Creating yoru own curriculum

what about all the social interaction kids will miss out on if they don't go to school, especially in the teenage years. Isn't this one of the most important skills to learn - how to get along with each other. if a kid is isolated early on in life then they will probably not be able to interact and possibly become selfish etc. There is more to school than learning maths and science..

 

dude, there's nothing isolated about most homeschooled children these days!! Just in our mid-sized town, we have over a dozen homeschool support groups. There are something like 60 families in the homeschool group we attend, most of those with at least two or three children. There is no reason to think that a child who sits in a classroom with only other children of the same age is any better socialized than one that gets to interact with people of all ages every day, all day long. Nobody's isolated, we don't just sit at home, we go out and we meet with other homeschool families and we do lots and lots of things that involve interacting with humanity.

 

Greeny, guess how many times I was told "This is SCHOOL, not social hour!" in school.

 

I dont totally disagree with you, but surely school provides you with the experience of dealing with people you don't like and doing things you don't always want to do. So that when you leave home and get a job you are able to realise that everyone is different and that there are ways of doing things to make change. i also understand that some kids hate school and also get a bad deal there - and from what you said the more support the better.

 

Mamaboogie, what you're doing is SO commendable and its a shame so many people have the wrong idea about unschooling. Last year I went to a little conference (I refer to it as tree-huggin'-hippie-camp) where this very interesting woman spoke to us about the whole concept of learning outside of the classroom and I was just fascinated! Unfortunately, when I told my parents they strongly disagreed and I had to abide by their wishes. Thats okay, though, I don't stress myself with the limits of school much anymore (although it can get frustrating when you know you could be out DOING something) because I've stuck it out this long, whats another year and a half?

Anyway, I just wanted to say GREAT JOB!!!
(and I'm assuming the kids in your pic are yours... they radiate sweetness)

 

thanks.


If your parents don't get it, they shouldn't homeschool, much less unschool. It takes a certain mindset to understand how it really works. Like, I have this acquaintance (friend would be too strong a word for her) who always puts down my unschooling approach to homeschooling my kids. She says things like "I used to unschool before I knew better" and "I was spending all my time writing my kids' curriculum, and now I just buy it from *wherever* and it's so much easier" But see, if she was writing all this curriculum herself, she wasn't really unschooling, not by any definition of the word that I have ever heard.

anyway, to get back on topic, I have this book called "writing your own curriculum" that someone gave me. I'd much rather follow my children's lead than trying to lead them. It just works better for us, and is much easier that way.

 

At what point in the childs development would the parent realise that their own knowledge and experience is below the level required by the child to then be at a stage that their age should be at. Would homeschooling provide the basis for the first steps to university? After all, we as parents are not exactly experts in all the fields (science, maths, english, etc).

 

I dunno about anyone else, but I'm perfectly able to admit when I don't know something, and just as able to learn it alongside my children. teach and learn at the same time. that's the only way it will ever work. you really think highschool teachers are any more qualified or able to teach anything than anyone else? I don't.

 

i'd like to work on philosophy for kids . a traditional format seems just fine . here's how it begins and ends : philosophy asks four questions ...


what is true , what exists , what is real , what is good ... ?

i started my nephew on this when he was 15 . it took him three years to answer the questions . he now has an expressable philosophy . i think kids age 9 could do it .

 

he answered them? People have been and continue to try and answer those questions. What were his answers if you dont mind sharing them?


My problem with home schooling is that i think inevitably your average kid will run up against a brick wall in their education as their parent isnt a master in every subject. I know i couldn't teach my kid advance math, science, music, and foreign language as well as a teacher(even at crappy public schools). I wouldn't want to hinder my kid.

 

oh , i don't quite recall how he worded his answers . what strruck me as important was his mind so very well focused and confident , and that we were all gathered as family around the kitchen table when he did this . he gave us a gift that day .

the usefullness of philosophy ? it makes brickwalls not so big a deal . that is , the child philosopher is enabled to learn despite anything .

 

dont get me wrong..i am a HUGE fan of philosophy and the liberal arts in general...but you can throw all the philosophy you want at a math/science problem and it wont solve it.

 

oh , cripey . i don't throw philosophy at anything but the abyss , when i come to the end of what i know at the end of the way under the bridge of sorrows . i'll sit there as a hobo until i have a birthday .

"philosophy is having a thought about something" ....bethany , age 12 .

 

where do you think math and science came from??? philosophers, that's who. Ever hear of Descartes? Leibniz? Newton? If you can't think logically, you can't come close to solving any math or science problem.

 

It is naive to think that philosophy alone can solve math or science problems. I dont care how well versed a person maybe in plato or descartes, if you do not know the rules of math then you cannot solve the problem.

Math is VERY logical. Math majors actually score the highest on LSATS(the law boards..logic based)

 

not in my college, it was the philosophy majors who scored the highest on the LSAT. Logic is a required course for philosophy majors, not so for math majors. Philosophy is the root of math and science. If you can't think logically (which is most definitely philosophy, not math) you can't do math or science very well. If you don't understand Descartes, you can't do trigonometry. If you don't understand Leibniz, you can't do calculus. Even if most math teachers never tell you where those concepts came from, they still came from philosophers in the first place. Even Newton was a philosopher first, a scientist second. You can't have one without the other.

 

Math IS LOGIC.


Tell me, do you honestly think Philosophy can solve any math/science problem? Don't give me this "you need to understand logic first." Can you read just philosophy and then be a math/science genius by extension?

 

that is not what I'm saying at all... sheesh! This is the homeschooling forum, it's about teaching our children (you don't have any kids, do you?). a good solid foundation in philosophy will help the child to understand all other subjects they will ever need to know, no matter what they decide to do with their lives.

 

then we don't disagree.

This is what i said:

"dont get me wrong..i am a HUGE fan of philosophy and the liberal arts in general...but you can throw all the philosophy you want at a math/science problem and it wont solve it."

I do not doubt the importance of philosophy and i'm a huge supporter of it, but it is not a substitute for other subjects. It is a supplement.

 

you could just as well say other subjects are a supplement to philosophy . this is wonderland , you know . one can certainly say 1+1=1 if by One you mean the universe o' loving .