Learning vs. Teaching

I sometimes get asked how I know what to teach my children. I think that this is a reasonable question. After all, homeschooling can be somewhat mystifying to those who are not in the throes of it.

My answer, like that of many homeschoolers in general and most unschoolers in particular, is very little. I teach very little; instead, I help my children to learn.

Children are innately curious and intent on learning about their world and exploring their interests, as long as we grown-ups get out of their way. Our role, as I see it, is to create space for our children's learning; to cultivate an environment that sparks their natural curiosity and then facilitate our children's learning by providing resources (e.g., books, museums, manipulatives, classes, etc.) that help our children to deepen their knowledge.

One of my favorite authors and researchers on the topic of unschooling and school reform is Peter Gray, a Boston College psychology professor and writer for Psychology Today. His blog, Freedom to Learn, is informative and inspirational, particularly his most recent article: "Is Real Educational Reform Possible? If So, How?"

In his article, which I really hope you will read, he states: "To learn on their own, children need unlimited time to play, explore, become bored, overcome boredom, discover their own interests, and pursue those interests. To learn what they need to know to become highly effective, productive, moral members of the larger society they also need a rich environment within which to play and explore."

Creating this "rich environment" for learning is what I see as my fundamental role in guiding my children's education. I watch. I listen. I trust. And then I find ways to link their passions with community resources. For example, my daughter is very interested in the solar system, so she was enchanted by a recent trip to a nearby planetarium and enjoys the library books we borrow on this subject.

My children are young and so the process of linking interests with educational opportunities is perhaps more straightforward. But many veteran unschoolers -- or homeschoolers who choose not to follow a prescribed curriculum -- agree that following our children's lead, acting as facilitator rather than teacher, is our essential role as parents.

In his article, Peter Gray goes on to argue that "real reform is not possible from within the existing conventional school system," and, as a result, "the trend for people to walk away from the conventional schooling system will continue and will accelerate."

If his prediction is true and more parents opt-out of the conventional school environment for their kids, then there may be more opportunities for real educational reform, with children at the lead.

Getting Kindergarteners to Sit Still

It looks like the federal government is allocating $500 million in grants toward the "problem" of five-year-olds who "can't sit still" in kindergarten. Sigh. Here's the original article, quoting U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius:

"You really need to look at the range of issues, because if a 5-year-old can’t sit still, it is unlikely that they can do well in a kindergarten class, and it has to be the whole range of issues that go into healthy child development."

Quotes like this one reinforce my commitment to homeschooling through high school. I honestly believe that the education system in America is fundamentally flawed and that periodic tweaking by local, state or federal officials only exacerbates the problems inherent in compulsory schooling. Even if we give Sebelius the benefit of the doubt that she did not really mean that five-year-olds should be made to sit still in kindergarten, it's my opinion that the factory model of government schooling doesn't -- and can't-- provide enough opportunities for self-directed learning, individualized attention, and constructive social development.

My education goals for my kids involve helping them to discover their true talents and interests, cultivate a lifelong love of learning and reading and questioning, and spend the first couple of decades of their life being an integral part of their community and the environment. The last thing I want is for my kindergartener to learn to sit still.

Schools and the City

March marks the month that parents in Boston and Cambridge learn which school their kindergarteners and pre-kindergarteners will attend in the fall. Both cities, like many others, use lottery systems to try to diversify their schools, and this month parents receive a letter indicating whether or not they got one of their top-choice schools. For many parents who do not receive a top-choice school, this is also the month they reluctantly put-up the "for sale" sign and leave for the 'burbs.

Here is a Boston Globe article about Boston's lottery assignment system and the frustrations and anxieties it can cause parents who desperately want to remain city-dwellers and who the city desperately needs to retain to ensure a vibrant and diverse middle-class.

As the recent article in Boston Magazine highlights, there are options for city parents who want to remain in the city once kindergarten rolls around. I hope that an increasing number of parents will consider homeschooling as a viable option to remain in the city and uncover the endless learning possibilities the city creates for our children.