Blake Boles, on "The Unschooling Mindset"

Blake came to unschooling from an unusual angle, studying it in college, and fixating on John Taylor Gatto, who wasn't involved in unschooling, but Blake is bright and personable and deeply interested in the subject!

http://vimeo.com/21249033

The Unschooling Mindset - Blake Boles from Blake Boles on Vimeo.

Blake's blog: http://www.blakeboles.com/

Crazy and sane, just sitting there.

The 6 Dumbest Things Schools Are Doing in the Name of Safety

My niece, Gina, who was unschooled and is now grown, sent this link. It's at Cracked.com, which is a humor site, but this article isn't very funny. There are links directly to news reports of new, surprisingly not-meant-to-be-funny, controlling and limiting rules in some real American schools and school districts. THIS is where unschoolers come from.

Brie Jontry, who is the unschooling mom of an artistic young daughter, sent this, and I'll keep the note in which it was delivered:

I just read a timely piece in the New York Times titled, "Our Plugged-In Summer." It was timely for two reasons: this post and the general on-going conversation among new-to-unschooling, and the not-so-new, about all the learning that happens as a result of ALL kinds of media and, I recently commented on another list that seeing kids as "plugged-in" isn't helpful for teasing apart concerns about TV and computers. After all, kids (and adults) aren't machines that need an external power supply.

Anyway, here's that article....
"instead of avoiding the Internet while we were on vacation, my family and I made good use of it, and it rewarded us in many ways"
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/14/fashion/this-life-a-plugged-in-summer.html?_r=1

......and, because I often hear Sandra's voice in my head, commenting on my thoughts, here's a link to her page on "Balancing in the Middle Ground"

http://www.sandradodd.com/balance

Brie

Those who sent the links are involved with unschooling. Those who wrote the articles are not (as far as I know). —Sandra

CNN article on Unschooling and Sudbury schools

Unschoolers learn what they want, when they wanthttp://www.cnn.com/2011/US/08/03/unschooling.sudbury.education/index.html?hpt=li_c2

By Jacque Wilson, CNN
August 3, 2011

This is same-old article, and equates Sudbury school with unschooling. They have asked a professional who knows nothing about unschooling to comment, as usual.

This is wryly interesting:

Calls to the National Education Association for comment on unschooling were not returned.

(Thanks to Keith Dodd for sending the link.)

School’s Out...(forever)

Cover story on Good Times

Homeschooling and unschooling. A look at the alternatives in Santa Cruz, by John Malkin

http://www.goodtimessantacruz.com/good-times-cover-stories/2765-schools-out.html

European Home Education Conference 31 August - 4 September, 2011

I was invited to speak here and can't go (they offered partial airfare, but I just go back from Europe, and I'm speaking in San Diego in early September).

European Home Education Conference. There are English-language speakers, and French, and Spanish. The message I had said in part:

Some information can be found here in English http://aleenred.blogspot.com/2011/06/european-home-education-conference.html We're going to record a documentary of the gathering and conference and have talks about forming a European and International home education organisation.

31 August - 4 September, 2011

Unschooling Media: Participatory Practices among Progressive Homeschoolers

Unschooling Media: Participatory Practices among Progressive Homeschoolers

By Vanessa Bertozzi

Master’s of Science Thesis in Comparative Media Studies Massachusetts Institute of Technology May 12, 2006

This copy of the report  is hosted on a page by a science educator in India.  I got to meet him last fall in his "lab."  

The interviewer is more artist than researcher, and we had fun interacting with her.

The study is not new, but I didn't know of any online site for it before. Something there might be of interest to someone. :-) The "informants" credits are:

All the Informants: Eva Kendrick; Pat Farenga; Carsie Blanton; Rob & Lizette Greco; Beatrice Ekwa Ekoko & Randy Kay; Sage, Garrett, Bella, & Emily Adderley; Matt Hern, Selena, Sadie, Daisy Couture, Ashley Doman, & The Purple Thistle punks; Susannah Sheffer & Aaron Falbel; Sue, Marc, Eli & their Jamaica Plain coop; Mary, Mike, Peter, & Richard X; Sandra, Kirby, Marty, & Holly Dodd; Ken Danford, Vlad Blanton, Sphennings Stephens, & North Star; Jason Marsh; Clayton & Vernon Dewey, Danilo X; David Friedman & his family; Denise Perri; Derek Davis; Dan Roy & his mom; Gabrielle Anderson; Heather Cushman-Dowdee & her family; Jeremy Merritt & his family; Jon Shemitz; Joyce & Kathryn Fetteroll; Katie Shuflin-Febuary & Evyn; Katrina Cornell; Loretta Heuer; Nika & Ed Boyce; Roland Legiardi-Laura; Tiara Shafiq; Doug Healy; Billy Upski Wimsatt; & Grace Llewellyn.

Hindustan Times articles on homeschooling

June 19, 2011:

http://www.hindustantimes.com/tabloid-news/mumbai/Home-truths/Article1-711140.aspx

June 14, 2011:

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Home-is-school/Article1-709315.aspx

(The image was lifted from the facebook page called India Group for Homeschoolers & Alternative Education, and I don't know how to find a larger copy of it or the other articles on the site. If others come by who can help, please leave comments with links.)

"Unschooled" on National Public Radio

Pam Tellew wrote:

My oldest son Sam's radio story "Unschooled" will be airing today (his 17th birthday) on NPR's All Things Considered the last 10 minutes of the hour. It's up online in print (audio later) on the All Things Considered web site http://www.npr.org/2011/06/06/137009154/unschooled-how-one-kid-is-grateful-he-stayed-home

This is something Sam decided to do all on his own. I only got to read it just now and still haven't heard the audio.

With summer on the horizon, many teens are looking forward to a break from school and tests. But for Sam Fuller of Albany, Calif., not much is going to change. Fuller is part of a rare minority of home-schoolers who call themselves "unschooled" — a more unstructured, self-directed form of home schooling. There are about 2 million registered home-schoolers in the U.S., a number that grows by about 10 percent a year. Sam's family can keep Sam and his brother home by registering their house as a private school.

"Wonder Room"

Schuyler Waynforth sent a link to an article on a school in the UK that created "a wonder room." Below this link and quote, I'll link a couple of pages from my unschooling site.

A Wonder Room – every school should have one
The Nottingham University Samworth academy has a room packed with curiosities and puzzles that stimulate pupils' imaginations, and generate a sense of wonder

Chris Arnot
The Guardian, Tuesday 31 May 2011
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/may/31/wonder-room-nottingham-university-academy

He firmly believes the idea should catch on. "I think every school should have a place where wonder can be celebrated. Being interested in seeds, literally and metaphorically, I'm keen to see this idea germinate and spread."

There seems little reason why it shouldn't at a time when schools are said to be cutting visits to museums and galleries because of the cost of supply teachers to cover staff absences.

---

"Your House as a Museum": http://sandradodd.com/museum

Wonder: http://sandradodd.com/wonder

Rather than visiting a wonder room on occasion, unschoolers can have the whole world as their wonder room.

Spain

Earlier this month I had an e-mail with some commentary and details on the home education situation in Spain.

From Lisa E Mitchell, with permission to share:

I wanted to clarify the situation in Spain, where I live.
Our situation in Spain, fortunately, is not the same as Germany, where they have Hitler's law prohibiting homeschooling.

There are no laws in Spain that specifically prohibit homeschooling, so it's not that we can't homeschool in Spain, it's that it's in a legal void for lack of previous experience.
It's Alegal (not illegal) = one cannot prohibit something that has not, in law, been prohibited.

However, they are still at the stage where they equate school absenteeism to parental neglect,
hence the current persecution of a number of homeschooling families in different parts of Spain.

The Pat Farenga blog post about Spain, in reference to the "Constitutional Tribunal" Ruling last December, 2010
http://patfarenga.squarespace.com/pat-farengas-blog/2011/1/19/homeschooling-is-officially-illegal-in-spain.html fails to include the fact that in weeks following that ruling in reference to the Spanish Constitution (a ruling that was highly criticised by many, including Madalen Goiria and another homeschooling lawyer mom in Spain, Laura Mascaró, for being highly incoherent, that the legal language in itself was hard to follow, and contradicted itself)

There were several cases of homeschooling families that were found "not guilty", and the judge ruled in favor of the families. Of course the media fails to diffuse this news!

The Clonlara liason in Spain's comment in the comment section underneath the post is correct.

And I now see that Pat corrected his post and acknowledged he had made an error in his statement that it was "illegal in Spain" in this later post: http://patfarenga.squarespace.com/pat-farengas-blog/category/spain

In Cataluña, where I live, they passed a reform on the education law in 2009 that recognized "non-presencial" education, saying that it was up to the education board to set up a "regulatory body" to deal with that, create a register of homeschooling families, etc, and we are still waiting for updates in that regard.

I just read on one of the homeschooling blogs last night that in September there will be some movement from the education board in this regard (setting up a register).

Interestingly enough, I also came across a link to one of the Spanish political parties, the "Partido Popular" election information documents (we have national elections at the end of the month), which I am attaching that states on page 85, under the title "Strengthen the relationships between families and schools,"the following "commitment":

"The introduction of the possibility for education in the home, providing a guaranteed appropriate legislative frame and rigurorous follow-up on the contents, socialization and advances of the students that are in this schooling modality"

"Potenciar las relaciones entre las familias y las escuelas
• La introducción de la posibilidad de la educación en casa garantizando para ello un marco legislativo adecuado y un seguimiento riguroso de los contenidos, de la socialización y de los avances de los alumnos que estén en esta modalidad de escolarización."

Of course reading things like "rigorous follow-up" makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck,but I find it interesting that the PP has specifically included this reference to homeschooling (and therefore obviously is seeking votes from homeschooling families....!)

I am relieved that we have people like Madalen Goiria and Laura Mascaró (who was recently voted president of the Spanish Asociation for Homeschooling and then only a few days later resigned over the "can of worms" she encountered (she had been given due warning but thought it was worth giving it a shot just the same). A true shame to lose her input and proactive effort, indeed) ...both lawyers and homeschooling advocates...

A follow-up, also from Lisa:

Here's a link to a blog in Spanish in Spain dedicated to sharing information on the issue in Spain.
and a link that makes specific references to the legal parameters in Spain that would be the ones cited by homeschooling families to support their legal right to choose:http://homeschoolingspain.blogspot.com/search/label/Legalidad