I’ve found myself citing something that hasn’t actually be scientifically validated, but yet I know it’s probably quite true. Unschoolers (homeschoolers who do not follow any academic curriculum in their households) say that even if you don’t “teach” your child anything throughout what would be the elementary school years, if he’s had a rich life full of hands-on learning and exploration, he can pretty much learn all the necessary K-6 curriculum in three months before he goes on to middle school.
There is a big caveat here: These kids aren’t sitting around and playing video games. Or maybe some of them are. But the most successful unschoolers are learning all the time. Here are some examples:
Kids in school learn measuring through curriculum in which they measure things in the classroom and do worksheets where they calculate the sum and difference of those measures.
Unschoolers work with a parent to build a birdhouse, doing all the measuring and calculation, with the parent’s help, to create something real that will be in their yard for the rest of their childhoods.
Kids in school read about and watch videos about the history of their state, and if their school and parents can afford it, they might go on a fieldtrip or two.
Unschoolers take off on roadtrips to places they’re interested in. They volunteer to work at historical parks. They make their own books about things they’ve learned.
Kids in school have “writing across the curriculum,” where writing skills are required in every discipline, even in ones where it doesn’t make all that much sense to the kids.
Unschoolers read, read, and read some more. If they aren’t comfortable writing but want to write a story or some ideas, they dictate them to a parent. But they are never forced to write something they don’t see the purpose of.
I want to point out first that we are not an unschooling family. Although I am gaining confidence that homeschooling is the best way for my kids to learn, I’m not that confident.
But I have a gut feeling that what they say about learning is true: Most of what is “taught” in elementary school is actually not necessary if you give kids a rich learning environment, and wait to give academics till they are really grounded in experiential learning in the real world. And this way of learning is actually healthier. All those kids who start to think of themselves as “stupid” in kindergarten because they can’t learn to read yet would have years of self-confidence. All those kids who learn to hate math because dry concepts have to be repeated over and over again would be able to experience the beauty and utility of math in the real world first.
I was talking to a friend about this and she pointed out a big hole in the idea that everyone could adopt this mode of learning: How about all those parents who can’t afford to stay home? How about all those single parents?
She’s right: I am not one of those homeschoolers who think that we can do away with the school system. However, one little part of me thinks that we could set aside our cynicism enough to improve our schools. Even that little part of me is not confident that this would happen, but it’s worth thinking about, in any case. I do believe that real change in the real world is almost always incremental, and giving up because your whole program isn’t going to pass Congress is silly.
So… What would our schools look like? First of all, our schools would accept that learning is a whole family activity. Families would not only be allowed into schools, but welcomed. (Do you know that many public schools now have “closed” campuses where even parents are not allowed to visit without prior registration?) Families would be included in the learning process, drawing on their culture, their skills, their enthusiasms to create a fuller school experience.
Our schools would accept that real, deep learning doesn’t happen without real, deep experience. And real, deep experience doesn’t happen without a bit of chaos and a lot of creativity. So our schools would be fully funded to offer the arts, music, sports, and everything else that draws people in.
Our schools would be full of reading: reading aloud every day (and not to grade how well the reader is reading aloud, but to share reading as a social activity), books in every room for kids to pick up whenever they want, adults talking about what they’re reading and why they love it.
Our schools would focus on project-oriented learning. My daughter, who is the closest to an unschooler in our family, learns most of what she learns through science projects. The science fair is a multi-curricular affair for her, with penmanship and math and history all bound up in the creative and investigative process. Kids would do projects that have a goal — a real goal, not just a grade. On a regular basis, their projects would yield a physical object for them to take home and use.
Finally, our schools would allow each individual to be an individual. There are kids who will go to school and who will want to study a topic, write an essay, and get a grade. There are kids who will want to learn algebra at the age of eight. There are kids who will want to take apart a car motor, then put it back together again.
Oh, I know, this is definitely a pie-in-the-sky vision. But with enough enthusiasm and energy, incremental change can happen. And really, how could things get worse? (Oh, yeah, see my last post…)
