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The Unschooling Handbook : How to Use the Whole World As Your Child's Classroom

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Manufacturer: Three Rivers Press
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To Unschoolers, Learning Is As Natural As Breathing
Did you know that a growing percentage of home schoolers are becoming unschoolers? The unschooling movement is founded on the principle that children learn best when they pursue their own natural curiosities and interests. Without bells, schedules, and rules about what to do and when, the knowledge they gain through mindful living and exploration is absorbed more easily and enthusiastically. Learning is a natural, inborn impulse, and the world is rich with lessons to be learned and puzzles to be solved.
Successful unschooling parents know how to stimulate and direct their children's learning impulse. Once you read this book, so will you!


DESCRIPTION:

Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 371.042
EAN: 9780761512769
ISBN: 0761512764
Label: Three Rivers Press
Manufacturer: Three Rivers Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 240
Publication Date: 1998-04-29
Publisher: Three Rivers Press
Release Date: 1998-04-29
Studio: Three Rivers Press


SIMILAR ITEMS:

• Learning All The Time
• Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling
• Teach Your Own: The John Holt Book of Homeschooling
• The Ultimate Book of Homeschooling Ideas: 500+ Fun and Creative Learning Activities for Kids Ages 3-12
• Home Learning Year by Year: How to Design a Homeschool Curriculum from Preschool Through High School


CUSTOMER REVIEWS:

Customer Rating:
Summary: Paints a picture of bohemian unschooling
Comment: As many other reviewers have mentioned this book uses stories submitted from unschooling families to build a picture of unschooling. It is not as much of a "how to" book as it is a "how we do it" book. There is a causual laid back style to the book and it is very easy reading. Since the concept is so simple it would be hard to write a complicated book covering this educational style.
Although religion is mentioned once or twice it is not a "Christian" homeschooling book and people of all backgrounds will be comfortable reading this book and thinking it applies to them if they like this educaitonal style.
However, this educational style may not be for you or your children and by the end of the book you may be frustrated with the substance, structure and hard information. After reading the book the impression of the type of parents that use this style to educate their children would be very laid back, hippie, anti culture, anti social, proud to be unusual and not fitting in with the crowd, turn their back on the world and live off the land types. Now, any one of these descriptions could fit our family and I would even like some of these titles in certain scenerios. Many people would think that these descriptives fit all homeschoolers. And none of the families could be described by all of the above. But that is the best way I know how to describe my impression. They also seemed somewhat immature at times and rebellious, as in I am doing this because I want to and it is fun not for a logical reason.

There also seemed to be an underlying liberal politics to the book. Now, a conservative could certainly read and use this book to understand this educational style. However, be aware of the book recommendations (such as Howard Zinn's twisted version of history - if that is all they "know" they will not know the great American story against which Zinn is actually writing, and, yes, I have read it cover to cover), to the entire approach to history that unschoolers seem to take (at least according to this book), and the direction of the community involvement that is recommended.

We are committed to homeschooling for a number of reasons and I enjoy John Holt's books very much. The approaches are very helpful and insights are accurate, especially concerning self motivation and taking the children's interests into strong consideration as one guides them academically and educates them. However, an enriched family life is not a substitute for an education no matter how much is learned. Most of the activities and daily schedules and learning experience are what many families do/experience. However, most families just consider this to be good parenting, mentoring and training not a total, complete education.

The book is a good way to peek into unschooling and see how simple it is and how simple it can leave children!

Customer Rating:
Summary: This book turned me AGAINST unschooling!
Comment: I purchased this book because I was considering unschooling my son. After reading the first section about the benefits and philosophy of unschooling, I was nearly convinced that this would be the right approach for our family. However, as I read the rest of the book, I became convinced that either unschooling is likely to limit a child's opportunities or the writer was biased against unschooling and chose case studies that showed only the bad side of the practice.

One thing that struck me about many of the profiles in the book is that most families I know fit in all of the activities given as examples of "see how much we do during the day!" The only difference is, most families manage to fit those activities in during the afternoons and evenings. I was left wondering what on earth unschooled children do all day. We manage to do sports, scouting, board games, nature hikes, and budgeting exercises around a school schedule. I was amazed that a scout meeting about Native Americans was shown as equivalent to a history lesson in a classroom or traditional homeschooling situation.

The case study that saddened me the most was one that talked about an adolescent boy who was so ashamed of his poor spelling and writing skills that he no longer liked to go to church, as the Sunday School class often wrote their reflections on the week's lesson and then talked about those reflections. The parent's answer was not to help the child improve his written communication skills, but instead to stop going to church and to talk about how sad it was for all of the other children who had to go to school and then put up with such a horrible activity. The children I know in that age group loves to write and talk about themselves, and this boy was unable to because he lacked the basic skills. To me, the parents' refusal to help the child change something he was obviously very sad and self conscious about sounded abusive.

There is story after story like that in this book, and it really turned me against unschooling for my son.

Another aspect that bothered me was the insistence that mathematics wasn't all that important and could be picked up over the course of daily activities and childhood play. That is great for very elementary concepts, but counting allowance and helping make dinner (activities vaulted as the equivalent to formal math instruction) are nice little supplemental activities. The child who only gets that is at a real disadvantage. One student interviewed asserted that he didn't need any "dumb function" to solve a mathematical problem. That's terrific, as long as he doesn't go into science, engineering, medicine, or agriculture. A reference to the language of mathematics, developed so that researchers could communicate across language barriers, as "dumb" made me shudder. The same boy sounds like a petulant four-year-old who was denied his request for a puppy when he asserts that he doesn't really need to learn math anyways.

The numerous references to the amount of time the mother spends on the computer ("I like to research on the internet, but my mom is always on the computer") and the amount of time spent playing video games seem like little digs against unschooling, which make me think the writer had a bias.



Customer Rating:
Summary: A decent introduction
Comment: I am a SAHM to a 2.5 year old. I've recently decided that I will not send her to preschool, so I've been looking for inspiration and guidance on how to make the most of the next few years. I've been unschooling my daughter since she was born, and it makes perfect sense to continue doing so for another two or three years. However, I am a bit of a perfectionist and I've been questioning whether what I've been doing is enough. After reading this book, I'm still questioning. My daughter might not need formalization and structure during the next few years, but in order to be an effective educational guide, I certainly do.

The Unschooling Handbook is really not a handbook at all. It's a pat on the back for those families that are already unschooling and an encouraging read for those considering it. The back cover states, "successful unschooling parents know how to stimulate and direct their children's learning impulse. Once you read this book, so will you!" but I did not find this to be true. There is lots of encouragement, but very little instruction. The Unschooling Handbook is a good introduction and an easy read, but it quickly becomes repetitive and frequently fails to delve below the surface of each broad topic.

I was hoping to see information about how to determine if unschooling is right for your family and how to determine your child's personality and learning type and whether or not it is likely to be conducive to unschooling. I was hoping to see some guidance about knowing when to lead and when to follow. I was hoping for lists of materials to have on hand for several age groups, and lists of topics to expose children to at different ages. I was hoping for some factual reassurance that a child left to her own devices would come out 18 years later with a well-rounded education. All of this was lacking. What was equally lacking was stories about unschooling gone wrong, pitfalls to avoid, and knowing when to rethink the system if it seems to not be working out.

One thing that the Unschooling Handbook does well, though, is challenge traditional assumptions. It has helped me to identify and reconsider several of my own assumptions, and has given me much to think about as I design my own homeschool system.

I will continue unschooling my preschooler--although I will have to look elsewhere for the specific information I need and I will likely continue introducing weekly themed interdisciplinary lesson units (which never involve worksheets or flashcards and are never pushed on her). But this book alone is not enough to convince me that unschooling is the way to go beyond the preschool years. It seems a very valid component of a homeschooling program, but I will need to do a lot more research before I am convinced that it is useful as a stand-alone system of education.


Customer Rating:
Summary: unschooling
Comment: This book really opened my eyes to the failing schooling system in this country. My children both 9 and 10 struggle with reading and have been all their life. It is so hard as a parent to watch your children suffer and struggle so much. Hopefully what I am learning about unschooling will help me with them at home. I still have to keep them in the public school system because their father is the principal at their school. I will keep trying to gather as much information as I possible can to make reading more fun for them. I really do see how the school system takes our family time away and that is shameful, the amount of homework these kids get, and some of the stuff that is taught. The No Child Left Behind Act has damaged our educational system. All my kids are taught is how to take tests. They even have thrown out papers that they got bad grades on, I am certainly doing things different in my home. God Bless to those of you who homeschool your children. This book was even good for me to read, as I too struggled in school and was just a average student and there is nothing wrong with that, because the tech schools and trade schools is where you really learn, and through apprenticeships. This is a must read for all parents, then we can push our system for REFORM, because we need it badly.

Customer Rating:
Summary: every parent should have this book!
Comment: This book will lift the burden of homeschooling off of you! Great read, and very de-stressing! Every parent should have this book, even if you don't homeschool.

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