Unschooling - We don't need no education.

[💗Freddie Freaker💗]

Geez, this sounds like something someone from TGWTG would say.

Are his songs even popular anymore?

I don't think so... I haven't heard anyone talk about him since about 2007. I can't imagine he's making much money from this stuff.

 

[Jewelsmakerguy]

I don't think so... I haven't heard anyone talk about him since about 2007. I can't imagine he's making much money from this stuff.

Yeah, I mean last I saw his stuff was like what? 2009-2010? If not earlier?

If it's been going on for this long, then he clearly needs to do something other than run on fumes, like make new material in order to actually make stuff. Or, you know, actually try to find a job.

 

[💗Freddie Freaker💗]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/mo...5719/Idle-parenting-means-happy-children.html

This article is pretty goddamn cringey. It glorifies being an ''idle parent''. In other words, being a drunk jobless chump who lets their kids do whatever they want. This sounds like a parody but I'm pretty sure this guy is serious.

Here are some quotes:

The welcome discovery that a lazy parent is a good parent took root when I read the following passage from a DH Lawrence essay, Education of the People, published in 1918: "How to begin to educate a child. First rule: leave him alone. Second rule: leave him alone. Third rule: leave him alone. That is the whole beginning."

The great thing about children is that they like being busy. Since parents like being lazy, it makes sense for the children to do the work. This idea was partly explored in the 19th century, when children as young as five were sent into the factories. The fact that meddlesome liberals have since introduced child labour laws does not need to prevent the idle parents exploiting their own offspring. One morning, not so long ago, V and I refused to get up. I imagine we were hung over. At about nine o'clock, the bedroom door swung open and in walked Arthur, then six, with two cups of tea. A lot can be achieved by lying in bed. Simply by doing nothing, you can train children to do useful things.

I love DH Lawrence's idea of childcare. He says babies should "be given to stupid fat old women who can't be bothered with them… leave the children alone. Pitch them out into the streets or the playgrounds, and take no notice of them." Do not view them as raw material to be moulded into an obedient slave for the workplace of the future. Let them play.

Manifesto of the idle parent

• We reject the idea that parenting requires hard work
• We pledge to leave our children alone
• That should mean that they leave us alone, too
• We reject the rampant consumerism that invades children from the moment they are born
• We read them poetry and fantastic stories without morals
• We drink alcohol without guilt
• We reject the inner Puritan
• We fill the house with music and laughter
• We don't waste money on family days out and holidays
• We lie in bed for as long as possible
• We try not to interfere
• We push them into the garden and shut the door so that we can clean the house
• We both work as little as possible, particularly when the kids are small
• Time is more important than money
• Happy mess is better than miserable tidiness
• Down with school
• We fill the house with music and merriment

 

[Toki Wartooth]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/mo...5719/Idle-parenting-means-happy-children.html

This article is pretty goddamn cringey. It glorifies being an ''idle parent''. In other words, being a drunk jobless chump who lets their kids do whatever they want. This sounds like a parody but I'm pretty sure this guy is serious.

Here are some quotes:

Holy shit. Is that for real? I seriously can't believe this is legal and someone actively does it.

 

[Trilby]

Yeah, I mean last I saw his stuff was like what? 2009-2010? If not earlier?

If it's been going on for this long, then he clearly needs to do something other than run on fumes, like make new material in order to actually make stuff. Or, you know, actually try to find a job.

I suppose he should. Noticed he devoted nearly an hour to sperging about this a few months back.

 

[Piga Dgrifm]

I suppose he should. Noticed he devoted nearly an hour to sperging about this a few months back.

Yeah, I saw that and was really confused by the number of views/likes it had.

 

[Trilby]

Yeah, I saw that and was really confused by the number of views/likes it had.

Some people have weird tastes I guess.

 

[Trilby]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/mo...5719/Idle-parenting-means-happy-children.html

This article is pretty goddamn cringey. It glorifies being an ''idle parent''. In other words, being a drunk jobless chump who lets their kids do whatever they want. This sounds like a parody but I'm pretty sure this guy is serious.

Here are some quotes:

Backwards as shit there. What century are we in again?

 

[Jewelsmakerguy]

Yeah, I saw that and was really confused by the number of views/likes it had.

Nostalgia sells. I'm kinda surprised this thing even exists, to be honest.

Backwards as shit there. What century are we in again?

Last I checked, we're supposed to be in the 21st century.

 

[Trilby]

Nostalgia sells. I'm kinda surprised this thing even exists, to be honest.

True, though I suppose had he covered something from my generation I might've been more interested than just the 90's.

Last I checked, we're supposed to be in the 21st century.

It feels like the product of rural peasantry to me. Of course back when kids were forced into labor on the farm early on with no real time to be lazy or doing something else if it meant not having something put in front of them at dinnertime. That manifesto is like something out of Pinocchio.

 

[lesbolution]

The whole point of parenting is to give your child the opportunities they need to grow as a person, develop meaningful relationships, and go on to have a better life than you did. sure, sometimes that means you're going to have to make your kid do stuff that they hate, but that teaches the whole "Doing things you don't like doing but will benefit you in the long run are still things worth doing" mentality. That mentality is a necessary thing to learn for any job you will have.

Unschooling teaches none of those skills. they'll be lacking both intellectually and in necessary life skills. There's no emphasis on self improvement whatsoever. These kid's parents failed at the most important aspect of being parents; they are setting their children up for failure... and they're taking the moral high road because of it.


Sorry for the long post. this shit just makes my heart hurt.

 

[ICametoLurk]

http://www.mothering.com/forum/439-unschooling/1398472-unschooling-irresponsible.html

I have not come here to be disruptive or to argue, so do not take what I write as such.

I have twin grand daughter, sweet girls even though they lack disapline. My daughter, their mother obviously, works as a ski instructor in winter and during the rest of the year in night clubs, as a rep at a holiday resort, guard on the beach, depends on what she gets.or chooses to do.

The girls are now nine and despite this neither can read or write, or do even basic maths, my daughter says they are unschooled. She says they will learn if they Ned to or want to until then she has no intention of doing so.

So a grandmother is concerned by the fact that two 9 year olds cannot do math or read.

Replies:

First ... resist the urge to judge the supposed shortcomings your granddaughters' education through the lens of traditional schooling.

When your granddaughters are 16 or 20 years old no one will know that they did not learn to read after the age of 10.

Do not get caught up in the invisible benchmark chart that has been created by society/government feeding in to your fears/anxieties.

 

[Trilby]

http://www.mothering.com/forum/439-unschooling/1398472-unschooling-irresponsible.html


So a grandmother is concerned by the fact that two 9 year olds cannot do math or read.

Replies:

What asshole replies to someone who should know better than to read this bullshit.

 

[女鬼]

The girls are now nine and despite this neither can read or write, or do even basic math

That is child abuse. Plain and simple.

 

[Lalala]

http://www.mothering.com/forum/439-unschooling/1398472-unschooling-irresponsible.html


So a grandmother is concerned by the fact that two 9 year olds cannot do math or read.

Replies:

Once again these people would rather take a gamble on these two girls are going to magically find motivation to learn these difficult to master skills that their primary caregivers are attaching no weight to and as far as they're concerned have no relevance to their lives as they are doing just fine without them right now than admit that maybe, just fucking MAYBE, there might need to be some form of intervention.

They're so anti-authoritarian without actually understanding any of the benefits of having a strong authority figure and rules as a child can have, it boggles the mind how their children didn't end up drinking bleach* or smacking their hands on a hot hob because the parents were too afraid of squashing their precious snowflakes independence to say no.

*No don't remind me of the 'bleach enemas used to cure autism' thread, I am still weeping inside at the stupidity of those parents and I don't want to deal with a cross section of those fucktards and these fucktards.

 

[Trilby]

Once again these people would rather take a gamble on these two girls are going to magically find motivation to learn these difficult to master skills that their primary caregivers are attaching no weight to and as far as they're concerned have no relevance to their lives as they are doing just fine without them right now than admit that maybe, just fucking MAYBE, there might need to be some form of intervention.

They're so anti-authoritarian without actually understanding any of the benefits of having a strong authority figure and rules as a child can have, it boggles the mind how their children didn't end up drinking bleach* or smacking their hands on a hot hob because the parents were too afraid of squashing their precious snowflakes independence to say no.

*No don't remind me of the 'bleach enemas used to cure autism' thread, I am still weeping inside at the stupidity of those parents and I don't want to deal with a cross section of those fucktards and these fucktards.

There's just so much wrong in this world, it's sad to be the only ones who are right.

 

[The Great Chandler]

Number one tip for parents. SAY NO!

 

[lesbolution]

Number one tip for parents. SAY NO!

Half the time kids want to do exceptional shit like eat butterflies anyway. saying no is not that difficult.

 

[ICametoLurk]

http://www.mothering.com/forum/439-unschooling/584561-unschooling-videogames.html

We have unlimited video game access. We have discussed why some parents get twitchy about kids being in front of a video game for extended periods, and we've discussed what would make each of us nervous. We hear what the kids have to say on the issue too. For us, as unschoolers, video game play is as valid and worthwhile as reading a book or gardening is. Video games are not less than.

We do not limit tv or gaming in our house because I feel there is value in everything around them. My children have learned quite a bit through games that an ordinary person might not even realize is a learning oppurtunity.

My dd just turned 8. She has unlimited access to whatever games/gaming system we have. We currently have Gameboy/DS and Gamecube. However, she doesn't ONLY play games. She does get immersed in a game sometimes and it may seems she doesn't do much else. This is how I learn as well. I jump in and focus on one thing until I get out of it what I want and move on.

In our Unschooling home (where we live by whole life principles, not merely applied to academics) I have ABSOLUTE faith in my kids as whole humans (who are not inherently LAZY, disrespectful nor easily addicted).
We have no limits on video games and thereby no *gotta play as much as I can before mom takes it away again* mentality others may be describing. If your child truly, TRULY trusts that there is an unlimited supply, they WILL NOT behave desperately.

However, one of my children displays serious addictive-style behaviour when it comes to computer games. He has been known to play for 16 hours a day. He has trouble sleeping on such days (he's noticed this himself) and his solution is to get up at 1 a.m. and play more. He skips meals. He avoids exercise, family activities and out-of-home activities. His behaviour deteriorates. His relationships with his siblings suffers. He lies about how long he's been on the computer to avoid alloting anyone else their share of time.


I've worked with him many different ways trying to help him find the tools he needs to self-regulate. We're no further along. Yesterday he missed breakfast, had lunch at 3 pm, took a pass on a playdate request, decided not to come sledding with the rest of the family, argued over relinquishing the computer with all three of his sisters, and opted not to come to the gym.

We have unlimited video games and TV. I really have no problem with the video games esp. with my older kids as they have learned so much from them and are very interactive. My 14 yo is a delight to be around (most of the time!) and also spends a great deal of time playing Halo 2, Gears of War and the like. 11 yo too. My little ones, however, like to watch Disney Channel all day long.

I don't believe that 8 hours a day in front of a flickering screen has as much value as,say reading, taking a walk, interacting with another human, grocery shopping...etc.

Reply to the above quote:

Probably 75% of the time, when my boys are playing video games, they're doing it together or with a friend (or with me). "Gamer" doesn't equal "loner." Interacting with other human beings while playing video games is very common. Even if they aren't actually playing the game together, one frequently watches the other game and talks to them while it's happening.

I dare say that many a mama on these boards spends a fair amount of time in front of their screens. A lot of games require strategy and reading....they aren't all like Mario Bros. Many also require interacting with other people in an online forum.

 

[lesbolution]

The safety of all these children concerns me. one of these moms is going to let their kid do some retarded shit like jump off a roof or go hiking by themselves for "learning experience".