Natural Learning – learning without school
To start the post off I would love if you could watch this little video.
Children learn naturally. It’s as simple as that.
As a society we’ve accepted this to some extent – children are born and we expect (and know) that without too much help along children will learn to speak, they will learn sentences and the language of their parents. Their vocabulary will grow regardless of whether you sit with them and show them flash cards.
“They’re sponges” we exclaim to each other “It’s just amazing the things they can learn!”
By the time a child is Priya’s age they’re bursting with knowledge, opinions and ideas but then suddenly – something changes.
Your child is school age.
Yep, suddenly a kid stops being a sponge and starts being a jug – ready to have their education tipped right in.
Social conditioning expects that a child’s education cannot continue at home.
These amazing years of natural learning are expected to be required to end.
But, I have a question for you.
What if they didn’t?
What if instead of being taken to a classroom at four years old a child continued on as they had been, playing, learning naturally and enjoying their childhood’s?
Well, they just might grow up to be an articulate, educated, incredible woman like this grown unschooled woman - Leigh from Marvelous Kiddo. Now, I bet you’re thinking – Well, that’s all very nice in theory but how are they supposed to get into college to become a doctor and support you into your old age when they haven’t finished school?!
It’s true, there are some occupations that do require a degree or a certification of study (even though these days it is becoming much LESS important to have that piece of paper).
The fact is that if your child grows up and decides they want to be a rocket scientist – they can go on a path of adult study. You do not have to have been to or finish school to start higher education – In fact Stanford University accepts a higher percentage of homeschool applications than they do of school leavers (they also say they have found some of the highest ‘intellectual vitality’ amongst homeschooled students’). I myself did not finish high school and went on to study and excel at higher education.
I am never surprised when I find out the most successful and vibrant people I know have an unconventional educational background.
Here is just a few of the people who didn’t complete their ‘education’:
Quentin Tarantino, Drew Barrymore, Julie Andrews, Vincent Van Gogh, Sophia Loren, Jude Law, Errol Flynn, William Shakespeare, George Bernard Shaw, Richard Branson, Eric Clapton, Aretha Franklin, Jay-Z, Macy Gray, Natalie Merchant, Diana Princess of Wales, Ronald Regan, Ben Affleck, Steve Jobs & Bill Gates
Here’s also a list of people who were (for at least some or all of their schooling) educated at home:
Monet, Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrant, Serena & Venus Williams, C.S Lewis, Beatrix Potter, Hans Christian Anderson, Louisa May Alcott, Mark Twain, Agatha Christie, Virginia Woolf, Mozart, Whoopi Goldberg, Justin Timberlake, Louis Armstrong, Thomas Edison, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Winston Churchhill and Albert Einstein.
Now all of this is to say that you can be educated and successful without conforming to mainstream expectations.
The truth is that through play, through interacting with adults, friends and the world around them; children learn. Not only do they learn but they WANT to learn and they learn genuinely. You can hand a child all the information or advice in the world it won’t mean a thing unless they really understand it, unless it’s real to them. What better way to do that than actually experience it themselves! I want my children to have the space and support to find what they love and to do it well.
If you have the time and are after some evidence of children teaching themselves – The following video is 17 minutes long and it’s an absolutely fascinating look at what happened in India when street children were left to teach themselves.
Hi Georgia. I find this subject very interesting. However I don’t know if I necessarily have it in me to give the time and attention that my kids would need to give them the education that they would require. As much as I love my children I think the reality is that I lack the patience and skill required to do this. However I am sure that your posts will inspire me to take more of an active roll with the kids to continue to educate them outside of school instead of just leaving the majority of it up to them. In any case that will be a good thing and you never know where it will lead from there. So thank you for your posts.
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Isaac Reply:
November 16th, 2011 at 8:25 am
That was exactly the thoughts of my own wife in the transition she went from traditional education to unschooling (initially she was against it completely). As time has gone on (about 2 years) she has come to realize that it isn’t so much what we DO to educate our kids, but rather what we don’t do. At least for us, the priority is letting our kids play and learn as they please (which they do voraciously) and by simply not sending them to school and doing nothing more, we really feel we’ve given them such a leg up.
Initially she felt like she had to have a curriculum, worksheets, time allotted, grades etc and the stress of this overwhelmed her (and me). But over time and as she saw how our kids could direct their own learning quite well, she relaxed and realized how self-motivated they are to learn on their own (they are 6 and 3 years old).
So believe me when I say that I understand the overwhelming feeling. But don’t think of it as transitioning the workload from school to you, think of it as transitioning the workload of school completely off your child and yourself.
In all honesty I can say that if all you ever did to ‘unschool’ your child was to take them to a park every now and then and encourage them in whatever interests they had, they would come out vastly ahead of their peers in every aspect of education.
This is just my opinion from knowing how I learn (and learned) and watching my two kids… Whatever you do, your kids will be wonderful!
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Wonderful post and in absolute full agreement with your view. Watch this address by the awesome Astra Taylor http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwIyy1Fi-4Q – very inspiring.
Love you blog and your beautiful photographs!
Lilly x
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LOVE the first video! And I will get to and watch the second one you posted when I have time to sit and concentrate.
). In California, where my hubs is from, it’s also virtually impossible. Here in Australia, I think it’s more likely that you can get further without a degree but people are still looking for ‘pieces of paper’ stating you can do the work. I think its sad and unfortunate but in this economical job competitive climate, ‘degrees’ are helping people get jobs that never required one before. This is my personal opinion based on my own experience. *sigh* you’ll probably be sick of me and blocking my comments by the end of this series!
I want to add that everyone is talking about schooling kids at home at the moment and are really putting a bug in my ear. It’s hard for me and something I wish I could put off deciding how to do forever but as evidenced by how fast this last 12 months has flown by, I can’t really do that!
I’m interested in your comment:
{It’s true, there are some occupations that do require a degree or a certification of study (even though these days it is becoming much LESS important to have that piece of paper).}
I find the opposite to be true. In fact, NOT having a degree is one of the big factors to my husband and I returning from China. There is simply no way to get a respectable job there without one (unless you want to be like a few of our friends who went the Thailand route and got fake degrees
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Georgia Reply:
November 16th, 2011 at 8:39 am
I certainly will NOT be blocking your comments – I love hearing everyone’s perspective. I agree that in some countries a degree or certification is a must – especially those like China and the Philippines (where I know you need a degree to even work at MacDonalds). In Australia though, my experience is that some jobs that once required a degree no longer do and that it is not as expected that a graduating school student will go right on to University to get a degree. More and more people are realising they can be successful in some fields without them.
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Georgia Reply:
November 16th, 2011 at 9:55 pm
Rachel – I am interested to know what you were doing in China? Did your purpose there change midway and that’s why you suddenly needed a degree? Are you currently studying now?
Errol and I would like to work overseas and neither of us have degrees
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Rachel Reply:
November 16th, 2011 at 10:15 pm
We were doing a few things, mostly that centered around working with a children’s home so we were volunteers. Originally, we went in on full-time student visas sponsored by a university. Then once we had a baby, we went back to China because we understood my hubby could attend school and we could come under his visa. Well, we could BUT the school forgot to tell us we needed a bunch of things authenticated which can only be done from Australia. So we had to come back again. However, we were already considering coming back because we didn’t want to stay students forever (students don’t make any money and money is necessary for living!) and our TEFAL/TESOL certificates mean’t nothing unless we wanted to work for private companies. The main issue with private English teaching companies (in China) is alot of them are illegal or can’t sponsor visas AND they work insane hours. We considered this and realised that if we continue wanting to work for non-profits and in the tourism industry, we needed to do something. Hubs is in the process of applying for permanent residency in Australia so he can qualify for gov. help for study here (he is looking at doing Business). I’m going to mum for the time being but eventually want to take some courses in photography and possibly writing so I can offer my services to non-profits or the like. Working overseas with degrees can be done, but its the legal side of things you have to be aware of. You really, really have to know what you’re getting into and it depends on the country too. It’s really worth it. If you guys want to consider volunteering, here’s a website that I’m thinking I’d love to do someday! http://www.wwoof.org/
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Have you been to this blog? http://www.feedingthesoil.com/ She is a Montessori teacher in the US and often blogs about natural learning and shares other articles by other people too. Just thought you might find it interesting!
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Georgia Reply:
November 16th, 2011 at 9:59 pm
No, I hadn’t. Thanks for the link.
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My parents run a tutoring business in our home in Sydney and teach over 100 kids a week. They used to be public school teachers but left the system after years of dissatisfaction. My brother and I went to very good schools which we were mostly happy with (and i’ll always be grateful for the opportunities my schools gave me that i would have missed out on had I been homeschooled) but my parents tutor kids every day who have simply fallen through the cracks at school because the teachers are too overworked, the classes are too big or they are being taught with a curriculum that is too generic and not suited to their learning style. Some kids really do respond well to a school environment and find it benefits them socially. Other kids simply get lost in a classroom and are left years behind by the time anyone notices. It’s a case by case thing, it depends on the child’s learning style, no one way is better than the other. JHMO
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Hi Georgia! I have enjoyed your blog for a while now (love the photos and Film Fridays! and truly wished I could have been a part of your breastfeeding photos project, but I live in the US) and I’m finally commenting. You and your family live such a beautiful life and I admire your honesty about the challenges, but also your desire to find the positivity and wonder in these years with your small children. I have a 16 month old son (and we are trying for more!) and my husband and I have what seems to be EXACTLY the same philosophy as you and Errol about education. I am LOVING these posts as we are currently undergoing the same process of thinking about how we want our kids to grow up and we truly believe that the best way to achieve those goals is through home education. It is so incredibly unfortunate that our school system is such a mess and completely strips children of their creativity and natural desire to learn. We live in the state of New York and it’s interesting to hear that you believe it to be the same where you live. Maybe you’ve seen it, but you should check out this talk by Sir Ken Robinson: http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_changing_education_paradigms.html. Ironically, I was introduced to this video during a professional development day when I used to be a teacher. I’m not sure why it was shared with us, considering the construct of our school did not allow for any change to work towards his ideas! I’ve been toying with the idea of starting a blog to begin to chronicle our home learning adventures, but have yet to work out the details. I’d like it to become a resource for others and inspire others to recognize the innate desire to learn that our children have. If I ever get it going, maybe you could contribute or post! It could be a fun project, tying home education together in different countries!
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I was homeschooled till I was 10. Wouldn’t of had it any other way
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I read your blog often, but have never commented before.
I believe that homeschooling, unschooling and associated movements need to be given more attention, and can be incredibly successful, and rewarding for all involved.
What you haven’t addressed is the possibility of children who don’t respond to that learning environment. I tried to homeschool my son, and it just didn’t work for us, for many reasons. In the end, he does best in the structured environment that is his public school. His sisters do best at home with me. And that’s ok…. it’s ok for us to have tried and not succeeded, and it’s ok for him to be in a mainstream education system. I have found that people who are zealously ‘anti-mainstream education’ are not understanding of what works for our family, and have said some very hurtful things about me and my son being failures, with little thought to the impact of their words, or the closed-mindedness of their views.
There’s also little understanding for the fact that in this day and age, many families need to have both parents working to make ends meet. I have many friends who’d like to be privileged enough to be able to stay home with their children, but it is just not financially viable for them. This is ok too.
I think people fail to look at an issue from all sides.
I also need to point out that your second list is formulated with no regard to cultural and period norms. For most of the people in that list born earlier than WWII, being educated at home meant in-home tutors or a governer/ess, who would provide a learning environment as strict and rigid (often moreso) as that found in a school. I don’t think you can logically compare their ‘homeschooling’ to the homeschooling that exists today.
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Georgia Reply:
November 16th, 2011 at 9:14 am
Thanks for your comment Kate! I agree with you that not all children respond to the same learning environments and that every family should do what works for them. This is simply a list of what we have decided for OUR family and why we came to that decision.
We need two incomes ourselves and because of that – I have created myself a business that can provide me an income while being at home with my children. I am currently at business school and I know a lot of women are creating themselves a source of income that allows them to work flexible hours around their children. My parents did the same when I was growing up – they ran a jewellery business which meant they were BOTH able to have flexible hours and be at home with us. Of course, I understand that not everyone is entrepreneurial or business minded but I know many families (mine growing up included) who needed two incomes and had the desire to school their children at home and were able to make that work. It’s not easy by any means, but it’s certainly possible.
The list I am aware includes people who had tutors or governesses at home and while this is different from unschooling I would definitely include it as homeschooling. I don’t believe that homeschooling necessarily looks unstructured for everyone. As you said, I think it really has to work to suit that family. Being taught at home by a handful of people devoted to one student compared to a classroom teacher ration of 30:1 are completely different things. For example (and this is going off memory), Virginia Woolf is on that list, educated at home prior to WWII by her parents and tutors. I would still count that as being homeschooled and I would still attribute that one on one attention to her successes (especially considering her delicate emotional state). We would employ tutors for our children if they have an area of study they want to pursue that we cannot support them in.
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Although I intend on putting Eva through formal schooling, I do believe that parents shouldn’t leave it solely up to education system to teach their children. I believe in early intervention and providing children with as many opportunities to explore, create and learn from a young age.
I’d love to see some of the activities and learning experiences that you have created for your children as I’m always looking for inspiration : )
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Thank you, very well said.
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Hi Georgia,
Thank you so much for writing about your decision to homeschool! I’m very much looking forward to reading the rest of your posts on this
An anectodal story: When I was 10 years old I was quite unhappy in school – the work wasn’t rewarding or challenging, and socially I was struggling and sad. Seeing this, my mum gave me and my brother (2 years younger) the option to be homeschooled. So from 11-13 I was taught at home by my parents — my mum full time, and my dad a couple of half days a week. Like you, my mum had studied education at university, and my dad is a college teacher.
I’m 26 now, and pursuing a PhD in biology, and still a day doesn’t go by that I am not incredibly grateful for and amazed at my parents’ decision to homeschool us. The amount of time my mum devoted every summer to developing learning activities and then the rest of the year teaching us everyday was nothing short of incredible, to me at least.
Years later, I see that the facts, the material, that my parents used to teach us weren’t all that important — what we really learned was *how to learn*, and how to enjoy learning. It is truly the greatest gift my parents have given me.
I’m sure that even if your little ones eventually want to explore the possibility of formal schooling, what you can give them at home will be equally valuable regardless
Alison
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Dear Georgia,
I’ve been a follower of your blog for sometime (and a proud participant in your breastfeeding project!). I’ve never felt compelled to make comments on anything online before, so I wanted to say thank you for two such lovely posts on your education choices for your children (and all the other posts you have created so beautifully).
Whilst all my memories of my schooling (public primary school, private high school) and post graduate university studies) were nothing but positive, I am mindful that they were a good ‘fit’ for my personality. On the other hand, I am very much aware that that same pathway might not be so for my 3 children. Certainly, I have been progressively disappointed by the trend to put younger, and younger children into formal ‘learning’ environments in my area, focusing on ‘education related’ outcomes moreso than play based learning opportunities.
I had never before considered home schooling until having children of my own, but it is certainly something that I would be interested in if it seems to be the most appropriate path for any of my children. I will be reading your future posts (and the ensuing discussion) with great interest.
Sarah
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As a teacher, I agree and disagree with you. I wouldn’t throw the baby out with the bath water by labeling school a complete waste of time. And for your list of the “successful” people without a degree or completion of formal education, I challenge you to compile a list of all the “unsuccessful” people without a formal education. Statistically those with higher education make more money in their life time. Bottom line is that there are other factors that make people successful, and more often than not those who have become disciplined through their formal education have the skill set that drives their success versus those who have not. I also question how one individual can assume the responsiblity of educating their children in all subject areas. Impossible. I have a special credential and years of experience that have gotten me to where I am in my subject area (and yes, in California you do have to get credentialed…not just anyone can do it!). What you are probably objecting to is the politics behind the crap we have to teach kids. THAT is the problem. And learning should never stop at school. As a teacher and mother, learning is all day every day for my boys. I’m still learning.
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Han Reply:
November 16th, 2011 at 9:02 pm
Great point! It’s hard to imagine one person could be qualified to teach all subject areas. But that’s what’s happening in our schools. At least in primary school, children generally have the same teacher educating them in maths, science, English, the arts and physical education. Occasionally they will get a specialized teacher but it doesn’t always garauntee all the children taught by the specialist will do any better. Usually children do not find what they are interested in or passionate about till they are well into their teens and by then these children usually need to attend extra curricular activities to really focus on that interest. Then if they are really committed they might think about higher education. I guess the beauty of homeschoooling is that kids can find and EXPLORE their interests from a very early age and begin taking steps to follow their passions from a much earlier age. And then higher education, if they want it, is just as easy to enter after being homeschooled as it is for their schooled peers. Many universities prefer homeschooled students because of their intellectual maturity. There are just so many children who are left behind in schooling systems that it is imperative for people to start looking at other options. As far as homeschooled success goes, in over 700 comparative studies, ALL homeschooled children consistently travelled on par with, but more often above, their schooled peers. I think that if school works for a family then that’s great! And it does work for lots of kids. But I think it’s also useful for parents to hear the research and opinions behind home learning too. If nothing else, just the opportunity for parents to make informed choices about their children’s education is a huge benefit for all kids!!
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Great post G!! Couldn’t agree more!
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[...] read on to the next posts in our series Natural Learning, Why school isn’t the best place for my [...]
Hi G! Love this post. In my degree (early childhood education) we look so much at the philosophy in early childhood education and how important learning through play, collaboration etc is. We are encouraged to see all children as competent learners and in all our lesson planning etc we refer to philosophers and integrate all subject areas into learning experiences rather than simply ‘teaching writing’ or ‘teaching maths’.
BUT the students studying straight primary school education don’t look at all at the importance of play! How is it that the education system can overlook play after the child leaves year 3 (8 years old). Its terribly sad. The curriculum guides for the early childhood education (EYCG, ELF) support natural learning but then when we move the Australian Curriculum and the QLD Essential learnings even for the prep/foundation year (5yo) doesn’t cover anything about play!
In saying that – there is parts about investigative learning though. And we’ve all been taught by spectacular teachers who inspired us to be active learners.
PS I still have two years left but rest assured I will be teaching competent learners who explore their own interests and learn through experiences, books, technology, interaction with others, exploration of the world around them and any other way to inspire life long learners! I’m going to read the rest of the posts now too!
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