Yes, My Grown Homeschooled Children Are Odd — And Yours Will Be Too!

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Diane Flynn Keith is a veteran homeschool parent and an internationally recognized voice in education outside the traditional classroom walls. Diane coaches and encourages thousands of homeschool families through her website, Homefires.com. She is the author of the best-selling book, "Carschooling: Over 350 Entertaining Games & Activities To Turn Travel Time Into Learning Time." Diane also publishes the rave-reviewed "ClickSchooling" e-zine that provides free, daily, web-based curriculum ideas to parents and educators.

I am sick and tired of defending homeschooling from the question, "What about socialization?" Members of the modern homeschool movement have insisted for thirty years that homeschooled children are well-socialized. We laughingly refer to socialization as the "S word." We deflect the socialization question by insisting it's a myth. And yet, it persists.

We trounced the academic argument long ago. Very few people challenge the notion that homeschoolers are intellectually curious, self-directed learners who match or exceed the academic prowess of their school-going peers. So, why do you think we can't shake the socialization issue?

Unschooling for Haters, Especially My Favorite Kind of Hater, The "Skeptic"

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Kelly Hogaboom is a homeschooling mother to two children, Phoenix (10), and Nels (8). She keeps a blog here. This original article can be found here. Read her introduction in italics:

Hi. I’m a radical unschooler named Kelly! Listen, I feel ambivalent about labels. On one hand they are helpful for the human mind to process; on the other, the human mind invariably dredges up bias and preconceptions the minute it can label a thing. That’s just how it is. As an experienced unschooler, I thought I’d flesh out many of my encounters with those who hear the term “unschooling” for the first, second, or third time, and the biases so many continue to hold on to.

If you stop reading in a few seconds there is one takeaway I’d like to leave with you: the term “unschooling” means different things to different people. If nothing else, if you go about your day remembering that whenever you hear that word, it could mean something different than what you’ve previously perceived, EXCELLENT. My job is halfway decently done.

How to Travel Cheaply (worldschooling)

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Intrigued with worldschooling? Eli Gerzon, worldschooler, gives some helpful tips to help you get going. Eli Gerzon leads Worldschool Travel Tours, speaks at homeschooling and unschooling conferences, and blogs about education and travel. He is a grown unschooler who chose to leave school at the age of fifteen. Inspired by his life learning experiences during his extensive world travels he coined the term worldschooling. 

I’m at the InHome Homeschooling Conference in Illinois! I’m leading 4 workshops on Friday and Saturday. Lots of people signed up for the “How to Travel Cheaply” workshop. Here’s the handout I’m giving them with tips and links to help people travel on a budget.

Probably the first thing I’ll tell them at the workshop is that traveling around the world is often less expensive than living in the U.S. and it is quite doable!  Well, here it is:

Trashing Teens

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Psychologist Robert Epstein argues in a provocative book, "The Case Against Adolescence," that teens are far more competent than we assume, and most of their problems stem from restrictions placed on them.

Psychologist Robert Epstein spoke to Psychology Today's Hara Estroff Marano about the legal and emotional constraints on American youth.

HEM: Why do you believe that adolescence is an artificial extension of childhood?

RE: In every mammalian species, immediately upon reaching puberty, animals function as adults, often having offspring. We call our offspring "children" well past puberty. The trend started a hundred years ago and now extends childhood well into the 20s. The age at which Americans reach adulthood is increasing—30 is the new 20—and most Americans now believe a person isn't an adult until age 26.

True Freedom in Life and Education: Doing What you Really Want

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Eli Gerzon leads Worldschool Travel Tours, speaks at homeschooling and unschooling conferences, and blogs about education and travel. He is a grown unschooler who chose to leave school at the age of fifteen. Inspired by his life learning experiences during his extensive world travels he coined the term worldschooling. Eli wrote this particular blog post in 2009.

Something I really started thinking about when I was unschooling high school was the nature of true freedom. Basically, I came to the conclusion that lack of restrictions was not enough: to be truly free we need to know the truth and be able to do what we truly want deep down inside.

Years later I came across a quote that seemed to really express this idea. When I spoke at my first big unschooling conference, Rethinking Education in Dallas, Texas, Barb Lundgren gave me her book of Mindful Quotations. This was one of my favorites:

Men are not free when they are doing just what they like … Men are only free when they are doing what the deepest self likes, and there is getting down to the deepest self! It takes some diving. -D. H. Lawrence

Unschooling: Brilliant or Lazy?

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Carrie Willard is the host of Natural Moms Talk Radio, a free weekly internet talk radio show for the natural family, a single homeschooling/ work at home mom of 4. She's into healthy whole foods eating, and is a former breastfeeding counselor.

When I first heard about the notion of unschooling, I agreed with much of it in principle. I knew that my kids learned an awful lot of stuff without any help from me. Babies learn to crawl, toddler learn to walk and potty train and talk. These are things you can’t really teach a child how to do. I also knew how much kids loved to learn, especially if they aren’t hamstrung from fear of performing. They learn for the joy of it and to satisfy their own curiosity and craving to understand the world.

At the same time, I worried that by unschooling, I was being a lazy parent. Is that true? First, I’ll define what unschooling is.

Hmm. That’s challenging, in part because unschooling looks so different for every family! There are “radical” unschoolers who reject workbooks and curriculum and “doing school,” there are unschoolers who do some curriculum in a flexible manner, and everything in between. Some unschooling families think TV and video games are okay; others reject them totally. And again, there is every thing in between.

Ten Tips for New Unschooling Parents

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Jan Hunt, M.Sc., offers telephone counseling worldwide, with a focus on parenting, unschooling, and personal matters. She is the Director of The Natural Child Project and co-editor of the Unschooling Unmanual, author of The Natural Child: Parenting from the Heart and A Gift for Baby. To request counseling, order her books, or for other information, visit her website at www.naturalchild.org.

Because few of today's unschooling parents were unschooled themselves, they may have many fears about their own competence to create a rewarding learning environment. These fears are based on the parent's inexperience with unschooling as well as on the false assumptions about learning that their school experiences taught them years ago. When the present generation of unschooling children become parents themselves, they will have more confidence and trust in the process. As I often tell my clients, today's generation of parents have it the hardest, because they have to trust a process that they themselves never experienced directly. 

Here are ten tips for making a smooth transition:

The Truth About Homework: Needless Assignments Persist Because of Widespread Misconceptions About Learning

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Does homework help or harm? Alfie Kohn is an American author and lecturer who has explored a number of topics in education, parenting, and human behavior. He is considered a leading figure in progressive education. His website is here. This original article can be found here.

There’s something perversely fascinating about educational policies that are clearly at odds with the available data.  Huge schools are still being built even though we know that students tend to fare better in smaller places that lend themselves to the creation of democratic caring communities.  Many children who are failed by the academic status quo are forced to repeat a grade even though research shows that this is just about the worst course of action for them.  Homework continues to be assigned – in ever greater quantities – despite the absence of evidence that it’s necessary or even helpful in most cases.

A 13-Year-Old's Slavery Analogy Raises Some Uncomfortable Truths in School

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Jada Williams is a very brave girl, and I hope she continues to stand up for and voice her opinions. Watch her read her essay here. This original article can be found here.

In a bold comparative analysis of The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Jada Williams, a 13-year old eighth grader at School #3 in Rochester, New York, asserted that in her experience, today's education system is a modern-day version of slavery.

According to the Fredrick Douglass Foundation of New York, the schools' teachers and administrators were so offended by Williams' essay that they began a campaign of harassment—kicking her out of class and trying to suspend her—that ultimately forced her parents to withdraw her from the school.

The Human Touch

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In the rush to place a computer on every desk, schools are neglecting intellectual creativity and personal growth. Lowell Monke is an assistant professor of education at Wittenberg University. This original article was printed in Education Next.

In 1922 Thomas Edison proclaimed, “I believe the motion picture is destined to revolutionize our educational system and that in a few years it will supplant largely, if not entirely, the use of textbooks.” Thus began a long string of spectacularly wrong predictions regarding the capacity of various technologies to revolutionize education.

What betrayed Edison and his successors was an uncritical faith in technology itself. This faith has become a sort of ideology increasingly dominating K-12 education. In the past two decades, school systems, with generous financial and moral support from foundations and all levels of government, have made massive investments in computer technology and in creating “wired” schools.

My Education in Home Schooling

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Quinn Cummings is an inventor, businesswoman, television and film actress, and author. Her second book The Year of Learning Dangerously about homeschooling in America, will be release August 7th, 2012.

I don't know how most people spend their second morning home schooling. I spent mine hyperventilating into a paper bag. After less than 24 hours of educating my child at home, I was struck by the realization that I wasn't up to the task and should move immediately to Plan B. Except I didn't have a Plan B.

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For two years leading up to this I had watched my daughter convince experienced, well-meaning teachers that she was incapable of mastering long division when, in fact, she simply didn't like long division. Alice's ploy raised a larger concern: At age 9, she appeared to be cruising along in school without actually doing any work. To my sorrow, it appeared I had given birth to myself, another pleasant slacker fated to a lifetime of successfully studying for midterms between classes until barely paying attention stopped working. Alice wasn't learning how to learn, she was learning how to coast. Maybe I could wait and see if she came to learning on her own. Or maybe she needed a different kind of education. 

12 Ways Parents Can Contribute to Education Reform

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A helpful list for parents who believe in the educational reform but might not be ready to homeschool yet. The original article can be found at Online Universities.

Education reform is a hot topic these days, but as a parent, it’s easy to feel left out when it seems like politicians and school officials are doing all of the talking.

Parents have a right and a responsibility to get involved in school reform, and there’s a lot that you can do to improve education for your children. Read on, and we’ll explore 12 ways you can make a difference and contribute to education reform as a concerned parent.

Here's Why Homeschooling Has Gone Mainstream

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Susan Schaefer is a certified teacher who was opposed to homeschooling before doing research. The research and statistics swayed her, now she believes homeschooling is a very good choice. Who knows, a few more years and she could be a John Holt!

A few months ago at 11 a.m. on a Tuesday, I saw a mom showing a well-behaved 8-year-old boy flashcards with Chinese characters on them in Panera. Homeschool alert!

I figured this woman was either a very conservative Christian or a crunchy granola type. Being annoyingly curious and inappropriate, as is my M.O., I struck up a conversation with her. She wasn’t either of those stereotypes. She was very nice and talked to me for a while about her experiences homeschooling her kids. I learned that homeschooling is way more organized than I thought and very in vogue at the moment.

In 1980, home schooling was illegal in 30 states. Now, it is legal in all 50 states with about 1.5 million to 2 million children being homeschooled in the U.S., roughly 3 percent of school-age children nationwide, according to a study by the National Center for Education Statistics.

Free Play Is Essential for Normal Emotional Development

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Unschooling gives copious amounts of play, school does not. Peter Gray, Ph.D., is a research professor of psychology at Boston College. He has conducted and published research in comparative, evolutionary, developmental, and educational psychology; published articles on innovative teaching methods and alternative approaches to education; and is author of Psychology. His blog is Freedom to Learn at Psychology Today, and you can find this original article here.

In play, children practice many skills that are crucial for healthy development.  They practice physical and manual skills, intellectual skills, and social skills. I have written about all of this in previous posts.  They also practice emotional skills. In play, children learn how to regulate their fear and anger and thereby how to maintain emotional control in threatening real-life situations.

“Dangerous” Play

Children love to play in emotionally exciting ways.  Little ones delight in being tossed into the air or swung around by adults or teenagers (but only if the children themselves determine the height of the tosses and the vigor of the swinging).