Stupid enough to trust the government to educate their kids, I suppose.

or strange enough to expect children to educate and guide themself

nobodies that stupid

not stupid,, but imbalanced,,,,

imbalanced enough to think it can ALL be done by the parents, or ALL be done by the kids, or ALL be done by the school,,,instead of utitlizing a balance of all resources available for the better of the child(including being involved themself instead of just sitting back and allowing children to make all their own decisions,,,)

you're so right...I can just imagine how I would have turned out if raised like that, the non-school thing that is..

right, what bugs me as a parent was the lack of guidance on hygiene and the willingness to allow the influence of TELEVISION as a legitimate course of 'interest' for their kids,,

without a balance of formal education ,,,,or adult guidance

You could've been a lawyer or president! Lincoln only had 50 weeks of "formal" schooling in his life in the years 1814-1826 (and his relatives considered even that much a waste of time).

beleive me if I was raised like that I'd be living on the streets, or worse..

If I had not been a single parent I would have homeschooled my children. I believe with a dedicated parent homeschooling can be more productive than public school.

The socializing would be the only thing really missing from this type of program but this could be solved with social programs picked out by the parents.

yeah,, the technology of today would not have made Lincoln a much sought after lawyer or anything else had he only had one year of schooling.

I have an 18 year old that I pulled out of the system 2 1/2 years ago. Our intent was to home school, what ended up happening was he became "non-schooled". Not because anyone was lazy, I just work all the time. He ended up getting his diploma with a score of 97, not a GED..he earned his credits and got a diploma. He actually was ready to test out at 16, but state law said he had to be 17, it was the law that slowed him down. He spent time on his own teaching himself about computers and went and got his Microsoft certification.

He did it himself, no instruction. He was a strait A, honor roll student until he got into jr high and was bored out of his mind. He is technically a senior this year and would be graduating in a month..but he is done. He did it in less time, on his own , no stress, no pressure, no 3 hours of homework every night.

He has a group of friends that he hangs with that he has been friends with for years. he dates girls, he hasn't missed anything socially..he doesn't smoke pot, he doesn't drink..he's a good kid, he's happy and productive.

The bottom line is HE did it. A kid has to want to do good or they just won't. It can be home schooled, non schooled, public school, private school....they have to want it and he did. I don't know the stats on these alternative ways for kids to learn, I always figure I'm really lucky. He did step up with very little push from me. When I saw him stepping up, I backed off and he made good choices.

I never wanted my kids to be cookie cutters, just like all the other kids so I have sought out alternatives ways and it has worked well for us...again, maybe I'm just lucky. I don't think alternative methods of learning are such a bad thing for the right kids. It's difficult to judge this method based on one family and one news clip.

I think AGE has alot to do with it too,,


hopefully by 16 kids are fairly independent and aware of what will be necessary to do well in the world ( I graduated high school at 16 myself)


quite different than a child of nine or ten, completing their education on their own...

Ah, but that's an entirely different discussion. Unschooling, for the purposes of this discussion, is guided by the parent/guardian.

I don't know..I've been able to reason with my boys since they were very young. I just talk to them, communication, really not so hard. I feel sometimes we underestimate these kids...

that sounds like home schooling to me, and I respect that

my OP, however, contained a link to a specific familys approach which was completely hands off ,,,,,(insanity , in my opinion)

oh, I am sure. I am sure you and I and countless others were and have had reasonable children,,but my point is that they are still 'children', without the same facilities as an adult and therefore in need of some adult to guide them towards 'adulthood'.

Even communicating is a form of guidance that is preferable to the 'we let them do whatever interests them' approach.

eh, I've always just felt very fortunate with my boys. I'm sure this family communicates..like I said, it's hard to make a judgment on this family with limited information. I don't think the clip really gives us all the details. If these kids are healthy, happy, staying out of trouble and know their loved..well that gives them more than many kids.

I agree healthy happy children are important,, but I believe parents are in a childs life to do SOMETHING to help them, not to just observe and cheerlead them on. Perhaps much was left out of the piece, but the little bit the parents SAID certainly SEEMED like they were the type that believe kids can raise themselves.

I can only speak for myself, but if I had been un-schooled as these kids are...i'd have spent my days playing video games, riding my bike and not really caring about learning what I need to learn. I'd have only worried about having fun. I probly wouldn't have even bothered learning how to read cuz I would have decided it was too much of a chore.

first, i'll qualify by saying that i did NOT visit the link...however, i have a bit of knowledge as to "unschooling". it does NOT mean a lack of education.

unschooling is a philosophy that includes letting a child learn what their natural curiosities lead them to. a child is interested in the past? hit the museums and dig up some dirt. they like animals? take them to the zoo, on a hike, in the forest...hands on with dirt and animals and nature.

they like music? concerts. art? museums and painting classes. english? theater and writing...

they write on what they learn...they explore the world around them.

the kids i've known that have grown up this way have very involved parents and are quite well-developed.