When You Get into Unschooling, It’s Almost Like a Religion
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Re: When You Get into Unschooling, It’s Almost Like a Religion
#2I wonder whether maths really can be self-taught for more than about two generations. It has been known since the beginning of maths that it must be taught by teachers who understand the ideas to students who challenge the descriptions.
Re: When You Get into Unschooling, It’s Almost Like a Religion
#3I wonder whether maths really can be self-taught for more than about two generations. It has been known since the beginning of maths that it must be taught by teachers who understand the ideas to students who challenge the descriptions.
This is a good point, but I think it is relevant to ask whether most people learning math in school have the experience you describe. I certainly did not. My math education consisted purely of recitation of things I didn't fully understand, and I got very good grades all the way through.
Re: When You Get into Unschooling, It’s Almost Like a Religion
#4I wonder whether maths really can be self-taught for more than about two generations. It has been known since the beginning of maths that it must be taught by teachers who understand the ideas to students who challenge the descriptions.
When you say self-taught do you mean even without using a really good text? Or do you mean that it actually can't be taught without a teacher? If you are saying that math can't be taught without a good teacher I don't really see how that is "known".
Re: When You Get into Unschooling, It’s Almost Like a Religion
#5Learning of (keyword of) concepts and ideas is fun but the reason schools exist is because most learning is a grind. Learning to draw well, learning a language, learning an instrument, and even learning math and logic require going through the grind of learning and repetition.
The grind is only harder if you don't have a good book or teacher because the practice you do could potentially be actively harmful (or useless).
Exploring is fun for children and adults. Being exposed to new things is always interesting. The grind is the hard part.
Re: When You Get into Unschooling, It’s Almost Like a Religion
#6Learning of (keyword of) concepts and ideas is fun but the reason schools exist is because most learning is a grind. Learning to draw well, learning a language, learning an instrument, and even learning math and logic require going through the grind of learning and repetition. The grind is only harder if you don't have a good book or teacher because the practice you do could potentially be actively harmful (or useles…
> The grind is only harder if you don't have a good book or teacher because the practice you do could potentially be actively harmful.
This is neither an argument for or against traditional schools (or homeschools or unschooling).
Re: When You Get into Unschooling, It’s Almost Like a Religion
#7I was homeschooled until the age of around 10, and then my family adopted a new approach called "lifestyle of learning", which is just another way of saying "unschooling".
Basically, I was allowed to skip schoolwork, as long as I was doing something productive.
I hated schoolwork, so I started spending all my spare time tinkering with stuff on the computer. I wasn't allowed to play video games (since they aren't productive), but I was allowed to BUILD video games. I was also allowed to build web sites and do programming.
By the age of 13, I was doing contract web development work, and by the age of 16, I was employed full time at a local web development company.
My parents wouldn't let me get a drivers license and car until I had at least passed the GED, so I spent a couple of months cramming for it by studying a 2 inch thick book about how to pass the GED. I passed it without too much trouble (I think I got a 98% in math, if I remember correctly).
My career has developed across multiple companies over the last 20 years, and I'm currently making around $150K a year as a software engineer. I never did go to college.
They took "unschooling" even further with my younger brother. He didn't even learn how to read until he was around 10. He ended up having to cram for his GED to get a drivers license, too. He ultimately ended up getting a job as a waiter, then as bank teller, then put himself through college and got a degree. He now owns a house worth around $400K and has a career as a software engineer at the banking company that initially hired him as a teller.
TL;DR: "Unschooling" worked for my family because they combined it with at least a base of traditional education.
Re: When You Get into Unschooling, It’s Almost Like a Religion
#8I was homeschooled until the age of around 10, and then my family adopted a new approach called "lifestyle of learning", which is just another way of saying "unschooling". Basically, I was allowed to skip schoolwork, as long as I was doing something productive. I hated schoolwork, so I started spending all my spare time tinkering with stuff on the computer. I wasn't allowed to play video games (since they aren't prod…
That's impressive, and sounds like what I was thinking for my future children.
I just have no idea where to start. Got any resources for me to learn how to do these things for my children?
Re: When You Get into Unschooling, It’s Almost Like a Religion
#9Learning of (keyword of) concepts and ideas is fun but the reason schools exist is because most learning is a grind. Learning to draw well, learning a language, learning an instrument, and even learning math and logic require going through the grind of learning and repetition. The grind is only harder if you don't have a good book or teacher because the practice you do could potentially be actively harmful (or useles…
It's only a 'grind' if you don't enjoy the process though, right? If you're getting good at doing something you love because you love doing it so much, I don't think 'grind' is a word you'd use to describe that time consuming process.
I think 'grind' is caused by a disconnect between what the learner is being made to do and what they want to do. Grind can therefore be reduced by providing people with the opportunity to study things that interest them, for instance by offering a broader range of educational 'tracks', or by reformulating lesson plans to make the material more interesting (explaining the real world applications or consequences of the subject matter.)
Re: When You Get into Unschooling, It’s Almost Like a Religion
#10I was homeschooled until the age of around 10, and then my family adopted a new approach called "lifestyle of learning", which is just another way of saying "unschooling". Basically, I was allowed to skip schoolwork, as long as I was doing something productive. I hated schoolwork, so I started spending all my spare time tinkering with stuff on the computer. I wasn't allowed to play video games (since they aren't prod…
What about careers other than software development though? I'm definitely not criticizing your choices at all, but its interesting to me that both your brother and yourself ended up doing software development.
Do you feel you would have a different option of "unschooling" if you had tried to be successful in a different career path?