who     what     where     when     why     how             index

unschooling proposal


Document begun: 5 December 2006.

Table of Contents

Click on the heading in the table of contents to get wherever you're interested in, or just read downwards and absorb the whole thing.

  1. Motivation
  2. Areas of learning
    1. Linguistics
    2. Creative writing
    3. Science
    4. Math and engineering
    5. Language learning
      1. Spanish
      2. Latin
      3. Ancient Egyptian
      4. Other possibilities
    6. History
  3. Legal issues

Motivation

I want to learn.

As a human being I am interested in learning, and I don't feel that I'm learning enough in school—or that what I'm learning, I will retain. The classes I'm required to take aren't intellectually stimulating.

Take English, for example. I'm fascinated with literature; for my own enjoyment I've read Animal Farm and Brave New World, Metamorphoses by Ovid and short stories by Dostoyevsky. English is a singular example of what I'm good at. I've written four novels for National Novel Writing Month. I'm learning the craft of fiction-writing by experience and reading, and learning editing as a sort of offshoot of that.

The way English is taught in school has been, by and large, an enormous waste of time for me. Last year, in eighth grade, the "vocabulary" words we were required to learn were all words I had picked up simply through reading. Every single one. We also learned English grammar and sentence structure that year, something which a good number of students struggled with, as I could figure out from observation. That level of grammar (the difference between it's and its) wasn't, and isn't, even close to my level of understanding of the English language.

As far as I can see this sort of education is going to continue upwards, through the higher grades. It's not the actual material of what they teach that gets to me—it's that I'm advancing even more swiftly than I had been before, and as the curriculum continues at a pace which is appropriate for most students, I'm going to go farther beyond it until I learn absolutely nothing at all. I may have reached that point already.

I can write an essay at a level far beyond that of a typical ninth-grader. However, because of the way English is taught in high school, I'm virtually restricted from showing my capabilities. I can analyze a book and extract symbolism from it, like liquid from a straw, but that sort of literary criticism is the basic structure of English classes. It's time for me to move on in my studies, and to work more creatively on my own writing, while continuing to read frequently and independently.

I'd like to study history independently for similar reasons, although I'd say that I don't excel quite as much in history as I do in English. History textbooks are stale (Mr. O'Connor once joked to our class, "Your textbook is excellent bedtime reading"); they further the misconception that history is merely a long list of what happened once upon a time. History can be learnt much more richly-and more excitingly, too—through use of resources which aren't found in school. To spend a single hour at the Museum of Fine Art is infinitely more enlightening than to spend a day hunched over a badly-written textbook.

Like with English, I'm incredibly self-motivated to learn about history, and have been studying ancient history (particularly that of ancient Egypt) by myself for quite a while. In studying history by myself, instead of at school, I go through books much more efficiently and retain much more. History and English are the two subjects for which it's already very clear that I can self-educate. I know this stuff, and I'd assume that you're not skeptical about the thought of me teaching myself English and history independently. The motivations for those two are already apparent to you: I'm just interested. I'm really interested. And I've proven, through my library books and my NaNoWriMo novels and so forth, that I'm capable of retaining English and history knowledge without a teacher assigning me anything.

Science and math may present a stickier issue, which I would guess is the main doubt in your mind about unschooling. "But how can anyone learn math without a textbook?" Unschooling math has indeed been discussed in more detail than unschooling any other subject. The humanities are easy enough for someone to pick up on their own—but what about math, with its structure? "School math" is hard enough to break away from.

I'm interested in math as much as I'm interested in any subject. If it's meaningful to me, I want to learn it. The way math is generally taught doesn't work for me, as I've expressed before: I need to know why I'm learning it, instead of dutifully working out problems which are thrown at me. I'd prefer to learn math in a more organic context, using and learning it as it appears in my daily life. I'm chiefly interested in the way math interacts with science, aside from practical math used in bills and the like. Learning math just because it's there, or because "it will help me later on," is almost impossible for me. Instead, I would prefer to study astronomy or programming or calendars, all of which involve plenty of math but also place it in a context. I'd especially like to work with you on incorporating more math into my daily life, which would help me to learn it a lot more easily.

The math work that I'm principally interested in doing would be non-traditional, mostly topographic and logical puzzles. I'd also like to focus on probability. In particular, though, I think that I'd learn math much more quickly by integrating it into science and other subjects. I hope that I've expressed this clearly through my descriptions of math and science study; the descriptions are only surface plans, indeed, and as I delve deeper I expect to find and tackle bits of math all the time.

In conclusion:

I believe that, from the material listed under "Areas of learning," I can acquire a full and well-rounded education based on the sorts of study I plan to undertake. I'd like to begin working with this set of goals, and leaving high school permanently, as soon as I can. Probably, it'd be best to begin my course of study with a trial period of several weeks (a month, maybe?) for you to observe my learning, and to judge whether you're comfortable with letting me continue in that vein.

Grace Llewellyn, the author of The Teenage Liberation Handbook, suggests that a prospective unschooler take a short vacation from formal study before beginning to learn in depth again-a sort of detox from school. I think that this would be ideal for me, although I leave it to you to determine the length of the vacation, if that option seems good to you. (Watching told me "I don't think you'll need to detox, though. Seriously. You learn all the time and I don't see you as sitting around absorbing nothing for a while.")

I also ask that you don't base your answer (i.e. "Yes, you can leave school for a trial period/No, you can't") on my grades or the timing of school. The state of my grades fluctuates, I know, and for a student in high school this situation is not necessarily ideal. However, my unsatisfactory grades are often indicative of problems that unschooling could help with: lack of motivation, procrastination, or lack of comfort with the speed of the school schedule. These flaws are personal problems and school problems, but if school is taken away, the personal problems will be easier to battle. Please don't use reasoning like "if you get all As in all your classes for the rest of the year, you can unschool." My performance in school, bad or good, will have little effect on the sort of education I can achieve while unschooling. I'm sorry for the relatively cold tone I strike here! I don't mean to sound harsh! I'm pretty concerned about this, though, and further tension regarding the state of my grades wouldn't be beneficial.

If I leave school and embark on this educational plan, I promise to you that my motivation will be continual and strong; our battles about homework will vanish, and my interactions with you will be less stressful, gentler. It'll be more comfortable for me to discuss what I'm learning, share it with you, and have you take a role in my education. I'll learn voraciously. I will keep myself challenged.

And, ultimately, I do believe that all of us will be happier.

My desire to unschool is very important to me. Please consider my request with seriousness and thought. I realize that you'll have questions and doubts which may tug at your mind as you read this; as I ask for your genuine consideration of this plan, I will in turn respond to your concerns genuinely. I've created this plan over only a few weeks; it's only scratching the surface of my goals. I think that it'll serve as a reasonable introduction, though, and as a solid basis on which you can form your decision.

Areas of Learning

A quick note about this "areas of learning" thing. This is a list of the stuff I plan to learn, and this specific list would take me about a school year to study. The goals specified in certain areas, like "learn the ancient Egyptian language," may be technically unreachable—that is to say, the attaining of the goal can't be measured by a particular yardstick. Others are definable, and I might surpass them sooner or later than I think.

I don't intend to set aside certain blocks of time for studying certain subjects, or following a schedule that's much like school. One of the cool things about unschooling is that there's no boundary between education and real life. I can learn how to cook by making and eating lunch, or Spanish by reading Pablo Neruda's poems and then comparing them to the translations.

I'll also note that the subjects tend to blend together, and some of what I wrote could apply to virtually any subject, not just the one I listed it under. Again, another brilliant feature of unschooling. The simple act of growing a garden is a combination of science (identify plants and what conditions they grow best in), aesthetic design (decide where things go, make sure it's both pretty and functional), math (calculate schedules for when to plant what). I will, however, also use books and online courses.

Linguistics

Creative Writing

(N.B.: From the small amount of criteria, it looks as though I won't be doing that much creative writing. Don't be fooled—I want to do a lot. But the only way to learn how to craft a good story is by writing all the time, reading all the time, and getting and responding to feedback all the time.)

Science

Math and Engineering

Language Learning

Spanish

Latin

[Ancient] Egyptian

I know this doesn't seem like much, but the papyri are real, and the language is difficult!

Other possibilities

History

Legal Issues

Schooling at home is legal in Massachusetts, and for the most part isn't unusually difficult. The road's already been paved by court cases which took place a long time ago. The law allows school districts to ask for the following, although it doesn't require any of this:

I don't know whether Newton has any specific regulations on this; if there are, I can write one up myself.

The website of the Advocates for Home Education in Massachusetts (AHEM) advises that showing the specific teaching materials isn't too much of a problem. In one court case regarding Mass. homeschooling, a statement was made that "... some of the most effective curricular materials ... may not be tangible. For example, travel, community service, visits to educationally enriching facilities and places, and meeting with various resource people, can provide important learning experiences apart from the four corners of a text or workbook." The AHEM website goes on to say that, if the school board is insistent upon seeing the teaching materials beyond just a list of books, it's a good idea to tell them that your education will incorporate a lot of those intangible experiences. This prevents them badgering you about textbooks, I suppose.

The website also says that an assessment of learning doesn't have to be a standardised test: dated samples of work should be sufficient, or a progress report. Either of these are easy to provide. I've got no particular preference for either, although the work samples might be less time-consuming.

In response to the 180-day year requirement, I can say honestly that I want to be learning 365 days a year, although I'm sure the work will become more casual and less time-consuming in the summer when I go to CRCAP. (CRCAP is a way better "school" than Newton North, anyway, in terms of how much I learn that's useful. I've learned how to use a hammer or a screw-gun there; I can paint very neatly and well thanks to camp; it was there where I really learned to act. In contrast, the stuff I learn in school is barely ever applicable to my real life, unless I'm interested in the concepts themselves.)

The parents are, by law, supposed to be "of competent ability and good morals." But they're not required even to have college degrees, which is needed in some other states. None of this is a problem for us. I'm honestly not sure how much of a role you want to play in my education—you both work, after all, and I do believe I can be competent on my own. But I'd love to work with you. After years of unhappiness on all our parts about homework and lack of motivation on my part, it'd be great to see us working and learning together without the frustrations that school has brought.

I don't really know what the "duties of citizenship" are, so I can't say whether I'll learn them or not, but I figure you know already that I have a sense of morals. I already know orthography, because I can write; I'm of course going to continue studying reading and writing, and the English language and grammar!

Geography and arithmetic I'll work on, as well as US history, but not devote lots of time to. See my "areas of learning" section. Physical education will be covered with climbing and walking; I plan to do lots of those.

I'll listen to music, and maybe learn to play an instrument.

It's kind of odd that drawing is a required course, but I will be practicing that too. That also goes for good behavior.

I'm reasonably well educated in health—I assume that's a euphemism for sex education and basic self-care (nutrition, et cetera).

Kids schooled at home are not required, and do not need, to do any of the following:

Before beginning to unschool, it'd be an excellent idea to consult with local people who are interested in that form of education, and preferably have some experience with it. You may want to join the Massachusetts Home Learning Association (MHLA) mailing list at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/masshomelearningassoc/. The unschooling forum at http://www.unschooling.info/forum/ is also quite active. Both groups are relatively large, and host parents who know a lot about education, if you'd like to talk to them as well as to me about your questions.

Be careful of the organization Massachusetts Homeschool Organization of Parent Educators (MassHOPE)—they're Christian-oriented. Similar precautions go for the HSLDA, the Home School Legal Defense Organization.