She Taught Herself at Home

"What if everything you've been told about learning isn't true?" Throughout the five years (from eighth through 12th grade) that my daughter taught herself at home, this simple question probably guided me more than any other. Mostly, that simple "what if" question led me to ask some important "what if" questions of my own. * What if our own intuition is a better guide for our children than all the expert opinions we'll ever hear? * What if all the resources ever needed for learning are...
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"What if everything you've been told about learning isn't true?" Throughout the five years (from eighth through 12th grade) that my daughter taught herself at home, this simple question probably guided me more than any other. Mostly, that simple "what if" question led me to ask some important "what if" questions of my own. * What if our own intuition is a better guide for our children than all the expert opinions we'll ever hear? * What if all the resources ever needed for learning are readily available to us all? * What if children don't need to be taught to learn? * What if children are competent to make choices about their own learning? * What if a child believes she can teach herself into a first-rate college and wants to try? * What if children can be better "socialized," at home? * What if it's okay to let children grade themselves? What if they earn all A's in the process? * What if it's okay to let kids sleep until noon and stay up until 2:00 a.m.' * What if you wonder about the value of--or the ethics of--government-run, institutionalized education for children? * What if teenagers go to college, never having had a date? * And, if you believe these things, what if everybody else says you're wrong? "She Taught Herself at Home" paints a rosy picture of homeschooling, which we prefer to call "unschooling." In fact, you won't be reading much here that says unschooling is a bad idea. Why? Because, for us, unschooling is simply wonderful. It's good for the child, it's good for the family, and it's good for society. I do want to stress, though, that education is always about an individual child. You'll want to think carefully about your own child and whether she might learn better and grow stronger outside of a public school. In this story-Jenny's and mine-you'll see that we reached a crisis before we left the public education system. Had I been more perceptive ... or more open to the idea ... or better informed, Jenny may well have benefitted from learning at home much earlier. Perhaps our experience will spare you the wasted years. Not everyone will agree with what they read here, of course. But what if they don't? This is our experience-mine and Jenny's-and it's all we have to offer. We hope that our story will be helpful-or at least thought-provoking. Perhaps it will raise some questions, generate a discussion or two, shake things up a bit. If so, that's good, because ... well... what if home, after all, is where your child can learn best?