An amazing thing about the Badman review in 2009 was that from something so negative came something positive and that was that home educators of all kinds united and overcame their ideological and intellectual differences against a common enemy. No divide and rule in this community ;-)
When we first joined the home education charity, Education Otherwise, seven or so years ago now there was a division between the structured and autonomous approaches and so it has resumed now. In recent weeks the huge yahoo group for education otherwise has been split into two to accommodate various polar viewpoints, debates and approaches and so with the UK Home Education facebook group where attacks on educational styles have been reported in the last few weeks. Maybe it is a seasonal or cyclical thing.
The thing about the contrasting approaches to learning outside of school is how far away from the mainstream, in opposite directions, they really are. Imagine, if you will, school as the centre, the middle group, somewhere to the far left or far west if you want to remove the political parallel would be unschooling and then over on the east of school would be structured home schooling so, if you follow my visual picture, herding this bunch of cats is going to be trickier than you first thought if you follow how intellectually and ideologically far apart they can be.
Both philosophies have ideological underpinnings that make assumptions about human, and more specifically, child, behaviour at their core. Can children be trusted? At all? To direct their own learning, sort out bedtimes or choose the foods they want to eat?
Do you trust? Do you say it is dangerous out there you are not going out there or do you say there are dangers let's hold hands and find a way to best navigate them together. Most likely, if you have been home educating for a while, your thinking has evolved, life experiences will change you and, if you have more than one child, that might have caused you to modify your ideas as well. Perhaps you have just gained in confidence as you have seen learning happening all around you.
Are you constantly struggling for power or have you realised there is no power struggle when the person with the power stops struggling? Do you greet a failure of control with more controls? Maybe you are deschooling. Yourself or your children. A process that can take years.
All of this must be incredibly complex for newbies who might be dazed and confused from a traumatic school experience and are pondering which curriculum to purchase. Add into the average moderated forum parents who are being given a daily hard time by at best the general public and at worst members of their own family. Similarities exist of course. Yesterday's education section press articles about larger classes and longer days will have been shared on all forums to a different audience with a spectrum of responses.
Regular readers of the blog will know that recently I stepped down from running our local area group in West Sussex because the stress of trying to reconcile differences was wearing me down. Regular readers of the blog will also know that I don't have all the answers and, as my twitter strap line once said "Making it up as I go along." I am pretty honest about that and the higher highs and lower lows of a life outside the school system. If you are new to home education you will find your path you can read how we do things and draw your own conclusions. That is the beauty of having the freedom to educate otherwise.
9 comments:
Hi Katie, We are in our 3rd year of home-ed and I am definitely making it up as I go along, both parenting and home-education. I have been learning on the job since my first batch were born. Life does not come with a manual any more than children. For me the best thing about HE is the freedom to be flexible to do what is necessary for our individual set of circumstances and I love touching base with others to swap ideas and opinions and generally read how others are getting alone. I don't have the time or inclination to argue/debate with other's on the forums although I will read from time to time. Our goal is quite simply happiness.
That's very much where I have arrived at Angela - What can I do to make most of the people happy most of the time? That's why I like this site I think http://joyfullyrejoycing.com/
I don't like getting sucked in on forums but I do remember how helpful people were when I was the new person and I like to continue the kindness.
And a double hooray for freedom and flexibility - I was thinking this week how many other 7 year olds would have treated a 2am bedtime (NYE) equally happily as they did a 6pm one a few days later when the power went out!!
Definitely agree the forums are invaluable for support and I have been extended much help as well as on the HE board that covers ASD. I offer what I can to the newer newbies than myself and leave the more complex stuff to more experienced home-edders. Will check out the site you recommended - thanks! Have a happy day x
Years ago we unsubscribed from EO - we needed solidarity and the newsletter was adversarial. We preferred John Holt's Growing Without Schooling. EO Gatherings were frustrating and unfocused, differences seemed to be dwelt upon and we didn't trust the governance. I'd been used to the wise and supportive structure of LLL and recognised the need for leadership in groups. Locally EO was so suspicious of attempts to harness community. We met regularly - nice people, arty activities,visits and parties - but no ethos. Attachment parenting and LLL's loving guidance concept were the driving forces behind our home ed philosophy. EO (at that time - early 90s) didn't seem to acknowledge the importance of the biological continuum. We weren't the only people who thought this. LLLers who were home edding recognised the need for family support but as we couldn't "mix causes" we organised things informally. League Family Camps were originally for out-of-schoolers.LFC camps have a mix of schooled and unschooled with the emphasis on acceptance and they celebrate the fact that families are being "good enough". There is always an opportunity to discuss the practicalities of home ed at LFC. Similarly, The Natural Nurturing Network set up camps and gatherings and had their own newsletter. The emphasis of that organisation seemed to be parental deschooling and self development. In comparison to the motherly wisdom of LLL I felt that NNN was the challenging teenager - both had their place! Of course, all of this was before online networking and the proliferation of facebook groups and blogs.
That's really interesting Barb and hilights why disharmony in groups is a worry because groups are where new people come until they find their feet and then go on to set up their own networks.
This is a great read
http://learninghappens.wordpress.com/2011/09/24/unschooling-is-not-child-led-learning/
Great article - unschooling parents I know tend to be determined, conscious, resourceful and (her phrase) "child considered"....
Focus on the relationship and the rest will follow.....the goal is to live joyfully the rest will follow.........
First, I grew up on doo-wop and still love it; I even love contemporary doo-wop! (wink)
A shrink I once knew used to say (in relation to "normal" families, not specifically home/un-schoolers): A functional family is one where most of the people get most of what they want most of the time.
I think we do better than that but it's a good metric to remember.
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