at his own pace; he has never been punished or forced to learn anything. Now, at 18, he says, “Unschooling has made me more of my own person so I could really decide who I am and the things that I like."<br /><br />Justin's unique journey continues to be the joyful and rich experience that Kathy began writing about when Justin was 4 years old. As a parenting columnist for a local women's magazine, Kathy wrote of a world unlike the one in which she grew up … a new world where it’s possible to parent with non-punitive discipline, with trust and mutual respect, and with the welcomed acceptance of emotional release. (She is currently compiling her parenting columns, along with new commentary, into a book titled Parenting the Soul.)<br /><br />Kathy and Justin are happy to share their journey in support of others who choose to parent and educate differently … who choose a new world full of opportunity and empowerment for both themselves and for their children.<br /><br />We are looking forward to hearing from these two in October! Remember, the incredible rates for Super Early Bird Registration are only available through April 20. Register now to beat the rush!</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7048123100359973096.post-62934111577793264222013-06-20T06:56:00.001-07:002013-06-20T06:56:56.791-07:00How to Learn Anything (TedTalk)"The major barrier to learning anything is not intellectual, it's emotional..."<br />
<br />
This is a great TedTalk on how to be good at anything you want. It only takes 20 hours of focused, deliberate practice. Listen for an entertaining explanation.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MgBikgcWnY" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MgBikgcWnY</a><br />
<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7048123100359973096.post-1424261423407993402013-04-28T08:20:00.000-07:002013-04-29T05:33:29.326-07:00Video Games Are Great!As many unschooling parents know, trust is the key to living the unschooling life. Learning to trust my 17-year-old son's osmosis-like learning journey hasn't always been easy. But I always trusted that his playing video games was a wonderful and fun way to learn all sorts of things.<br />
<br />
All I had to do to validate myself was play the games with him. I learned firsthand the amount of complex thinking involved. There is so much to consider and to be aware of in order to play the games that my<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkYpdDuzgkup0uD9L58xwnRZPse0mqcKwYi5hpPqQa9DCITHeMxCMePbO_qlL6d9xHmy6_gHG6s94o_JOu9i_vIU_fUpxq03FvBEM9D58YoR_ZuWBw3jrZow5LcmHmzk-NV9E6EGeD9eE/s1600/videogamecollage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkYpdDuzgkup0uD9L58xwnRZPse0mqcKwYi5hpPqQa9DCITHeMxCMePbO_qlL6d9xHmy6_gHG6s94o_JOu9i_vIU_fUpxq03FvBEM9D58YoR_ZuWBw3jrZow5LcmHmzk-NV9E6EGeD9eE/s320/videogamecollage.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"When kids are asked, in focus groups and surveys, <br />
what they like
about video games, they generally <br />
talk about freedom, self-direction,
and competence.[11] <br />
In the game, they make their own decisions and
strive to <br />
meet challenges that they themselves have chosen."<br />
<b></b> </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
middle-aged brain would feel a strong urge sometimes to opt-out of playing. <br />
<br />
I continue to be awed at his ability to create and problem-solve his way through the Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPG) he so enjoys. But rarely do I get a lot of cheers from other parents when I advocate unlimited digital gaming for all. <br />
<br />
The article titled, "The Many Benefits, for Kids, of Playing Video Games," cites a study by the IBM Corporation that concluded the leadership skills exercised within MMORPGs are essentially the same as those needed to run a modern company. <br />
<br />
So I thought the article by Peter Gray might be a great read for any parent still struggling with all the fears around this issue or for any parent who may find themselves being the only one in a circle of moms who thinks video games are great. :) The link to the article is at the end of this post. The quote below is Gray's response to the most common fears around playing video games. <br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"The most common complaints about video games are that they (1) are
socially isolating, (2) reduce opportunities for outdoor activities and
thereby lead to obesity and poor physical health, and (3) promote
violence in kids, if the games have violent content. On the face of it,
of course, the first two of these claims should be truer of book
reading than of video gaming. Concerning the third claim, I don't see
any obvious reason why pretend murder of animated characters in video
games should be any more likely to provoke real murder than, say,
reading Shakespeare's account of Hamlet's murder of his stepfather. Yet
we <i>make</i> kids read Hamlet in school." </blockquote>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-Zz8V8OnKQ0QTtPgOsoXeti-0MZ5BqctZkJOtCIyd7P0veLUuwxQas4Cl4h8fx_GypgrC5e5YFpPY0lEcIqoFROMSdhChoMqtxYQ2xBpKnutzYEtt57Wf3_UakXHjnZYxet7Dau_o_So/s1600/beautifulbook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="302" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-Zz8V8OnKQ0QTtPgOsoXeti-0MZ5BqctZkJOtCIyd7P0veLUuwxQas4Cl4h8fx_GypgrC5e5YFpPY0lEcIqoFROMSdhChoMqtxYQ2xBpKnutzYEtt57Wf3_UakXHjnZYxet7Dau_o_So/s320/beautifulbook.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Kids who are really free know what is best for them, <br />
especially
concerning how they should spend their free time. <br />
Every kid is
different, just as every adult is, and we can't get <br />
into their heads and
find out just what they are getting <br />
out of something that we don't
understand." </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Click on link below: <br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/freedom-learn/201201/the-many-benefits-kids-playing-video-games" target="_blank">http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/freedom-learn/201201/the-many-benefits-kids-playing-video-games</a><br />
<br />
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<b></b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7048123100359973096.post-76925778024227614982012-10-12T10:06:00.000-07:002012-10-12T10:06:02.661-07:00How To Unschool Through CollegeAn interesting look at college and how unschooling through college looks very much like unschooling through high school. <3 love it....<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7048123100359973096.post-64691736806697604582012-10-08T05:14:00.001-07:002012-10-13T10:16:46.431-07:00Learning Takes Place At One's Own Pace<3 love this <3<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7048123100359973096.post-16408098171680324232012-05-10T08:07:00.001-07:002012-05-10T08:07:32.881-07:00When You Have Interest, You Have EducationThis TedTalk is excellent. In a series of real-life experiments from New
Delhi to South Africa to Italy, Indian education scientist Sugata Mitra gave kids self-supervised access to
the web and saw results that could revolutionize how we as a society think about
teaching. Click on the video below to listen to 17 minutes of fascinating, moving and funny stuff. <br />
<br />
But first a quote from the talk: <br />
<br />
"Education is a self organizing system, where learning is an emergent phenonmenon..."<br />
<br />
After 16 years of unschooling Justin, I have experienced firsthand the above quote as absolutely true. :) Enjoy!<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7048123100359973096.post-53600499334582058392012-05-02T07:12:00.000-07:002013-04-28T08:26:30.874-07:00What Does Unschooling Look Like<div id="yui_3_2_0_20_1335961695829116">
The quote below does a great job explaining what unschooling is all about. :) </div>
<div id="yui_3_2_0_20_1335961695829116">
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div id="yui_3_2_0_20_1335961695829116">
<b>"(Unschoolers) maintain that a child's learning should be
curiosity-driven rather than dictated by teachers and textbooks, and
that forcing kids to adhere to curricula quashes their natural
inclination to explore and ask questions. <br />
(Unschooled) children can organize their knowledge
in free and better ways. They never need to feel they are through
learning, or past the point that they can begin something new. Each
thing they discover can be useful eventually. If we help provide
them with ever-changing opportunities to see, hear, smell, taste,
feel, move and discuss, what they know will exceed in breadth and
depth what any school's curriculum would have covered. It won't be
the same set of materials--it will be clearer and larger but
different."</b></div>
</blockquote>
<div id="yui_3_2_0_20_1335961695829134">
<br /></div>
<div id="yui_3_2_0_20_1335961695829135">
The above, from the beginning, has been our perspective and approach to unschooling Justin and it's exactly what we have observed from him....love it! I hope to start blogging more soon with some more examples! :) Btw, the quote is from the article
titled, <i>"The Most Empowered Children of the Future Will Be Deprogrammed
and Deschooled."</i> In my opinion, the article is very well-written! It can be found at preventdisease.com </div>
<div id="yui_3_2_0_20_1335961695829135">
<br /></div>
<div id="yui_3_2_0_20_1335961695829135">
Click below to go to article:</div>
<div id="yui_3_2_0_20_1335961695829493">
<br /></div>
<a href="http://preventdisease.com/news/12/031612_The-Most-Empowered-Children-of-The-Future-Will-Be-Deprogrammed-Deschooled.shtml" target="_blank">http://preventdisease.com/news/12/031612_The-Most-Empowered-Children-of-The-Future-Will-Be-Deprogrammed-Deschooled.shtml</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7048123100359973096.post-90756530379951809162011-04-17T09:10:00.000-07:002011-04-17T09:10:34.519-07:00Play, Learning, Unschooling: One In The SameIn this video, Joseph Chilton Pearce goes through each child developmental stage and illustrates how play is vital to integrating information, i.e. learning. In other words, play makes learning effortless. Play is the natural way we learn.....I just love that! Pearce also does a great job highlighting how emotional nurturing and safety are critical to learning. These concepts are the underpinnings of unschooling. Enjoy!<br />
<br />
<br />
<iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/22260894" width="400" height="267" frameborder="0"></iframe><p><a href="http://vimeo.com/22260894">Joseph Chilton Pearce - Play is Learning</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user6532447">Touch the Future</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7048123100359973096.post-7150334309894895322011-03-13T13:48:00.000-07:002011-06-09T08:52:56.997-07:00Unschooling ShakespeareJustin is perusing the many books at the Saturday morning market one day when he asks me if he can buy the book he has in his hand.<br />
<br />
“What is it?” I ask, as I glance down at the cover. <br />
<br />
I do a double take. My contact lenses need cleaning, but still, the title has me discombobulated:<br />
<br />
<span style="font-style:italic;">“Simply Shakespeare: Original Shakespearean Text with a Modern Line-for-Line Translation.”<br />
</span><br />
“That looks interesting,” I comment, as joyeth overcometh me. <br />
<br />
“I could write my own play with this thing,” he says, as he flips the pages in front of me. “Can I get it?”<br />
<br />
I suddenly want to pinch myself. Was it not a year earlier he wanted nothing to do with Shakespeare?! It was two Mays ago. Auditions for the <i>“Twelfth Night”</i> were fast approaching at St. Petersburg Little Theatre. Justin wanted to audition for a part. But when he read the script of the contemporary re-telling of Shakespeare's comedy, he changed his mind. <br />
<br />
“This stuff makes no sense,” he had said. When I tried to help him read some lines for practice, he exited stage left. <br />
<br />
I was disheartened. Like a lot of parents, I had all these preconcieved ideas around how fun it would be to learn Shakespeare with a group of theatre friends. <br />
<br />
Nope. Auditioning for a part in the play wasn't going to happen, Justin said. Plus, he argued, they were looking for males who were older than he. <br />
<br />
"But you look older than you are," I countered. He disagreed. <br />
<br />
So I did what I always do as an unschooling mom who still struggles with past conditioning around thinking I, the parent, knows best. I sulked a bit, released a heavy sigh, smiled and let it go. My job to see if he might go for it was done. <br />
<br />
Now, a year and a half later, Justin was asking to buy <i>Simply Shakespeare</i>! <br />
<br />
After we got home the book sat on the table all afternoon. I was so curious if he would ever pick it up. I can't tell you how many books I've bought that I've yet to read. Like the one on, <i>"How to Let Your Child Lead,"</i> or something like that.<br />
<br />
So while I was doing the dishes, I decided not to even expect he would read the book. Then, like all the other magical moments where his love of learning shines through, it happened again.<br />
<br />
Justin sat down at the kitchen table and picked up the book. Within minutes some strange words begin to fill the air, complete with all the diction and inflection one would imagine from a cast of Elizabethan actors.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight:bold;">Hamlet:</span> Whither wilt thou lead me? Speak, I'll go no further.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight:bold;">Ghost:</span> Mark me.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight:bold;">Hamlet:</span> I will.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight:bold;">Ghost:</span> My hour is almost come <br />
When I to sulph'rous and tormenting flames<br />
Must render up myself.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight:bold;">Hamlet:</span> Speak, I am bound to hear. <br />
<br />
Justin looks up from the page. “This is fun,” he says.“You can really get into it.”<br />
<br />
I'm standing at the sink, smiling. He starts to read again.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight:bold;">Ghost:</span> I am thy father's spirit, <br />
Doomed for a certain term to walk the night,<br />
And for the day confined to fast in fires, <br />
Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature<br />
Are burnt and purged away. But that I am forbid<br />
To tell the secrets of my prison-house, <br />
I could a tale unfold whose lightest word<br />
Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood ...<br />
<br />
Justin pauses long enough to comment: “This is crazy stuff.” <br />
<br />
But the peculiar way they talked back then didn't stop him from reading on.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight:bold;">Hamlet:</span> O, God!<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight:bold;">Ghost:</span> Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight:bold;">Hamlet:</span> Murder!<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight:bold;">Ghost:</span> Murder most foul, as in the best it is,<br />
But this most foul, strange and unnatural.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight:bold;">Hamlet:</span> Haste me to know't, that I with wings as swift<br />
As meditation or the thoughts of love<br />
May sweep to my revenge.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight:bold;">Ghost:</span> I find thee apt;<br />
And duller shouldst thou be than the fat weed<br />
That roots itself in ease on Lethe wharf...<br />
<br />
Justin shakes his head. Dramatic pause. “This is really hard.”<br />
<br />
He flips through a few pages, skimming through the text silently now. <br />
<br />
“This is really confusing. If I'm ever in a play," he says, "I'm not playing Hamlet. He's got some long lines.” <br />
<br />
<b>To Thine Own Self Be True</b><br />
I'm always amazed at how Justin knows what he wants and what is best for him. When he doesn't, he learns what is best for him through experience and imitation, or said another way, trial and error. <br />
<br />
Since he was 12 years old and began auditioning for parts in plays, he was never in a hurry to rock the theatre world. More than once, he has turned down a bigger role for either a smaller one or none at all because he wasn't ready to have a major part.<br />
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Back then, and still today, he mostly enjoys just being part of the show. It's about friendship. It's about involving the family. It's about community. So far, he has been in seven plays: <i>The King and I, A High School Musical, Pirates of Penzance, A Christmas Carol, A Hairy Tale, HMS Pinafore,</i> and most recently, <i>The Nutcracker.</i> (At right, Justin, center stage, in Nutcracker)<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO4SuIpFpdBkQGwqVIitER2mkJj9J3TbDsGoDaevdJ5oAxHjyITa9TwRhza45-AV5HiM07ud8D6uGm37IlKEQpnMgBbgq9-IGO-IBzuxai10TX-JT-ICBLA3_EDWEGfyuJ6QufXjjQqco/s1600/justinonstagepalladium.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="200" width="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO4SuIpFpdBkQGwqVIitER2mkJj9J3TbDsGoDaevdJ5oAxHjyITa9TwRhza45-AV5HiM07ud8D6uGm37IlKEQpnMgBbgq9-IGO-IBzuxai10TX-JT-ICBLA3_EDWEGfyuJ6QufXjjQqco/s200/justinonstagepalladium.jpg" /></a></div><br />
The two-act ballet, which played at the Palladium in downtown St. Petersburg in December, was performed by the Academy of Ballet Arts. <br />
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When he was offered a role in the play, he asked what he would have to do. Mime and do a Christmas dance. <br />
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“Perfect," he said. "My kind of role.” <br />
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As if on stage, Justin starts to read out loud again.<br />
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<span style="font-weight:bold;">Hamlet:</span> Rest, rest, perturbed spirit! So, gentlemen, <br />
With all my love I do commend me to you;<br />
And what so poor a man as Hamlet is<br />
May do t'express his love and friending to you...<br />
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I look over just in time to catch Justin staring at the page he has open. He slowly closes the book. Lays it carefully on the table. He looks up.<br />
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“Hamlet is quite the play,” he concludes.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7048123100359973096.post-78143049589341265612010-09-01T14:41:00.000-07:002011-04-17T09:12:55.588-07:00Unschooling A Teen From The Beginning<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqzhIdDsucNbwfl9qh7FvV574wmLZN8UG0Fr6-eMvDa8PQyDaj-j_S7NASOqIQRyqoEKLj6EWVKi9fK8YyGSZK_UJ9k3EpjTiy9t1Bed74iZR-hxeaz8HSOgtLkP1qhzYsvYfZnn6IxQA/s1600/photo_20440_20100913.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqzhIdDsucNbwfl9qh7FvV574wmLZN8UG0Fr6-eMvDa8PQyDaj-j_S7NASOqIQRyqoEKLj6EWVKi9fK8YyGSZK_UJ9k3EpjTiy9t1Bed74iZR-hxeaz8HSOgtLkP1qhzYsvYfZnn6IxQA/s320/photo_20440_20100913.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5563662899438047778" /></a><br />
My son, Justin, has never been to school a day in his life. Nonetheless, he has spent the last 14 years learning all the time, every step of the way, without anyone making him 'do school.' <br />
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From the ABCs and 123s to reading, writing, and arithmetic, he has absorbed, almost like osmosis, a plethora of information around all of these topics--and more--from every day life. <br />
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As science, math, geometry, algebra, physics, geology, geography, language, biology, anatomy, sociology, history, politics, religion, music, art and any other area of life has been relative to his world at any point in time, he seems to have transfused the information through his veins to his brain – with little assistance from me or any other adult. <br />
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In short, Justin learns what he wants to learn, when he wants to learn it, at his own pace, and in his own way. My job as the full-time unschooling parent is to do the best I can to provide an environment rich in what interest him at any given stage of development. But it is up to him to choose what to learn from that environment. <br />
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The other important part of my job as an unschooling parent is to not make him learn what I, or others, think he should learn because I, or others, think he should learn it. This is, by far, the hardest part of my job. <br />
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Fortunately, for me, Justin quickly lets me know when I'm doing this. Then my job is to work through my past conditioning. As a result, there are many days when I don't know who is learning more, him or me!<br />
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In the 1960s this natural way of learning about one's world and the people in it was given a name by John Holt, called unschooling. Holt contends learning is an innate process that happens every second of every minute of every hour of every day. In other words, all the time and all by itself. <br />
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<span style="font-weight:bold;">Learning is hardwired</span><br />
Joe, my husband, and I learned this shortly after we became parents. During the beginning stages of Justin's life, it was so visible to us Justin was learning through observation, imitation and experience; there was never a stagnant learning moment. <br />
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When Justin was ready to learn something, he soaked it up like a sponge; as though it was the most fun thing to do in the whole world in that moment. <br />
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We also observed learning happens in subtle stages, on a continuum, often unobservable until all of the sudden it seems like it's magic that Justin knows what he knows, or does what he does. <br />
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In fact, it was during the baby and toddler years when we realized we didn't “teach” Justin a thing, except to model it. We talked and walked in front of him, and lo and behold he was talking and walking before we knew it. <br />
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It dawned on us one day we had not given him any instruction on how to put one leg in front of the other, yet there he was at about 11 months of age attempting to imitate what he had seen us do for the first year of his life - put one leg in front of the other. <br />
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The first day he actually walked, as all parents know, was like magic. “Holy moly!” I remember thinking, “He figured that out all on his own!” <br />
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It was the same thing with talking. The English language is one of the hardest languages to grasp – ask any foreigner – but at 2 years old he was on his way to mastering it. Yes, there were days of blubbering, but we could hear the traces of vowels and nouns under those beautiful sounds. <br />
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Studies show every baby's brain is hardwired to recognize the sounds of over 6,000 languages. All they need is to be surrounded by the language to pick it up.<br />
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When Justin was about three, I got proof of just how well he picked things up. One day, as I was cleaning the kitchen and he was in the living room playing, I heard him imitate perfectly the context, tone and inflection of a swear word I had modeled for him. Yep, he was learning all the time! <br />
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Research shows by 3 years of age, we learn 10 new words a day. That's a word every waking hour. And this is without flash cards or worksheets. We humans are truly a remarkable and brilliant species.<br />
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At 4, Justin continued to confirm this fact for us. He had a vocabulary that blew us away. We noticed he was continuing to learn his ABCs, 123s, and do-re-me's, simply because he wanted to. He was self-motivated, as all babies, toddlers, children and on up are, if there are no medical conditions or blocks at play-- sometimes even if there are! <br />
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The latest discoveries in human anatomy, biology and science continue to highlight this. By 4 years of age, we not only have an endless curiosity but we have a million new connectors made every second. Our ability to gather information through our sensors is amazing. By 4, our eyes are capable of picking out 7 million colors, more than we could ever put a name to. Our ears distinquish between 1,500 levels of sounds. <br />
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In short, we have an intelligence gathering system that is better than any computer. Research shows by 4 years old we're making thousands of calculations every millisecond!<br />
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<span style="font-weight:bold;">Phenomenal from the start</span><br />
Even though we didn't have this information at our fingertips when we started out on our journey with Justin, we could see it was true: we are an amazing and incredible species.<br />
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But this knowledge and understanding that learning is innate and easily occurs when there is freedom to choose what, how and when to learn is not the predominant belief of our current educational system. So we decided to not only home school Justin, but to unschool him. <br />
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For us, from the very beginning and to this day, this means there are no specific times to 'do' lessons. And forcing him to learn something isn't an option. <br />
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A couple of times I did cave to the predominant fear-based belief that 7 year olds should be able to perform on cue certain math skills, which I will share in a future post, because boy, did I learn a lot about who and what that was all about. Read: Me and my insecurities. <br />
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But other than that, Joe and I knew our cue to go on stage was if Justin asked a question or showed interest in something. <br />
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Still, there were many times, especially during the traditional elementary school years, when choosing this path wasn't easy because we felt so alone. No one we knew unschooled. But having the support of each other helped us stay the course. <br />
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And, yes, more times then we would like to acknowledge, we've droned on and on about something, refusing to exit stage right, even though the signs were clear Justin had lost interest. <br />
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But when we are more consciously aware, we continue to observe how all human beings have an innate desire to learn, how learning and living are interrelated, how we learn more by our mistakes and successes then test and instruction, and how it is never too late to learn more about ourselves and the world in which we live, which is exactly what Holt advocated.<br />
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In other words, learning is an incremental lifelong process that occurs everywhere, all the time. There is no need to hurry up and learn it all by 7 or 8 or 10 or 14 or 18. Or even 49. <br />
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Thank goodness for that because at 49, I have to admit I still don't know it all. In fact, the more I learn about the many discoveries made every day, the more I know I will be, forever, learning all the time. So will Justin.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0