a survey about unschooling
Sandra Dodd
I know this list is pretty dormant, but maybe some of you feel like writing anyway!
There is a survey announced, the responses are wanted SOON, two weeks:
The questions are listed below to help people decide if they would like to participate. Don't answer here. The format requested is to download a file in Word, to add the responses, and return it as a Word file. I've written to Dr. Gray to ask whether e-mail would work, but let's assume for now that it won't. I'll get back with you if I hear from him.
1. Have all of the members of your immediate family who are capable of understanding and responding to this question agreed, willingly, to your filling out this form and returning it to me? (If the answer is no, then please stop here and do not return the form.)
2 Please give your
full name (first and last, in that order):
email address:
state in which you reside (if not from the US, give nation):
3. What is your main employment? Does that employment generate income, and does it take place primarily at home or away from home? If you have a spouse or other domestic partner in your family who is also a parent or guardian to the children, please also answer these questions for that person.
4. How many children are in your family? For each child, please state name (you may omit name if you prefer), sex, and birth date; and, if the child was ever enrolled full time in a conventional or alternative school, please indicate the years (expressed either in terms of the child’s grade in school or the child’s age if it was an ungraded school) and duration of that enrollment. Please include adult children no longer living at home as well as children still at home.
5. Please describe briefly how your family defines unschooling. What if any responsibility do you, as parent(s), assume for the education of your children? [I am asking only for generalities here. I may ask for more details in a subsequent survey.]
6. Please describe the path by which your family came to the unschooling philosophy you now practice. In particular:
(a) Did any specific school experiences of one or more of your children play a role? If so, briefly describe those experiences.
(b) Did any particular author or authors play a role? If so, please name the author or authors and what most appealed to you about their writing.
(c) Did you try homeschooling before unschooling? If so, what led you from one to the other?
7. What, for your family, have been the biggest challenges or hurdles to surmount in unschooling?
8. What, for your family, have been the biggest benefits of unschooling?
Thank you very much for taking the time to fill out this questionnaire and email it to me. My hope is that your efforts will help to document, and make the world more aware of, the realities of unschooling.
Sandra Dodd
Here are my responses. I took out the other parts (other than the questions). I wanted people to know I had responded, and to encourage others, again, to respond too!!
1. Have all of the members of your immediate family who are capable of understanding and responding to this question agreed, willingly, to your filling out this form and returning it to me? (If the answer is no, then please stop here and do not return the form.)
3. What is your main employment? Does that employment generate income, and does it take place primarily at home or away from home? If you have a spouse or other domestic partner in your family who is also a parent or guardian to the children, please also answer these questions for that person.
My husband is an engineer at Honeywell. He is the father of all three children, we've been married nearly 30 years, and he works outside the home.
4. How many children are in your family? For each child, please state name (you may omit name if you prefer), sex, and birth date; and, if the child was ever enrolled full time in a conventional or alternative school, please indicate the years (expressed either in terms of the child’s grade in school or the child’s age if it was an ungraded school) and duration of that enrollment. Please include adult children no longer living at home as well as children still at home.
Kirby Dodd, 25, male, 7/29/86, never was in school (living in Austin, Texas)
Marty Dodd, 22, male, 1/14/89, never in school until community college; still home
Holly Dodd, 19, female, 11/2/91, visited school a few times with friends, but never enrolled, still home
5. Please describe briefly how your family defines unschooling. What if any responsibility do you, as parent(s), assume for the education of your children? [I am asking only for generalities here. I may ask for more details in a subsequent survey.]
The word "education" is a problem. I think of it as learning, and I assume full responsibility to creating an environment in which learning happens naturally and easily. Their learning all happens inside them, but because we decided to unschool, we have the task and duty of making their learning easy and joyful.
My best definition of unschooling is creating and maintaining an environment in which natural learning can flourish.
(Had you used "learning," the responses to #5 would have been clearer, I think. Please consider that if you do a tally, that many unschoolers don't use "education," as that is prescribed and external.)
6. Please describe the path by which your family came to the unschooling philosophy you now practice. In particular:
(a) 1. Not school, but a dance class and an art class my son wanted to take at the age of four. He had problems in both, and not the same kinds of problems, but it did seem he wasn't ready for kindergarten, and though kindergarten was required in New Mexico, we could wait a year because of his late-summer birthday. We registered to homeschool, knowing that the next year our options would be kindergarten for him, or first grade, or more homeschooling.
2. Two of four homeschooling families I knew through La Leche League were unschooling.
3. I had been a teacher fresh out of college, in the mid-70's, having studied at the University of New Mexico which was the mother-hive of The Open Classroom.
(b) Did any particular author or authors play a role? If so, please name the author or authors and what most appealed to you about their writing.
John Holt. I had read some of his school-reform stuff in college, and read Teach your Own, Learning all the Time, and Never Too Late after I started thinking about unschooling.
Polly Berrien Berends' Whole Child, Whole Parent had helped me when my oldest was a baby, though I disregarded her strong anti-media bias and took the sweet, peaceful parts otherwise.
Jean Liedloff's The Continuum Concept helped me have confidence (though another unschooling mom who's also an anthropologist is wary of the research methodology and biases; still...)
(c) Did you try homeschooling before unschooling? If so, what led you from one to the other?
We were unschooling from the beginning, thanks to knowing other unschoolers and having known about John Holt and about "the open classroom" already.
7. What, for your family, have been the biggest challenges or hurdles to surmount in unschooling?
I would say "my in-laws," except that I have a strong personality and a lot of confidence. I research things thoroughly. My husband's parents might have been a hurdle if they hadn't already figured out at infant circumcision time that my husband and I weren't going to do anything (or opt out of doing the expected thing) without really knowing the arguments on both sides. And eventually they were impressed and said so.
8. What, for your family, have been the biggest benefits of unschooling?
Close, trusting family relationships and communication.
Sharing the world with our children, rather than being separated from them.
Peace and harmony among and between members of the family.
Melissa Lake
1. Have all of the members of your immediate family who are capable of understanding and responding to this question agreed, willingly, to your filling out this form and returning it to me? Yes (If the answer is no, then please stop here and do not return the form.)
2 Please give your
full name (first and last, in that order): Melissa Lake
email address: meli...@gmail.com
state in which you reside (if not from the US, give nation): Arizona
3. What is your main employment? I am not employed. Does that employment generate income, and does it take place primarily at home or away from home? If you have a spouse or other domestic partner in your family who is also a parent or guardian to the children, please also answer these questions for that person. My husband is employed as a Pastor and primarily works away from home.
How many children are in your family? 3 For each child, please state name (you may omit name if you prefer), sex, and birth date;
Jackson, male, 8/19/96
Nathan, male, 5/11/98
Gianna, female, 12/30/03
and, if the child was ever enrolled full time in a conventional or alternative school, please indicate the years (expressed either in terms of the child’s grade in school or the child’s age if it was an ungraded school) and duration of that enrollment. Please include adult children no longer living at home as well as children still at home. None of my kids have been enrolled in school full time.
5. Please describe briefly how your family defines unschooling. We focus on interest-led learning. We feel that all of life is learning and that learning is most profound when it is meaningful to the learner. What if any responsibility do you, as parent(s), assume for the education of your children? I feel it is my responsibility to make a variety of experiences available to my kids and to trust them to learn what they need to learn. [I am asking only for generalities here. I may ask for more details in a subsequent survey.]
6. Please describe the path by which your family came to the unschooling philosophy you now practice. In particular:
(b) Did any particular author or authors play a role? If so, please name the author or authors and what most appealed to you about their writing. John Holt has had a huge impact on me. I also have been influenced by the writing of John Taylor Gatto.
(c) Did you try homeschooling before unschooling? Yes. If so, what led you from one to the other? My personality is much more suited to unschooling than homeschooling. I am a questioner. I was in a homeschool group and was introduced to the idea of unschooling and someone recommended Dumbing Us Down by John Taylor Gatto. After reading that book, my entire paradigm shifted.
7. What, for your family, have been the biggest challenges or hurdles to surmount in unschooling? The biggest challenge for me has been letting go and learning to trust that my kids will learn if given the freedom to do so on their own terms. Keeping up a rich learning environment has at times been a challenge.
8. What, for your family, have been the biggest benefits of unschooling? There are so many benefits. Because I’m not constantly trying to get them to do things they don’t want to do, our relationships are really great. Another huge benefit is that all 3 of my kids (especially the older 2) really have a sense of who they are. They know what they are interested in and are extremely confident people. They are willing to try new things knowing there are no strings attached. They are all very creative. As a result of unschooling, I have developed a love of learning that I didn’t have until I started unschooling. And, I believe an added benefit is that I am modeling learning new things all the time.
--
Melissa Lake
"I have no respect for a man who can only spell a word one way." - Mark Twain
sgaissert
Denise
How funny! This came up just as I finished completing the survey. I mentioned you as an influence, Sandra. While we were homeschooling, I was fortunately exposed to your writing, and became a part of this list. The words here helped us cast of school-y-ness for good. Have a great day!
--
FAQ and Posting Policies: http://sandradodd.com/unschoolingdiscussion
Archive and Membership options: http://groups.google.com/group/UnschoolingDiscussion
To unsubscribe, email: UnschoolingDiscu...@googlegroups.com