Unschooling in Westford
A Westford family has been in the national spotlight for their education choices. There is a definite media bias/slant in these stories, as news outlets like to do these days. The sheer amusement factor of a reporter who uses imaginary air quotations during an interview aside, this is a very interesting story.
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Parenting/...oling-10413158
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Parenting/...ry?id=10422823
http://joybehar.blogs.cnn.com/ (this story not online yet, this site seems to be running about two days behind the original air date)
http://www.talkradio1055.com/pages/steveandleah.html
Wow, those parents have failed their children. Letting kids do whatever they want whenever they want is not parenting.
It is regrettable that Massachusetts doesn't require at least home schooling. Having these kids remain pretty much ignorant all these years will not serve them well in life.
What makes you say that? Can you explain how they have "failed their children"?Originally Posted by The Westford Gazette
Parenting takes on many forms, from very authoritarian to uninvolved. It's still parenting, even if it is a different style than you personally would engage in.
Massachusetts doesn't require home schooling, it's simply an option. They do not dictate what type of curriculum a child must follow or what hours of the day they must be educated, or other minutiae.
If these parents weren't submitting all of the paperwork required by MA state law to Westford Public School system, they wouldn't be approved to be home schooled at all.
This is an old approach, back from Jean-Jacques Rousseau in his Emile to New England transcendentalists like Amos Alcott, who ran the school at the Fruitlands utopian community in Harvard. Aside from letting the students follow their own inclinations, he had a unique approach to discipline. When a student misbehaved, the corporal punishment was administered... but by the student on the teacher. The theory was that the shame the student would experience in whipping his teacher would change the student's behavior. And Rousseau's idea was more appropriate for a nobleman's son, where a highly-educated tutor could accompany the child every waking hour and satisfy the child's natural curiosity about the world, while directing him toward his interests and aptitudes. But I don't think either would have approved kids sitting around watching TV all day. The idea was not to have lack of structure, but to have personalized structure, suiting the child's interests and aptitudes. Maybe that actually is happening in practice, though the TV clip did not suggest it.
I would be very concerned if the state of Massachusetts has transitioned from the "home schooling" concept to the unschooling concept for an alternative to the public/private school curricula.
Home schooling began in Westford, circa 1984 when two parents had their home schooling plans approved by the Westford School Committee.
At that time, the parents had to provide the proposed curriculum for review by the Supt. and accept financial responsibility for any books and supplies that were not part of the regular curriculum.
The parents were evaluated as to their capabilities to implement the proposed curriculum.
The children had to undergo grade appropriate testing.
After student testing and approval of alternative curriculum by the Supt., the proposed home schooling program was brought up for approval by the school committee.
Approval by the school committee meant that there was a legally binding contract between the Town of Westford and the parents.
At specified periods during the school year, Westford teaching staff met with the parents and students to determine progress on the proposed curriculum and against the Westford curriculum.
The school committee could terminate the approved home schooling program for either failure to execute approved home schooling program or lack of appropriate educational progress by the student.
At that time most members, some with reservation, of the Westford School Committee supported the concept of home schooling.
Unless the MGLs have radically changed, the unschooling concept would not meet the guidelines set up by the Westford School Committee in the 1980's.
I personally believe that parents should be responsible for the education of their children. If sending their children off to Westford schools to participate in the standard curriculum or to an approved private school is satisfactory to the parent, I am OK with it.
If parents want to develop a curriculum for review by the Supt., approval by the school committee and enter into a legally binding contract with the town, I have no problem.
Based on the television segments aired to date, I could not support the concept of unschooling.
I realize that back 250 plus years ago, "unschooling" was the frontier education available. Wealthier individuals could certainly prepare for their children better educational programs,including studying abroad, than the average family.
American public education began with libraries and schools in the 1790's. The advent of public libraries was a step in trying to bring books to the masses.
Westford formed a private school by the name of Westford Academy in 1792, second oldest high school in America.
The "private" Westford Library was formed in 1797.
Westford Academy became a public school in 1897(?) and the private library transitioned to the JV Fletcher Library.
Ah, Tony, how times have changed.
I'm not going to invoke Godwin's Law here, but an interesting factoid is that Hitler outlawed home schooling in his heyday because he wanted the government via public schools to have complete control over the education and indoctrination of Germany's youth. Even now, his legacy continues as home schooling remains illegal in that country.
I'm almost never an advocate for more government control of anything. Almost. Definitely not when it comes to educating your child(ren) at home.
In Massachusetts, to home school you have to submit a Letter of Intent to your local school district if your child is between the ages of six and sixteen. In this case, the LOIs typically go to Lorraine Tacconi-Moore. The school district approves the LOI and at the end of the year the homeschooling family submits a progress report to the district. Every year this process gets repeated. Homeschooling families in Westford are not mandated to sit for any tests or evaluations, though studies show if they did they would far outrank their public school counterparts, statistically speaking.
The School Committee never gets involved in the process outside of writing policy, and my guess is neither does the Superintendent, really.
It should be noted that homeschooling is considered in the same realm as private schools. Parents can pay for a private school such as Sudbury Valley School, which is a similar model as what some unschooling parents do at home. School officials cannot require private schools to administer MCAS or other standardized tests to students living in their home districts, and the rules for homeschoolers are no different.
Homeschooling is different than homebound instruction, which is defined in the WPS Policy guidelines and meant more for students with medical, health, or other issues which may prevent them from learning in a typical school setting.
p.s. In the interest of full disclosure, I home schooled my now 17-year-old son for 7th and 8th grade because of the bullying, abuse and anxiety he endured in school. The anti-bullying/harassment policies are a joke, and only as good as the principal enforcing them. And so far, all of my kids have learned to read without formal instruction.
Massachusetts Home Learning Association
Some light reading...
Memoirs of an Unschooling Teacher
For the Sake of Our Children
Last edited by Amber; 04-22-2010 at 10:34 PM.
http://kelly.hogaboom.org/?p=5845
A few days ago Good Morning America aired a segment on Unschooling that is roundly thought by thinky people to be unfair, sensationalist, and journalistically lazy. OK, well. It is mainstream media, so what would one expect?
Rebuttals and responses popped up around the blogosphere. Lee Stranahan, filmmaker and writer, responded on Huffington Post by offering up his unschooled 18-year old son as an example, a young man who spent most of his life out of any form of traditional learning. “You can keep your theories; I have my son,” he writes; a statement that resonates strongly with me. When I read the theoretical examples of the spoiled, self-indulgent, lazy, couch potato, socially- and intellectually-backward, junkfood-devouring, abysmally-low-impulse-control wretch that is sure to result by not having the child in school (no really, people say all these things and more) it’s almost humorous when I think of the Sophie and Nels I know.
Following up Stranahan’s article, Heather at SwissArmyWife.net wrote a piece fleshing out principles that many unschoolers (or life-learners, self-directed learners, autodidactic learners, etc. etc.) live by. Concerned with the “un-” in the label unschooling, she says, “It’s important to talk about Unschooling and Life Learning in a way that is positive, that explains what we do do.” In the vein of Heather’s post, some homeschoolers and unschoolers are beginning to dislike the terms unschooling and deschooling (and their negative connotations) and instead advocate using the terms “life learning”, “self-directed learning”, or simply reclaiming the more old-fashioned term “homeschooling”.
Of course, the onus shouldn’t be on individual families to provide the perfect picture, the perfect phrasing, to therefore give the “right impression” to families who do things differently, or to those who would (sometimes loudly and visciously) criticize with no or little reflection and study. I hope those non-schooling families that worry over their self-applied labels keep this in perspective; because in talking about labels we are really talking about concepts and the mainstream reaction to them.
So on that note, really, is the discussion relating to the supposed fringe activities of a minority of families even important at all? Oh yes. Oh hell yes.
After all, it is hard for us homeschoolers to simply “go our own way” when public opinion could swing such that today’s rights become tomorrow’s threatened freedoms. Many think homeschooling is here to stay in this country, and I tend to agree. But other countries are less friendly towards home-education models, and there’s no real reason to believe things couldn’t move further in that direction in America, especially if we take our rights for granted and the mainstream hardens their hearts to us.
There is another reason we “fringe” should discuss both nomenclature and family life; because sadly, and in no small part due to the anonymity of the internet playground, dehumanizing language threatens to create enemies where there could instead flourish challenges and disagreements amidst a backdrop of united principles of human need.
Not everyone is committed to the goals of compassionate discussion. Today in the Chicago Sun Times Betsy Hart writes an article entitled, “Careful, don’t ‘Unschool’ your kids”. It’s a pretty rough read. According to her, parents who unschool are “irresponsible” and engaging in “neglect”. She claims she’s a “parent” and the people who unschool are “unparents”.
Anyone who reads here would not call me an “unparent” nor neglectful. Agree or disagree with any particular choice of mine (and, um, what’s up with that weird clause we say to one another, anyway? Which one person agrees with every thing some other person does?) if you’ve read here long you know I give a hundred and twelve good goddamns about my kids, their development, their physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual care. Yet people with Betsy’s views would paint our family with the broad brushtroke of “nuts” (yes, this is in the article too).
I am no bodhisattva. At first when I read this sort of thing I feel so much hurt and anger. Yet today instead of being pissed or writing her off or sneering at her choices I attempt a conversation. Clicking through to her blog and feedback form I write the following:
A funny thing happened as I wrote. I found myself weeding out words that were nasty or character attacks. I found myself attempting to gently dance along the line of offering a dialogue and perspective without lecturing. I found myself between wanting to elucidate my wonderful life with my amazing children vs. risking sounding like the proof of happy, healthy, academically-advanced children is a requirement I owe the mainstream (I highly reject this concept, as the parents of the 98% of American children who attend school are not required to “prove” their choice of institutionalized school by their kids’ behaviors and accomplishments).I’m so sad to read your attacks ad hominem on unschooling families. We are one of these families, although I do not use the label unschooling for reasons I won’t go into here.
My kids are normal. Their names are Sophie and Nels, and they are 8 and 6. They read voraciously (having learned on their own at a very early age) and show natural interest in science, math, just about every subject one can imagine. And yes, they practice hygiene, play with other children, are affectionate and direct and the furthest thing from self-centered I can imagine. Incidentally, they are also physically fit, advanced in math, reading, and writing, and love learning. They do not watch television all day (we don’t own a set) nor eat only chocolate donuts.
I say these things not to “prove” I am a good parent (you used the words “nuts”, “irresponsible”, and “neglect” to describe unschoolers) but to tell you to please stop making sweeping value judgments on something you know little about. I know the concepts of unschooling are new and unfamiliar to many. If you are interested in the subject, there are so many places you can go to learn more. If you are not willing to learn more, I’m not sure you should be weighing in.
The Good Morning America piece was an unfair one. If you have a moment, you might like to read this article, taken from the perspective of a more traditional homeschooler:
“Unschooling and Unjournalism”, at themoderatevoice.com
I love exercising my rights as an American to live our life in freedom and the way we want to live. I’m sure you enjoy these rights as well. I’m equally sure that if we met in person you and I and our children would respond positively to one another and see opportunities to learn from one another.
If you’re interested in a dialogue about what our family life is like, I’d love to engage one with you! Please do email if this is the case. If not, thank you for reading.
Thank you for your time,
Kelly Hogaboom
Hoquiam, WA
kelly@hogaboom.org
After I sent my email I read the article again, and I saw something new. Toward the end of her essay I began to hear her fear and concern she has for unschooled kids; she does not see how a consensual, free living life could create a human being with the capacity to make rational, altruistic, well-informed, self-sacrificial, and well-rounded decisions. According to her, if I may be so bold to rephrase, she worries a child who is not raised with duties and commitments they “have to do” will develop to be entirely self-centered.
When I read Hart’s article with an openness and look past her personal attacks, I can relate to her fears and concerns. I am sad she chose to spend the first 75% of the article maligning families like mine. If someone like Hart – without knowing me nor choosing to get to know me – thinks of me as “nuts”, “irresponsible”, and an “unparent”, I can only try to engage with her. It is certainly a reminder, too, to keep my own thrill at my children’s developments and freedoms in check that I do not allow my joy and engagement to morph into recrimination and dismissal of the many (majority) parents who do things the mainstream way.
By making the choices we do, we Hogabooms personally set ourselves apart in a way that can be painful for others and occasionally ourselves. But this pain is not necessarily a bad thing. Wendy Priesnitz, social activist, writer, founder and editor of Life Learning Magazine, veteran “unschooler”, and mother of two grown daughters who never went to school said a few days ago, to paraphrase, that her thirty years of experience have taught her any publicity is good publicity. Today she posts a Facebook update reminding families who don’t traditionally school just how much they’re rocking the boat. She writes:
Change – of mind or actions – is difficult for most of us. The unschooling lifestyle challenges long-held beliefs about education as well as about children and parenting. I like to think that, by our very lives, we are encouraging and creating change, and making it easier for people to follow their own hearts instead of others’ opinions.
Sometimes I think that’s what I want most. Not that every parent should see the wisdom in freeing themselves and their children (although it must be said, this would be a paradise of sorts), but that parents should follow their hearts – and I’d add, remain open to the experiences lived by others. I am open to hearing views like Hart’s, even if she is not open to mine.
Each parent has the gift of self-awareness and a child whom they can continue to connect with, to learn to love anew. I have seen the power of this in my own life and my own family. No one needs to live on autopilot; the joys, tribulations, and triumph of challenging our limitations is one of my favorite experiences in being human.
Thanks for the GMA link....but for the record:
"Good Morning America" is to real, thoughful journalism what McDonalds is to cuisine. I'm not surprised when there's no beurre blanc with my Filet O'Fish sandwich and I don't expect a balanced portrayal of a nuanced issue from a morning network chat show.
That said...the most damning part of the GMA report is that it didn't draw enough of a distinction between homeschooling and unschooling. I've known homeschooling families who are serious about it, setting times to get work done and spending more time on some subjects than on others (one of the unmatched benefits of homeschooling is custom-tailoring lesson plans to a child's strengths and weaknesses). I've also known some homeschoolers who were fundamentally unschoolers because they took a far-more relaxed view of what their child learned and when.
In an increasingly tough college admissions environment and job market, I know which children I'd like mine to be up against.
Self-directed learning is what ALL kids should be doing...especially before and after school.
What's interesting to note as well is more colleges are actively recruiting from the growing homeschool population. And homeschooled students as young as 16 can enroll in for-credit courses at most community colleges and begin earning college credits before their public school peers.
After years of skepticism, even mistrust, many college officials now realize it's in their best interest to seek out home-schoolers, said Barmak Nassirian, associate executive director of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers.
"There was a tendency to kind of dismiss home schooling as inherently less rigorous," he said. "The attitude of the admissions profession could have at best been described as skeptical."
Home-schooled students — whose numbers in this country range from an estimated 1.1 million to as high as 2 million — often come to college equipped with the skills necessary to succeed in higher education, said Regina Morin, admissions director of Columbia College.
Such assets include intellectual curiosity, independent study habits and critical thinking skills, she said.
"It's one of the fastest-growing college pools in the nation," she said. "And they tend to be some of the best prepared."
No argument about many home-schoolers being well-prepared, actively engaged kids, especially with parents who treat home-schooling seriously. I've known several home-schooled kids who have gone on to do as well or better than many of their peers.
My kids (and most others) would likely fare better against some of the unschooled kids I've met. The "GMA" report, while sensationalist, showed a view of a portion of unschooled kids who aren't big on academics, haven't picked up the importance of study habits, and aren't too fond of the whole structure thing. They seem happy and well-adjusted, and perhaps that's a benefit of avoiding the rigors of a formal school education.
There's a distinction needed between actively homeschooled kids and unschooled kids.
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