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["Lisa K.V. Perry" <lisakvperry AT gmail.com>]

On 11/25/06, Marie McHarry <mmcharry AT gmail.com> wrote:
> Outlawing standardized tests of all kinds would be a good start....
>
> I have the feeling that the unschoolers -- and I personally have a
> great deal of sympathy for them until they begin to wax messianic --
> don't give a damn about all the kids . It's important to save your own
> kids, but if you don't speak up for all kids, your efforts may not
> amount to much.


We still struggle with our decision to let our oldest son, Spencer, attend
high school. This is his second semester and we still have weeks where we
want to go back to home schooling. He enrolled last January 06 as a second
semester Sophomore. He's doing well, overall, but we can't stand the VA
SOL's (Standards of Learning) and other bureaucratic crap. Took us months to
get used to living with an alarm clock again. Our homeschool and work days
used to begin at 9:00 a.m. The worst thing, from an academic standpoint, is
his Chemistry class has 28 students. Spencer makes the best of it by sitting
near the front, usually on a counter on the side of the classroom with a
couple other students, and often answers questions--the teacher is enjoying
his presence (so he says). His Alg. II class has just 13 kids (yeah!) so he
has plenty of one-on-one time with the teacher when he needs it. Spencer
missed out on fall semester Driver's Ed, so we will have to teach him at
home with a program next spring.

I've met many bright unschoolers over the years, but we have often referred
to some (not all) we've met as "no schoolers" because they don't appear to
do any school work. Our youngest son is friends with an unschooled brother
and sister, the boy is 13 and struggles to read and do basic math. My son is
frustrated that their school work is done by or before noon, he occasionally
asks why he does math every day and his friend does not. Then we remind him
that he reads well and is slightly ahead in math. And when he's all done he
can still go play outside and be a boy--usually a couple hours ahead of
those in p.s.

Lisa