Are you radically unschooling?

[Ayla]

That's it, really :lol Yay or nay?

[ThirdArmBabySlingProject]

We are natural learners....I don't like the terms 'radically/ unschooling' but the answer is still yes....

I guess I'm using the UK/Europe/NZ definition though ~ over here, contrary to other places, 'radical unschool' seems to generally assume free range everything including junk food and TV. So maybe, since this is an Australian forum, the answer should be no, but I've already voted now so make of this as you will ;-)

[Ayla]

Lol TABSP :lol I'm taking it to mean how you've described it - totally free range.

[ThirdArmBabySlingProject]

Sorry for messing up the poll then: feel free to delete.

[Ayla]

Oh okay, so what goes it mean to you? I didn't consider that there may be different meanings.

[Beatrice]

I'm not voting because I don't say yea or nay to labels, but if you held me down and threatened to yank out my toenails unless I admitted which style of homeschooler I was I would be most likely to say "radical unschooler" :lol

[Ceres]

Kinda yes but I don't take the whole radical unschooling philosophy. I would say we are natural learners, but I'm not ruling out doing something slightly more structured like unit studies in the future.

[Asrathiel]

No, because while I believe that self-regulation works when children are coming into contact with, and making decisions about, things that their bodies are naturally designed to deal with, I don't believe that TV and processed crap fall into this category, and that too much (or often any at all) exposure to these unnatural things will do great harm to small developing bodies and brains.
I do let my kids make decisions about most things in their life, and when they are old enough to intellectually understand what is contained in lollies etc and what effects those things can have on them, and have their own money to buy said lollies if they wish, that will be their choice.

I am, however, unschooling in as much as that describes an educational philosophy, ie natural learning :)

[Ayla]

No, because while I believe that self-regulation works when children are coming into contact with, and making decisions about, things that their bodies are naturally designed to deal with, I don't believe that TV and processed crap fall into this category, and that too much (or often any at all) exposure to these unnatural things will do great harm to small developing bodies and brains.

I like that explanation! Thanks :)

[ThirdArmBabySlingProject]

Me too - spot on ;-)

[Asrathiel]

Nice to be agreed with :)

[Zalkira]

Well I'll third that.

[Izzát]

Explained well Rach

[Mama_Kaz]

I voted yes because that is what we are doing now :) We dont do set lessons or particular subjects, we are just learning as we go through life :) We may do some subject kinda stuff later on but it will be in a very informal way...so yes we are natural learners/unschoolers if I want to use a label :)

[Ayla]

But are you radically unschooling Kaz?

[Sarasvati]

What Raiwyn said. I picked "haven't decided yet" because we might do unit studies or something in the future, natural learning would be my preferred label :lol

[luckymummy]

I haven't decided yet, I am still in the looking into it all stages.

[Blossomtime]

We're more yes than no these days :)

[Mama_Kaz]

But are you radically unschooling Kaz?

Eeek I didnt see that you had asked me a question specifically Ayla :oops To answer it - yeah I like to think of myself as a radical, much to my mother's disgust :lol

[Beau]

I voted no, because there are some rules in our house. ;)

[GreenGully]

Yes, we are. TV, food, sleep and learning are pretty much self regulated around here. Sometimes there is need for negotiation, and mostly that works out well. I am loving the peace in our house now that I am no longer trying to control him and his activities.

[asimplelife]

I voted yes but perhaps not as free range as what the true definitioin of RU means. We still have a loose bedtime (but no expectations on where they sleep), I still do say no to TV during the day on sunny days and we are on a restricted diet for ds for a while due to health issues (but try and accommodate preferences around that but know that it's not really what they want if they had the choice).

[~*heket*~]

sounds pretty agreeable at your place :)

[Ayla]

:bump

[bella]

I voted no. Sometimes we are, but over the 15 years we've been on this journey, we've ebbed and flowed in our radicality (LOL) and our unschooling... We're a large, busy family with lots of variation in ages and temperaments, and live our lives to suit.

[turtledove]

Unschooling yes (although I prefer to think of it as natural learning or life learning), radical, no I don't think so. We have limits on screen time, and I don't let them completely self-regulate with food and sleep, although we are pretty relaxed, and these things aren't usually big issues in our house - we just sleep and eat (mainly nutritious food) iykwim. I like to think that I say 'yes' as much as possible, and get out of their way as much as possible - but i'm still learning not to interfere.

[shaestar]

I voted no. Mainly for the bedtime and TV issues. My girls wake up early no matter what time they go to bed. We tried a more zen bedtime for a few weeks and we had kids who were up late, waking early & grumpy grumpy all the time. I insist on bedtime before 8pm but we never have fights about it-seems to suit us all. TV is restricted too-both content & amount. The kids totally choose the amount of what they eat but I do the shopping so they really have little say in the content.
I do agree with those who said that kids can't regulate themselves when it comes to TV and highly processed foods.

I'm not really as bossy as that sounds lol

[Beatrice]

We took away the TV and we have timers on the girls' computers (3hrs a day and not after 10pm for B :lol), so as far as that goes, no we are not. Although the screentime limits are there for *me* almost more than for them - if the girls are happy to sit in front of a screen all day I'm happy to let them so I can sit in front of mine, then H wreaks destruction to get attention, and we end up totally disengaged and grumpy with each other because we are not connecting throughout the day.

Bedtimes, food (with the caveat that I choose what I spend the grocery budget on and what meals I cook; they have pocket money to spend on other stuff if they want, and B is now cooking herself something different if she doesn't like what's on offer, or they can have toast/cereal), what they wear, what they choose to do the rest of the time, etc - totally up to them.

[Jasmine]

I voted Haven't Decided Yet.

We are living and learning in as much harmony as possible :).

If I need to describe the way we learn, then it would be natural learning/unschooling, although I define it differently. I am happy to use whatever resources are necessary to meet our needs for learning (which may later mean some bought units of study, workbooks, TAFE courses at an older age, yoga days at the centre, internet, using the local Tool Shed for woodwork etc). To me natural learning is about following one's interests without an external timetable and using various resources to achieve that end.

So I learned how to knit from books, other women, internet and just having a go- natural learning in action there!

I would say that, if comparing to others, we probably do lean towards radical unschooling in our day to day lives. I believe it is my responsibility to respect my child's autonomy in an age-appropriate way.

[SamanthaW]

Yes, we are. We don't have any regulations or restrictions. We really like our life but it must seem quite crazy at times to outsiders. :)

I think the label is actually quite useful in that I can quickly and easily identify a person's/group's philosophy before delving further. Not that I don't associate with non-RUers (as well as being a bit creepy that would leave me with a very limited range of places to hang out!) but I want specifically RU information when I'm looking at ideas on dealing with an issue, etc.

[Mud]

No, we don't do much processed food or TV at all, and we read in bed at night once everyone is getting tired. A lot of things don't really count as 'food' to us. We walked down the soft drink aisle in the supermarket the other day (looking for toothpicks) and my 6yo was horrified, especially when I told her how Coke is the top-selling supermarket item!

Come to think of it, I should fill her in on the rest (and tick off the PDHPE column of our learning log).

TOP GROCERY ITEMS SOURCE: ACNIELSEN 2005 SURVEY
Rank Brand
1 Coca-Cola
2-6 Cigarettes (Longbeach, Winfield, Peter Jackson, Horizon, Benson & Hedges)
7 Huggies
8 Holiday (cigarettes)
9 Tip Top
10 Cadbury
11 Nestle/Peters
12 Pura

[Ceres]

Fark! The only thing we buy from that list is green and blacks chocolate, which is owned by cadbury.

[Janet]

I haven't responded yet in this thread. Something was stopping me. I realised yesterday (fast huh? :lol) that it's because I'm not "radically unschooling", I'm just living. It's just normal life for my children to grow up near me not in institutions. This was sparked by a friend who sees the potential damage of the school she's put her kids in but who always says with a note of panic "But I just COULDN'T Homeschool!!" like it's sort of weird and odd or just too Out There in some way? We talked a lot about feminism and homeschooling and the idea that women "should" be in the paid workforce Because We Can, and that some strands of feminism which are uppermost in the consciousness of women of a certain age depict stay at home (again with the label when it's just Parenting, isn't it? And leaving the home is the nondefault?) parenting as a cop out. Women are supposed to want "more" than being at home and are we letting some side down when we don't? Well I don't feel like that. I feel like I'm just living, my kids are just living, I work from home and very hard, and sometimes my job takes me out in the day and between friends and DP things just work out so far. It's just Life, and we're just Living It here.

[Mud]

I only really got that once we got out of school. The I realised how much time and energy we had been wasting in the institution, trying to deal with the institution and recover from it -- and what a waste. Now we're back to living our way.

[turtledove]

I totally agree about the 'just living'. I usually get looks of total incomprehension when I try to expain our learning philosophy as 'just living' in reply to the inevitable "but how do you do it?" as people imagine me running a school at home for my 'school age' child while looking after the toddler and baby as well.
I think that's why if I have to use a term I like 'life learning' - Wendy Priesnitz talks about life learning vs radical unschooling in her blog on 24th August http://www.wendypriesnitz.com/blog/index.html - "Unschooling – even the radical sort – is about obtaining an education; life learning is about living a life and learning what one needs along the way."

[Janet]

Hear hear. :)

I see women talking about this kind of experience all the time when they've had hospital births and then go on to experience homebirth. The exact same thing about having to put shitloads of energy out to manage their birthplace versus just giving birth. Life can be ever so simple if we let it.