Defining unschooling is a little like describing a color, and every bit as elusive. You can rely on commonly-held descriptions; for example, we generally all agree what blue looks like, but what about cobalt, aqua, navy, cyan, sapphire, azure, indigo, cerulean, turquoise or cornflower? It’s the same with unschooling. There’s a generally accepted definition, but [...]
In the late 1980′s we started seeing incidents, at first seemingly unrelated but then increasingly fitting a pattern, until by March of 1991 we had become concerned enough to admit a growing sense of alarm to our colleagues, associates, and fellow homeschooling activists. In those days before email and the Internet were commonplace tools, we [...]
Continue reading about Freedoms At Risk - Twenty Years Later
In her essay for the series Homeschooling Freedoms At Risk, Becky Olson writes, “Among homeschoolers, who I have always believed were the new freedom fighters, a great schism has occurred. Many people have failed to understand the connection between privilege and responsibility. They are freedom fighters in name only. Instead of letting the school superintendent tell them how to educate their children, they are letting the homeschool leadership of a neighborhood, city, state, or national assembly tell them how to educate their children.”
Continue reading about Homeschooling Rights and Responsibilities
In Linda Dobson’s Homeschooling Freedoms At Risk essay she writes, “What bothers me most about hiding behind words like pill-ar and Christian is not the terms, but that which I discover is being hid - lies, fraud, slander, and a divide-and-conquer methodology reminiscent of the most evil, hostile takeovers in recent history.”
In the final section of this presentation of Homeschooling Freedoms At Risk we gather quotes, letters, and other communications that were originally included in the layout of the May-June 1991 issue of Home Education Magazine.
Deschooling is the word that describes the transition from school to a life of educating ourselves. It is usually the parents who need a helping hand in trusting their own children. That is because we have all been told that children need to be forced to learn, that school is the only place it happens, [...]
He didn’t tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it. ~Clarence Budington Kelland This quote neatly sums up my view on education. We certainly can sit and be instructed, but watching others pursue life, especially those with a passion is a lesson that is embedded in our hearts. Who [...]
