Unschooling

Unschooling

Children need free time and lots of it. Free time is valuable time and not wasted time. I believe so strongly in unschooling because it gives children the time they need to structure their own learning. I believe that the more free time children have and the more comfortable they become with having free time, the more opportunities they will create for themselves to learn, grow and unfold. Ricco http://www.selfdirectedlearning.com/guestarticle2.html

"Children do not need to be made to learn to be better, told what to do or shown how. If they are given access to enough of the world, they will see clearly enough what things are truly important to themselves and to others, and they will make for themselves a better path into that world then anyone else could make for them." [ from "How Children Fail"] http://sandradodd.com/johnholt

'Unschooling' Stresses Curiosity More Than TraditionaI Academics. By: Davis, Michelle R., Education Week, 02774232, 12/20/2006, Vol. 26, Issue 16 The term "unschooling" was coined by the late John Holt, one of the godfathers of the home-schooling movement, who wrote a stack of books about alternative ways of educating children. Mr. Holt first used the word in 1977 and equated it with home schooling. Unschooling should not mean "schooling without a plan," Mr. Farenga said in an interview. "It's self-directed learning. I define unschooling as allowing children as much freedom to explore the world as you can comfortably bear." =Unschooling= In Progress by Knitting Iris [] ||
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[[|edit]] Theory
Unschooling was a term used by [|John Holt], one of the proponents of the home-schooling movement: he first used the word in 1977 in connection with home schooling. (Davis,2006) From:[|[1]] Unschooling is also known as "interest driven, child-led, natural, organic, eclectic, or self-directed learning" From: [|[2]] and has become linked with allowing children as much freedom to learn as is possible. It involves learning that is outside of a mandated or fixed curriculum. Students and adults (usually parents) live and learn together, following ares of interest that may arise: reminiscent of the way youngsters learn prior to attending formal schools. It is expected that eventually such interests will lead to reading texts and doing self-initiated projects: in essence such activities are chosen freely by the participant.[|[3]] Essentially,those who promote or acualize unschoolig posit that, "The child who wants to know something remembers it and uses it once he has it; the child who learns something to please or appease someone else forgets it when the need for pleasing or the danger of not appeasing is past. This is why children quickly forget all but a small part of what they learn in school. It is of no use or interest to them; they do not want, or expect, or even intend to remember it. The only difference between bad and good students in this respect is that the bad students forget right away, while the good students are careful to wait until after the exam. If for no other reason, we could well afford to throw out most of what we teach in school because the children throw out almost all of it anyway." (Holt, (1964),p. 174, para. 3) From: [|[4]]

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[[|edit]] Key Contributors
[|John Holt] [|[5]] Carlo Ricci Jerry Mintz [|Return to Top] 

[[|edit]] Practical Applications of Theory
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[[|edit]] Websites/Links/Multimedia
[] [] [] John Holts discusses Unschooling on YouTube: [|[6]] A large collection of videos hosted by the Unschooling-Channel Channel on Youtube at: [|[7]] [|Return to Top] 

[[|edit]] Sources/References
Holt, J. (1964). //How Children Fail//, Penguin Books. Retrieved from [|[8]] Davis, M. R. (2006)'Unschooling' stresses curiosity more than traditional academics. //Education Week, 26//(16) at: [|[9]] The Journal of Unschooling and Alternative Learning, hosted by Nipissing University at: [|[10]]

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