Unschooling Rules

I have been reading Unschooling Rules by Clark Aldrich.  I am very impressed.  I found out about this book by stumbling upon a wonderful and refreshing blog 
The Daily Prep created by  Aldrich's wife, Muffy Aldrich.  I love the clarity and authenticity of her blog and her insights. 


Now, back to the book; as an educator, who has been away from university for a while, I do not have the time to read extensive articles about education and the state of affairs of our gracious profession.  I have children, I have a busy life, and I have lots of commitments.  So, I loved how Aldrich's book is full of insights that are profound and clear statements about how we need to look at education.  The premise of the book is "55 ways to unlearn what we know about schools and rediscover education".  Each rule is a big idea that warrants thinking and discussion.  


Refreshing.


Aldrich begins by stating that there are seven C's of education:  curricula, content, coaching, customization, community, credit, and care.  He then goes into more detail about each.  


Here are some of the ideas that stuck with me:

• create and use periods of reflection
• explore, then play, then add rigor
• customization is important
• feed passions and embrace excellence
• minimize the drop off

These ideas resonate with me because these are ideas I try to bring into the Challenge Centre and use in my parenting and teaching.    I will be talking about each of these ideas in further blog posts.  Today, I like:

Create and use periods of reflection:


"A critical part of the learning process is time for quiet reflection about activities - both before and after they are undertaken.  So the busier children are the less they may actually be learning." pg. 35

Aldrich states that "School Days" should have extensive down times - that is, stretches without scheduled activities and even without the context of impending homework.  

I found this very powerful.  Often, I view The Challenge Centre as a place for students just to be.  To spend time thinking, tinkering, and talking.  Almost as a break from "regular school".  This rule also brought to mind one of the pivotal parenting experiences I had with my older son.  When he was finishing  grade one, just before summer break, I told him about all the programs he was going to be doing that summer:  art camp, violin lessons, swimming lessons, Kumon Math!  We had just finished a busy year filled with school and extra tutoring and lots of enriching activities. I was in the "hyper parenting" mode of having my child involved in everything so that he would have academic success.  


My son looked at me, with tears in his eyes, and said, "Mommy, I don't want to do anything this summer.  I just want to play."  It was then that my world came crashing down and I realized how my son needed down time and reflection time. He had spent this intense school year with all these activities I had done (probably more for me than for him) and he was tired and just needed to reflect.  What did our summer look like?   Lot's of reading, building lego, playing at the park, swimming without lessons, and hanging out together.  I learned a profound lesson that summer:  periods of reflection are critical to our lives. I have taken this lesson into all of my summers with my kids and we plan for "reflection".


I hope that schools and programs and parents build reflection into their lives.  I live by it.