name: New School Models: the "Unschooling" Movement -> New School Models: the "Unschooling" or "Free School" Movement
notes: SEE SCHOOLING GUIDES at the site. Basic info from the site: The core philosophy of the unschooling movement is that learning is an organic process that can be fostered by nurturing a child’s innate abilities and unique interests, rather than forcing him into a pre-determined mold of curricula, guidelines, and standards that may prove to be ill-fitting. That means that not only are children learning outside of the classroom, they're doing it without the educational guidelines or achievement goals familiar to most families. What's to say kids will learn anything at all? “Since we are such a control-oriented school society, we naturally assume that if kids aren’t forced to learn, they won’t learn,” states Rachel Gathercole, author of The Well-Adjusted Child: The Social Benefits of Homeschooling. “Rather than forcing learning on their children, unschooling parents support their children in their natural learning process. And in my experience, the freedom that unschoolers have actually enhances that learning process.” Unschooling is defined less by what its practitioners do and more by what they do not bring into their children’s educational environment. An unschooling parent does not impose a schedule or curriculum onto her child. Rather, she supports the child’s natural drive and hunger to learn with appropriate educational materials, tools, and activities. According to Jennifer James, Director of the National African-American Homeschoolers Alliance (NAAHA), “Families who are considering unschooling should ask themselves if they have enough learning aids in their home, from encyclopedias and bookshelves full of books to a computer and science kits. In order to unschool properly parents need to equip their home with learning tools.” But does unschooling work? Many critics of the movement point out that kids, and parents, don't necessarily know what's best for a child's education. And since many unschooling families shun the notion of fitting their child’s learning into a percentile or ranking, there isn't much large-scale quantifiable data about how well or poorly they do. However, unschooling experts like James and Gathercole cite anecdotal evidence suggesting that unschoolers have been accepted into a wide variety of major universities (including the Ivy Leagues), and have gone into successful careers in fields as varied as arts and engineering. -> SEE SCHOOLING GUIDES at the site. This is a movement toward schooling without government dictates. "Free Schooling" refers to the freedom to learn "your own way". Some other orgs are listed below this intro. Basic info from the site: The core philosophy of the unschooling movement is that learning is an organic process that can be fostered by nurturing a child’s innate abilities and unique interests, rather than forcing him into a pre-determined mold of curricula, guidelines, and standards that may prove to be ill-fitting. That means that not only are children learning outside of the classroom, they're doing it without the educational guidelines or achievement goals familiar to most families. What's to say kids will learn anything at all? “Since we are such a control-oriented school society, we naturally assume that if kids aren’t forced to learn, they won’t learn,” states Rachel Gathercole, author of The Well-Adjusted Child: The Social Benefits of Homeschooling. “Rather than forcing learning on their children, unschooling parents support their children in their natural learning process. And in my experience, the freedom that unschoolers have actually enhances that learning process.” Unschooling is defined less by what its practitioners do and more by what they do not bring into their children’s educational environment. An unschooling parent does not impose a schedule or curriculum onto her child. Rather, she supports the child’s natural drive and hunger to learn with appropriate educational materials, tools, and activities. According to Jennifer James, Director of the National African-American Homeschoolers Alliance (NAAHA), “Families who are considering unschooling should ask themselves if they have enough learning aids in their home, from encyclopedias and bookshelves full of books to a computer and science kits. In order to unschool properly parents need to equip their home with learning tools.” But does unschooling work? Many critics of the movement point out that kids, and parents, don't necessarily know what's best for a child's education. And since many unschooling families shun the notion of fitting their child’s learning into a percentile or ranking, there isn't much large-scale quantifiable data about how well or poorly they do. However, unschooling experts like James and Gathercole cite anecdotal evidence suggesting that unschoolers have been accepted into a wide variety of major universities (including the Ivy Leagues), and have gone into successful careers in fields as varied as arts and engineering. Other resources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unschooling (has some links to websites at the bottom.) http://www.summerhillschool.co.uk/QAs-2009.pdf (FAQ 33 has Info and links about the free schooling movement).

notes: from the site: The core philosophy of the unschooling movement is that learning is an organic process that can be fostered by nurturing a child’s innate abilities and unique interests, rather than forcing him into a pre-determined mold of curricula, guidelines, and standards that may prove to be ill-fitting. That means that not only are children learning outside of the classroom, they're doing it without the educational guidelines or achievement goals familiar to most families. What's to say kids will learn anything at all? “Since we are such a control-oriented school society, we naturally assume that if kids aren’t forced to learn, they won’t learn,” states Rachel Gathercole, author of The Well-Adjusted Child: The Social Benefits of Homeschooling. “Rather than forcing learning on their children, unschooling parents support their children in their natural learning process. And in my experience, the freedom that unschoolers have actually enhances that learning process.” Unschooling is defined less by what its practitioners do and more by what they do not bring into their children’s educational environment. An unschooling parent does not impose a schedule or curriculum onto her child. Rather, she supports the child’s natural drive and hunger to learn with appropriate educational materials, tools, and activities. According to Jennifer James, Director of the National African-American Homeschoolers Alliance (NAAHA), “Families who are considering unschooling should ask themselves if they have enough learning aids in their home, from encyclopedias and bookshelves full of books to a computer and science kits. In order to unschool properly parents need to equip their home with learning tools.” But does unschooling work? Many critics of the movement point out that kids, and parents, don't necessarily know what's best for a child's education. And since many unschooling families shun the notion of fitting their child’s learning into a percentile or ranking, there isn't much large-scale quantifiable data about how well or poorly they do. However, unschooling experts like James and Gathercole cite anecdotal evidence suggesting that unschoolers have been accepted into a wide variety of major universities (including the Ivy Leagues), and have gone into successful careers in fields as varied as arts and engineering. -> SEE SCHOOLING GUIDES at the site. Basic info from the site: The core philosophy of the unschooling movement is that learning is an organic process that can be fostered by nurturing a child’s innate abilities and unique interests, rather than forcing him into a pre-determined mold of curricula, guidelines, and standards that may prove to be ill-fitting. That means that not only are children learning outside of the classroom, they're doing it without the educational guidelines or achievement goals familiar to most families. What's to say kids will learn anything at all? “Since we are such a control-oriented school society, we naturally assume that if kids aren’t forced to learn, they won’t learn,” states Rachel Gathercole, author of The Well-Adjusted Child: The Social Benefits of Homeschooling. “Rather than forcing learning on their children, unschooling parents support their children in their natural learning process. And in my experience, the freedom that unschoolers have actually enhances that learning process.” Unschooling is defined less by what its practitioners do and more by what they do not bring into their children’s educational environment. An unschooling parent does not impose a schedule or curriculum onto her child. Rather, she supports the child’s natural drive and hunger to learn with appropriate educational materials, tools, and activities. According to Jennifer James, Director of the National African-American Homeschoolers Alliance (NAAHA), “Families who are considering unschooling should ask themselves if they have enough learning aids in their home, from encyclopedias and bookshelves full of books to a computer and science kits. In order to unschool properly parents need to equip their home with learning tools.” But does unschooling work? Many critics of the movement point out that kids, and parents, don't necessarily know what's best for a child's education. And since many unschooling families shun the notion of fitting their child’s learning into a percentile or ranking, there isn't much large-scale quantifiable data about how well or poorly they do. However, unschooling experts like James and Gathercole cite anecdotal evidence suggesting that unschoolers have been accepted into a wide variety of major universities (including the Ivy Leagues), and have gone into successful careers in fields as varied as arts and engineering.