Salon.com Article on Home-Schooler (really Unschooler) Goes to College...

[umsami]

OK, I posted this in the main homeschooling forum, but thought I'd repost here--as the girl in the article was unschooled. :)

http://life.salon.com/2011/10/12/a_home_schooler_goes_to_college/

"These people have no idea how unschooling works.

And it’s hard for me to explain it to them. Because unschooling, for me, worked a lot like living. It wasn’t a dramatic political statement about our broken society. My parents decided not to send me to school because they liked hanging out with me. It sounds too simple. Were they radical anarchists or free-love types? Nope. They were just two brave people who believed that kids are naturally smart, and will naturally learn the things people need to learn to get by. As a result I am very polite and pretty bad at math. My parents were entrepreneurs. They were running their own business when I was born. They thought they could probably make it work. They didn’t think they were smarter than other people; they just trusted themselves to figure it out...."

[moominmamma]

What a well-crafted article for a general audience! Thanks for sharing!

Miranda

[Luckiestgirl]

Thanks for sharing this!

[momofmine]

Loved reading this!  Thanks for sharing!  This is how I hope my kids feel later looking back on their childhood of having been homeschooled.  I hope they have a different college experience, but I think maybe I'm naive too.

[lauriem33]

The author Kate Fridkis also has a really great blog called Skipping School. I highly recommend it!

[rumi]

It is nice to read about her experiences.  Some questions came up for me though - she says that she didn't have much idea what major to pick.  That is true for many who go from high school to college as well.   Still readers may be left wondering how well an unschooler will be prepared for college if they are seeking a career path, and college is part of that path. 

Actually I was interested in everything when I went to college too, so perhaps my choice of major was just as arbitrary and definitely not career-oriented - that didn't set in for me till later and then I had to get a Master's to be qualified.