hello this is Angela with Parkrose permaculture welcome back to hospital Friday this is part
two of a short series about unschooling I have four kids ages 11 up through almost
20. and y'all have asked me to share more about unschooling in our parenting philosophy it is
entirely relevant to permaculture because one of the three ethics of permaculture
is people care and that involves people that are children children are people too
it also really ties into just the normal course of our lives and when we are unschooling our kids
that has informed a lot about how I structure our regular life how I structure every day the
ebb and flow of what we do as a family and how that connects to everything else in my life
so let's talk about another Myth today that I think folks perpetuate when they think of
unschooling now unschooling is an educational philosophy it may or may not be best for you and
your family that's okay the fact that I unschool my kids is not a criticism of you and your choices
I'm not unschooling at you I am unschooling because it has worked best for our kids needs
in fact my husband is a public school teacher one of the misconceptions I see around unschooling and
myths I get perpetuated is that your kids won't ever learn X thing if they unschool
and I would like to break that down for just a couple of minutes here as
somebody who has two adult children now my second kid is turning 18 this month
I have a little bit of a benefit I have that Superior position of hindsight and being able to
look back and say is that really true is it true that if you unschool your kids will never learn X
when are kids unschooled they don't take those formal classes
and so folks think well your kid is not learning this subject at the time that my
kid is learning it in public school or your kid is not learning X topic when I learned it in school
your child is 12. they should know X subject thoroughly by now because I learned it at
that newsflash what kids learned varies dramatically by country
by state and by school district there is no set kids need to learn X by X State
and also kids develop at different rates think about when we look at development of
very young children kids learn to crawl at different times to walk at different times
they get their teeth in at different times not everybody does things exactly on a set schedule
just because you want them to and unschooling very much Embraces that kids develop at their
own pace and they learn things when they are meaningful and more readily retained
so that doesn't mean kids learn everything at the same rate or at the same point in development when
we hear the message or we internalize the message if you unschool your kids will never learn X the
first thing I always tell other parents and I tell myself is ask the question is that really true
is it true that something is requisite for our children to function as adults in the
real world and they will never learn it if they School if something is essential for them to
function in the real world do you really think they're never going to learn it if they need it
if we are looking at unschoolers where we have given them an entire childhood of saying you
know what if you need to learn something if it's meaningful if it's essential if it's important
to you I'm going to give you the opportunity to learn it I'm going to equip you with the
skills to go chase down that information and internalize it do you think that kind of a child
will be incapable of learning something that is crucial and vital for them to have in adulthood
the second thing I would ask is where is this question coming from
is it something that you are dredging up out of your own internal anxiety
because you were raised with a highly structured Western view of education and perhaps your
relatives your nieces and your nephews are being raised with that model of Education or your
neighbors are is it something that is really more rooted in your anxiety than it is in the reality
that your kids are experiencing or perhaps it is something being superimposed by folks around you
by the local school district by strangers on the internet by your in-laws
is it pressure that somebody else is putting on you that causes you to feel anxious
and causes you to question a philosophy that is working very well for you and your children
I would ask if something is an essential skill or a tidbit of knowledge that we need to learn
is the timeline that somebody else lays out for us the right timeline is it imperative and urgent
that we acquire that tidbit when someone else tells us that we should so much of unschooling
is letting kids explore things when they are developmentally ready and when it is Meaningful to
them I feel like I can't say that enough because when kids explore something at a point in time
when it is extremely meaningful to them they will retain that information better and better be able
to apply it I think about my own education and how many things I learned and crammed for a test
and then immediately dumped out of my memory and I can't remember them at all even Weeks Later versus
when something fascinates me and I'm interested or I need that skill in order to do something that I
really want to do in my real life I suck up that information and I hold on to it often indefinitely
and I can apply those skills much better because they have a purpose in my real life or they tie
into a passion that I have it's no different with our kids so sometimes just because we tell
kids you need to learn your multiplication tables and have them memorized by X age
if it's not really meaningful or applicable in their lives they might learn it later or let's say
they're really like George really into building in Minecraft when they're five they might learn
their multiplication tables and even like squares and things like that at a much younger age than
when the calendar tells them they should I would really encourage those of us who are thinking
about unschooling or have started unschooling and have a lot of anxiety and feel like our
kids aren't going to learn the right things or they're not going to be prepared for adulthood
I would really encourage you to Google D schooling both for your kids if they are coming out of
public school and for you as a person if you experienced formal industrial educational models
d-schooling is a really important component of becoming a successful unschooler and also just
rearranging the way that we run our lives and saying maybe those institutions were not super
helpful for me and we're not the best way to do things and maybe I want to do something different
with my kids so I hope this was helpful for you I would love to break down some more myths about
unschooling I think it helps us better understand when we look at unschooling it can sometimes feel
kind of nebulous and hard to Define because it looks so different in different families
it's often easier to talk about what clearly is not unschooling what clearly is a misconception
that folks have that gives us a much better grasp of what unschooling is and how we can apply it to
our lives so if someone is telling you if you unschool your children they will never learn
XYZ and they will be ill-prepared for life I would encourage you to check back in with yourself check
back in with this video and say is that really true where is that coming from is it urgent
and imperative that my kid acquire these skills right now and could I touch base with and draw
encouragement from other folks who are adults who have been unschooled and are perfectly functional
well-adjusted happy adults that have all kinds of skills and knowledge that maybe they wouldn't
have acquired if they hadn't unschooled and they are doing just fine I will link to some resources
down below including a couple of blogs that are fantastic that are written by adult unschoolers
thank you for watching today I'll be back very soon for my permaculture garden and don't forget
to tune back in Next Friday for the next installment of house from Friday thanks