This blog is dedicated to our deep interest in Finnish culture, community activism and my family's recent decision to finish school early this year and begin the adventure of home/unschooling. There is a relationship here...and I trust we will understand it in due time.
I see this blog as a place to share our struggles, failures and successes, projects, questions and interests; a site of research and exchange, with others who have also decided to "drop out" for a while, or not...
We see this time as a retreat, a chance to spend time together, to get to know our own educational gaps, needs and aspirations, to slow down time and simplify our lives and to see the educational value again in things like: learning to fold clothes, iron, sew, cook, play, learn a language, experiment.
We know it won't be easy, but we are excited to try this! We welcome feedback, comments, help and company on our journey to find new eyes!
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Withdrawal
with·draw·al (w -drô l, w th-). n. 1. The act or process of withdrawing, as: a. A retreat or retirement.
They say the first year of homeschooling is more about unschooling: here is what I found on Wikipedia.
Unschooling is a range of educational philosophies and practices surrounding the primary belief that education is a greater undertaking than schooling. Unschooling places little emphasis on traditional school curriculum and encourages children to learn through their natural life experiences including play, game play, household responsibilities, personal interests and curiosity, work experience, travel, books, elective classes, family, mentors, and social interaction. Unschooling encourages exploration of activities initiated by the children themselves, believing that the more personal learning is, the more meaningful, well-understood and therefore useful it is to the child. Differing from conventional schooling, unschooling questions the usefulness of standard curricula, conventional grading methods, and other features of traditional schooling in maximizing the education of each unique child.
The term "unschooling" was coined in the 1970s and used by educator John Holt, widely regarded as the "father" of unschooling.[1] While often considered a subset of homeschooling, unschoolers may be as philosophically separate from other homeschoolers as they are from advocates of conventional schooling. While homeschooling has been subject to widespread public debate, little media attention has been given to unschooling in particular. Popular critics of unschooling tend to view it as an extreme educational philosophy, with concerns that unschooled children lack the social skills, structure, and motivation of their peers, especially in the job market, while proponents of unschooling say exactly the opposite is true: self-directed education in a natural environment makes a child more equipped to handle the "real world."[2]
The term "unschooling" was coined in the 1970s and used by educator John Holt, widely regarded as the "father" of unschooling.[1] While often considered a subset of homeschooling, unschoolers may be as philosophically separate from other homeschoolers as they are from advocates of conventional schooling. While homeschooling has been subject to widespread public debate, little media attention has been given to unschooling in particular. Popular critics of unschooling tend to view it as an extreme educational philosophy, with concerns that unschooled children lack the social skills, structure, and motivation of their peers, especially in the job market, while proponents of unschooling say exactly the opposite is true: self-directed education in a natural environment makes a child more equipped to handle the "real world."[2]
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