Unschooling
Learning from the
Heart
Lately,
I've been brooding over the idea of unschooling.What is at its core, and why do
some families adhere to it? Browsing through various articles on the net, I found out what
it is and what it is not. Here are snippets of ideas worth ruminating:
What it is Not
1.
It is not putting on the brakes in learning. You do not stop learning when you
embrace unschooling.
2.It
is not a relentless pursuit of fun or satiation of personal appetites and
enjoyment.You cannot just do as you please and abandon your sense of right and
wrong.
3.It
is not despising formal learning situations and opportunities.
What it is
1.
It is a change in paradigm on learning, premised on the following quote of
George Bernard Shaw:
"The
child should be the one in pursuit of knowledge, not knowledge in pursit of the
child."
2. It is living first and learning along the way.
The desire to learn according to John Holt is innate in man - as natural as
breathing. It shouldn't be forced as forced learning is tortuous at best;
3.
It is being connected to reality. It is not a learning confined to classroom, uncut
from the rest of the world.
4.
It is making sense of who you are and what you want to be, deciding to be the
best at whatever you set your heart on and pursuing, without outside
interference, your personal goals and passions.
5.It
is taking responsibility for your education and trusting in your Maker to lead
you to a life of purpose. That is, to make a difference and touch others.
6.
It is unrestricted, unstructured, self-directed learning unbound by schedule.
Every experience or situation, however mundane, is an opportunity for learning.
7.
It is freedom from fear, from fleshly competition, from meeting other people's
expectations.
Unschooling is living and learning.
It is life learning. Schooling is
learning now to have a life in the future.
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