tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15350975.post116460809488278795..comments2024-03-27T09:08:50.883-07:00Comments on Bad Mom, Good Mom: Unschoolingbadmomgoodmomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11569728075698885020noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15350975.post-1164629277188807372006-11-27T04:07:00.000-08:002006-11-27T04:07:00.000-08:00I noticed the same discrepency in the article vs. ...I noticed the same discrepency in the article vs. the slideshow. I thought the article was rather negative and one-sided. I did also notice though that one can see what one wants in the slideshow. You are observant and meticulous in your observations but I think many people would just see the child jumping or a lot of kids apparently standing around and not look beyond that to the other available information.<BR/><BR/>I think home schooling, unschooling, or constructivist education all have various good points, but tend to agree with you about the lack of diversity of opinions and approaches. Dedicating the same energy to assisting in a child's education as much as possible and encouraging further learning and experience seems to be important. <BR/><BR/>Home schooling only exposes children to one set of teachers and even the best and brightest of us cannot cover everything no matter how much we might wish to do so. Exposure to other teachers and methods will introduce children to ideas and that otherwise might never occur, and will also help children learn to deal with many different kinds of people and situtations. But parents who home-school are inherently interested in their children's growth and welfare, unlike many parents of poor-performing children (see the second article) and it is possible those children will do well because they were given the proper tools for success even in an unconventional setting. Part of me wants to say think how far they might have gone with the home-schooling as supplemental to the opportunities offered by a good school-based education, but I am aware that this is my own bias.<BR/><BR/>Your worry and comment about math points out the same shortage of experience. Most parents don't have your ability and skills and interests in math. Some of us might know someone who does and could find mentors for our children, but many could not. This is true, I am sure, for many other fields as well.<BR/><BR/>And I can go on and on, ad nauseum, turning this comment into a tirade so I think I will stop and read the second NY Times article again. <BR/><BR/>An interesting, thought-provoking post.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com