The paradigm has shifted - a little. The practice of keeping your kids at home and allowing them to learn from you and your community is not only a growing idea, but one that is gaining acceptance even from those who might never follow this path.
I'd like to see the word "homeschooling" go away because of the media-driven images it conjures up, but no one has landed on an alternative word or phrase, though many try (Life Learning, Home Education, natural learning - none of these cover they myriad of approaches to learning). But that's another issue -and the publications I've linked to do a great job of painting the whole picture of a philosophy of learning and growing.
For now, I just want to share some items of interest that have been in the press lately. Two stories involve educators who are taking a second look at the homeschooling world and drawing inspiration from it - the third is the story of two successful grown homeschoolers. Join me in this departure from the random, rare and negative stories that the media likes to hoist on all of us as representative of the way it always is.
The first story appeared in yesterday's HuffPo. In his blog, educator Kenneth Danford talked about the increasing stress for teens as they near the finish of high school "Stop Racing! Start Living! (It Works!)":
How will I get into college? How will my family pay for college? How will I find something to do with my life that really matters to me?
These questions have become increasingly stressful for teens and families in the past decades as the college application process has become more competitive, the cost of college has skyrocketed out of control, and the economy seems to inspire little confidence that decent jobs exist even for the vast majority of those succeed at these first two challenges.
He looks to the homeschooling community and finds teens that are
...informed, well-socialized, involved in their communities, and all-around mature beyond their years.
While he concedes that homeschooling isn't for everyone, he also goes highlights what is best about the homeschooling world:
The pursuit of an interest or passion, and the desire to excel in one area, can direct the process. Using adolescence as a time to explore the world breeds self-awareness, expertise, and confidence in ways that are different from managing, and even excelling in school.
And proposes a different approach to helping kids in high school get where they want to go:
Instead of forcing teens to remain in the "race" to win college admissions, scholarships, and a place for oneself in the world, we might provide teens with a coherent perspective that encourages them to set their own pace toward these same goals. Many families are already doing so. What we need now is a social commitment to make this option widely available.
I wish Danford had gone further in exploring the options and opportunities that may or may not include college (internships, apprenticeships, self-employment), but he does a good job with alternatives if a kid is college-bound. I like that he sees the possibility for a self-paced path to goals.
The second piece involves an principal in Walla Walla, WA who departed from automatic suspensions as a tool of discipline in his school and reduced suspensions by 85%. When a kid acted out, he sat down with the kid and said,
“Wow. Are you OK? This doesn’t sound like you. What’s going on?” He gets even more specific: “You really looked stressed. On a scale of 1-10, where are you with your anger?”
In a nutshell, he approaches the kids like people deserving of respect and a sympathetic ear. Kids have reason to be angry and listening to them goes a long way. It takes patience to go beyond acting out to find the real reasons for the behavior. This simple concept is at the core of natural parenting and learning.
His "new" approach:
“The kid still got a consequence,” explains Sporleder – but he wasn’t sent home, a place where there wasn’t anyone who cares much about what he does or doesn’t do. He went to ISS — in-school suspension, a quiet, comforting room where he can talk about anything with the attending teacher, catch up on his homework, or just sit and think about how maybe he could do things differently next time."
Kids (and people in general) act out because they are hungry, lonely, frightened, confused, not looked after, abused. All of us (not just kids) struggle to put those feelings into words and express them rationally to people who can actually help us. Understanding this simple concept and taking time to apply it to the people we care about, whose care we are charged with, does nothing but create bonds and grow trust. Great to see an educator in a brick and mortar school take this approach.
Finally, a grown homeschooler success story. The Rise of Homeschooling from the Etsy blog tells the story of Emilee Gettle, who operates multimillion dollar, multistate heirloom seed business called the Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company.
She says of her schooling career:
“In the fifth grade I began coming home from school in tears,” she told me. “I was often bored, waiting for the other kids to catch up. Other times, I felt left behind, especially in math. All children learn differently and the structure at our school just wasn’t right for me. School didn’t feel stable, and my parents were distraught to see me crying all the time.” It was then that her parents made the decision to homeschool her.
She learned about running a business when her mother opened a small, home-based hairdressing business. Her knowledge came in handy when she met her husband (also homeschooled) who started Baker Creek Heirloom in his bedroom when he was just 17.
Of learning, Emilee says:
...education should include “pursuing your dreams while using your hands. Every child is different, and I want her to dream her own dreams, not somebody else’s. I mean, God doesn’t give you those dreams for you to stifle them.”
Just samples of what's going on out there, of how educators are learning from the unschooling approach to learning, and how alternative approaches to learning can lead to success.
By the way, I'd like to see the term "unschooling" go away, too. Some of use it as a synonym for de-schooling - a process one goes through (parent, child, teacher) when they leave the traditional world of schooling. Self-directed learning, natural learning, freedom to learn -- none of these terms do justice to an idea that involves trust more than anything. But that's another issue, too.