Saturday, November 19, 2005

Definition of Radical Christian Unschooling

Someone posted this fabulous definition on the Radical Christian Unschooling yahoo group I belong to, and I thought I'd share since not everyone who reads this blog is familiar with the idea.

"Radical Unschooling is the Trust that a child will seek out and learn what he needs to know, when he needs to know it, without coercion, without school or school type methods, in the freedom and safety of his family. Our role as parents is to facilitate and make available our time, space, money, and lives to helping them explore the world.

Radical Christian Unschooling is the Trust that not only will a child seek out and learn what he needs to know when he needs to know it, without coercion, without school or school type methods, in the freedom and safety of his family, but that God will direct the child's path Himself. Our role as parents is to act as guides and mentors in the learning process, and to disciple our children in our Faith through our daily example of walking out our faith before their eyes."

--Susan McGlohn

5 comments:

Alina said...

Hi.
Got here by randomness.

I do not mean any offense, I'm genuinely curious and skeptical about this idea.

What do kids show interest in knowing? Does this not promote ignorance in some level?

Tracy said...

Hi Alina,

My son showed an interest in learning how to read when he was about four because he wanted to participate in the library reading program. He is now almost eight and is actively pursuing legible writing and spelling because he wants to write his own stories and comics. He has picked up the basics of math and logic because he is interested in writing computer games and making robots. He knows a lot about American and world history because he enjoys stories about people like George Washington, John Paul Jones, Julius Ceasar and Alexander the Great. (Actually he likes stories about fighting and intrigue.( : ])

I'm sure by the time he is all grown up he will still be ignorant on many subjects but he will have a good understanding of and, hopefully, strong skills in the subjects that he is interested and talented in. And he will always be able to teach himself about anything subject where he finds himself lacking.

I was skeptical myself when we first started but all I have seen is success and joy in learning and that's a good thing. ( : ]

Anonymous said...

That is wonderful how you started to unschool. My son is also interested in Robots but I am not sure what the best way to go about it for his age... Do you have any ideas for a 6 year old? I don't want to overwhelm him but he seems to be similar to your son.

Wonderful posting..

Elaine

Anita Ann said...

I got here via google and that is best definition I have read!

Sparkling Adventures said...

Do you consider yourself an unschooler still?

If so, care to join our link-up of Christian unschooler blogs over at http://www.sparklingadventures.com/index.php?id=985?

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