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Unschooling Documentary

post #1 of 32
9/15/10 at 1:10pm
Thread Starter 
Check it out. http://vimeo.com/14975153
What do you think?
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post #2 of 32
9/15/10 at 2:58pm
I like that the professor made the reference to Rousseau--pointing out that unschooling is not a new idea. His later comments make me think that he might not really know any unschoolers, (his comments about worrying about the families hsing in isolation and without any guidance, specifically.) He also made a comment that led me to believe that he'd rather reform schools so that more kids would attend, rather than being okay with kids not attending. Still, his comments (or the editing!) were overall positive.

I would have liked to see the issue of college addressed by someone with kids who were older. The mother who spoke to that was right-on, but it would have been more credible from someone who had btdt (I think her kids were 7 and 9 or something?)

But, for a short intro to the idea homeschooling, I thought it was good.
post #3 of 32
9/15/10 at 6:28pm
subbing to view later.
post #4 of 32
9/15/10 at 7:11pm
Thread Starter 
That mom was me. I unschooled, but got a diploma through Clonlara.
post #5 of 32
9/15/10 at 9:58pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by annakiss View Post
That mom was me. I unschooled, but got a diploma through Clonlara.
Ha! Well, I'll amend that then and say that they should have included that the MOM herself had unschooled (or was that included and I missed it?)
post #6 of 32
9/16/10 at 2:50am
Neat-o! I am just happy to see something like this video out there.

Anna Kiss, way cool to "see" you and your boys!!
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post #7 of 32
9/16/10 at 11:31am
LOVED it! Thanks!

I don't think the professor was being ignorant, I think he was speaking about immersion in our culture (whatever that may be for each) as being an important part of unschooling/homeschooling, and that living in isolation without any chance to be exposed to our culture would be limiting. That was my take anyway.
post #8 of 32
9/16/10 at 2:12pm
Thread Starter 
I mentioned in my interview that I read The Teenage Liberation Handbook when I was 15 and that it fundamentally changed my life, but I think the part saying I dropped out to unschool was left out. Not sure if it was pertinent.

My sister made this film and she has hopes to seek funding to turn it into a full-length feature.

The professor was there for the other side of the argument, essentially, so he was sort of allowing for unschooling, in a way, but interjecting his own ideas. He was there to be an "expert."
post #9 of 32
9/16/10 at 4:04pm
That was great, your sister did a nice job and so did you and the other interviewees. Cute haircut too!
post #10 of 32
9/16/10 at 5:44pm
I love your sentence about " giving them the world instead of breaking it down into worksheets..."
post #11 of 32
9/16/10 at 6:51pm
I love the animation of the chair falling and the kid flying up.

I found the sound too low. In any case I couldn't hear much with the kids around me. I will need to use headphones, or watch it at night. From what I got, I really liked it. One not really relevant part that bugged me a bit was that all interviewed were shot from the same angle--this kind of stood out for me and felt awkward, but probably because I couldn't hear everything they were saying

I think that the fact that the professor wasn't 100% supportive of unschooling (I gather from the comments above) makes the film more dynamic. Everything that he was saying seemed to have been nicely countered by the unschoolers featured.

What a great project for a film workshop!
post #12 of 32
9/16/10 at 8:00pm
subbing!
post #13 of 32
9/17/10 at 11:41pm
That.....was simply fantastic! Thanks so much for sharing. Anna - you were awesome. Loved it, loved it.
post #14 of 32
9/20/10 at 12:29am
Glad that you are doing this and hats off to your sister. Alas, I could not view it - maybe due to poor connection. I tried to let it fully load before pressing play but that was not working either - it still kept stopping. i will try again. but i thought i would let you know in case something could be done.
post #15 of 32
9/20/10 at 1:37am
Subbing to watch later, thanks for sharing!
post #16 of 32
9/20/10 at 10:52am
I thought it was good!

I am not sure I agree with the father interviewed that it is my job to place resources related to interests, at least not to the degree he seemed to take it.

Ex - he said his daughter was interested in vampires, so it is his job to find vampire related stuff (even grammar) and place it in her way. I think a little too much of this can be a turn-off. If my DD were interested in vampires, I would not try to turn it into a grammar lesson. I would go so far as to say trying to introduce grammar to Twilight (unless the child specifically asked) is not USing - or at least it was not an USing moment, lol.

I thought the interview was blessedly without interviewers asking children trick questions - and I loved that!
post #17 of 32
9/20/10 at 1:09pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by kathymuggle View Post
I am not sure I agree with the father interviewed that it is my job to place resources related to interests, at least not to the degree he seemed to take it.

Ex - he said his daughter was interested in vampires, so it is his job to find vampire related stuff (even grammar) and place it in her way. I think a little too much of this can be a turn-off. If my DD were interested in vampires, I would not try to turn it into a grammar lesson. I would go so far as to say trying to introduce grammar to Twilight (unless the child specifically asked) is not USing - or at least it was not an USing moment, lol.
I thought that too, but I think it may have been more a method to explain it and the "academic" ways in which children learn and we help them find materials than really him going out of his way to teach grammar. I took the grammar thing in particular to be a result of lots of reading rather than trying to trick her or force her into doing a grammar workbook. Perhaps she writes her own vampire stories and they talk about word use. Or maybe they discuss Stephanie Meyer's terrible writing as a good example of what not to do. lol

I think that a lot of unschooling families do what he describes or maybe it was just semantics. Maybe he intended it for an outside audience. I do in fact find other resources about the things my kids are interested in that do have to do with history and culture and all manner of other academic subjects. The difference, perhaps, is that it's all about delving further into their interests and they're free to take it or leave it.
post #18 of 32
9/20/10 at 1:36pm
post #19 of 32
9/20/10 at 6:13pm
Great video! It is encouraging and empowering!
I am starting my first "official" year of unschooling with a school board and am having a hard time filtering out people's comments and my own expectations about what my 6 year old son *should* be doing.
I think I will have to watch this video every day this year!!
It is a good reminder.
post #20 of 32
9/25/10 at 1:59pm
Loved it
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