A Different Way to Teach Children: Unschooling
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| Photo by Rene Bernal on Unsplash |
Parenting is complicated and not an exact science. Every single morning, parents hustle to get their
children out the door and on their way to school and then after school lets out, they need to make sure
their children make their way to little league practice, ballet, or any number of extracurricular activities
they are involved in. Sound familiar? Well, for parents that prescribe to the idea of unschooling, their
children don’t need to attend school in order to learn.
children out the door and on their way to school and then after school lets out, they need to make sure
their children make their way to little league practice, ballet, or any number of extracurricular activities
they are involved in. Sound familiar? Well, for parents that prescribe to the idea of unschooling, their
children don’t need to attend school in order to learn.
Children who are unschooled have the freedom throughout their days to pursue whatever interests them
at the time. This is not like homeschooling which has structure and a curriculum that parents have to
follow, implementing free-range parenting is much more relaxed and revolves around this idea that the
parent should be able to decide at what age their child is able to be left unsupervised.
at the time. This is not like homeschooling which has structure and a curriculum that parents have to
follow, implementing free-range parenting is much more relaxed and revolves around this idea that the
parent should be able to decide at what age their child is able to be left unsupervised.
At its core, unschooling is about giving children the freedom to choose, rather than giving children a set
daily structure and puts the power in the kids instead of the parents and school system.
daily structure and puts the power in the kids instead of the parents and school system.
For some parents that have to adopt this type of schooling direction, they also have a more relaxed
style of parenting called free-range parenting. Free range kids are given the ability to make their own
mistakes and choices. This method of parenting was coined by writer and mother of 2 Lenore Skenazy
allowed her 9-year-old son to ride the New York City subway by himself and wrote about it. After her
column was published, she received incredible backlash from the online community for her negligence.
style of parenting called free-range parenting. Free range kids are given the ability to make their own
mistakes and choices. This method of parenting was coined by writer and mother of 2 Lenore Skenazy
allowed her 9-year-old son to ride the New York City subway by himself and wrote about it. After her
column was published, she received incredible backlash from the online community for her negligence.
Lenore’s argument for free-range parenting is that 20 or so years ago, free-range parenting was just
called parenting, and crime is actually lower today than it was at that time.
called parenting, and crime is actually lower today than it was at that time.
One of the biggest concerns that people who hear about unschooling are what these children will not
have the same opportunities when they reach college age. Free range parenting is also controversial
because children are not under direct supervision of an adult and are in danger of being kidnapped or
hurt in some way without anyone to help them.
have the same opportunities when they reach college age. Free range parenting is also controversial
because children are not under direct supervision of an adult and are in danger of being kidnapped or
hurt in some way without anyone to help them.
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