Unschooling High Schoolers

[Stacie K]

How many of you out there are unschooling kids who are technically high schoolers? I was just wondering what it looks like day to day? Most of the unschooling blogs I read have little kids. I'd love to hear stories or read blogs about the day to day lives of unschooling teenagers.

My son is 12. Unschooling is actually the easiest this year than any other year. But I imagine that is because I trust unschooling more than ever, and I trust my son.

 

[Sandra Dodd]

I've collected stories over the years.  When my kids were teens (14, 15, 16, respectively) they were offered jobs, so they were partly out with people doing real things.  Not every family is so lucky, I know.  Because my kids were alreayd out with other people, through family activities or gaming (Pokemon and role playing things), there were adults who knew them.

 

http://sandradodd.com/teen

http://sandradodd.com/teens

 

 

[Meredith]

There's a group called: "got teens?"  if you want to check that out. 

My stepson just turned 18 - no longer under the theoretical yoke of mandatory school attendance. His last four years have alternated between being busy and taking it easy - working, going to shows and events, spending time with friends and on the internet. We did a lot of driving for awhile, until he became the master of arranging transportation he is now - he doesn't drive for the most part. 

If you like blogs, here are some from parents of teen and grown unschoolers:

http://sandradodd.blogspot.com/

https://sites.google.com/site/dragonflykaizen/unschooling-1

http://zenmommasgarden.blogspot.com/

http://radicalunschooling.blogspot.com/

http://cockingasnook.wordpress.com/

http://sssmommy.blogspot.com/

 

http://yes-i-can-write.blogspot.com/

 

[Sue Patterson]

We unschooled through the teen years. My kids are now 17, 20, 22.  Someone asked if'/how we used the community so I wrote something in my blog.  (which isn't all about unschooling or teens or anything, but it's there.) 

http://suepatterson.blogspot.com/2011/09/out-and-about.html

 

And there's another story about teens, sleep and unschooling at the NHEN site. (There's a section there on teens too)

http://www.nhen.org/teens/sleep-schedules.html

http://www.nhen.org/teens/teens.html

 

Have fun! It goes by quickly!

[Frank Maier]

Meredith already noted my wife's site (dragonflykaizen) which has some links, some of which are to her blog (http://zombieprincess.blogspot.com) where she has chronicled a lot of our life with our teens. For the record, our girls are now 19 and 17-1/2.

[Kelly Ireland]

I find this really interesting too - mainly because I am getting hassled by family to put my 10 year old daughter into school so she can have a "proper" education, as apparently she will be too old for the unschool nonsense and needs some real world experience :D 

 

It's handy to have some life experiences of others to draw on for a bit of moral support.

 

My daughter has made noises about needing to know more for future exams, and we're having a think about this together, but any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.

 

Kelly

[Meredith]

Which exams? Big ones? There are practice tests. Taking practice tests is a fairly standard means of getting ready for any kind of big test - from driving tests to tests for major degrees. Depending on the specific test, it can be helpful to learn some skills specific to the test - like, for a driving test you might want to practice skills you don't regularly employ, like a 3-point turn, or for the SAT you need a different strategy for the multiple-choice section than most other tests because of the way its scored - but you learn which skills by doing a practice run. Taking tests in general is a specific skill-set different from other skills, but its not hard to learn, and she may not need to learn anything special at all.

[homemadeus]

Heh, your 10 year old is worried about "future exams". Sounds like someone put a bug in her ear,lol.

My local library has ACT/SAT test help and books on test prep and improving study skills. You might try your library or order a book for your daughter if she is interested.

I showed my elementary age kids an old state assessment test to let them see what it is like. Just so they know what to expect if they ever need to take one. We live in Texas now, so we don't do testing. They had no interest in actually taking it, but were interested in seeing what other kids their age do.

Kelly Ireland said:

I find this really interesting too - mainly because I am getting hassled by family to put my 10 year old daughter into school so she can have a "proper" education, as apparently she will be too old for the unschool nonsense and needs some real world experience :D 

 

It's handy to have some life experiences of others to draw on for a bit of moral support.

 

My daughter has made noises about needing to know more for future exams, and we're having a think about this together, but any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.

 

Kelly

[homemadeus]

Thank you for bringing this up. I have no advice, being in the same situation. My oldest is 11 and getting to the pre-teen, upper school level also. It is different, but i agree it seems easier. I think the main difference I notice is the rest of society starting to give my son more credit as a real thinking person. It allows me to give him the freedom that he deserves, without the criticism that I got when he was younger.

I love reading the BTDT replies. In real life, I feel like we blazing the path. It's nice to see others who are in the same place or have done it and flourished.

[Sue Patterson]

Sometimes asking about testing is really asking about "am I smart enough?" So, for me, I'd just go online and find one of the SAT tests that you can take for practice. One of the things we did before my son took the entrance exam for the community college was he signed up at the the Number 2 Pencil website. I liked it because it gave immediate feedback. It would make a guess at why you might have chosen the wrong answer, and nudge you into the correct direction. We didn't do it a lot, but it seemed better than sitting there for a while taking stabs at answers you don't really know.

But if they're really doubting their abilities, then you should focus on what they CAN do, and ask them what they'd like to be able to do?  Michael really felt like he was behind his peers, because he'd hear a lot of them talking about algebra etc. Yet when he went to community college, he was IMMEDIATELY reassured that he was just fine. He could read the material, listen in class, and do great on the tests. Plus, the teachers loved him since he was genuinely interested in learning. Even Katie, who ended up not choosing the academic route, enjoyed learning, found the teachers interesting, and was surprised at how many students did worse than her, even though they had sat through 12 years of regular schooling. Alyssa's experience was different because in the middle of her teen years, she decided she wanted to go to school. She had not done any prep for it at all. Still, she got all A's and B's while she was there. I helped her a lot in homework for the first year, because it was a kind of steep learning curve. She wished she had done a little more prior to the school experience, but she was never interested at all before that. So, her response would probably be to your child, if you think you might try school at some point, you might want to brush up on your spelling and quick math facts. Those were things that kind of embarrassed her from time to time. But it doesn't take long to get that. Most of what she did was on a calculator, so it didn't really impact her grades. It was just always taking her aback when someone could spit out simple math facts from memory. Or if she misspelled simple everyday words. She simply hadn't done that before, or she had relied really heavily on the spellcheck.

[Dawne Morgan]

Hello~ I am new to this site, but have been around the block so to speak concerning unschooling. Three of my four kids unschooled for high school, or as my oldest son who just 'graduated' from unschool to college calls it "free range teens" Currently only my 18 year old son is unschooling, though my youngest son (16) who attends a local public high begs me daily to set him free...

[Meredith]

So why don't you?

[Dawne Morgan]

Have to secure a game plan... I work two jobs and go to school full time, and have learned from them (two oldest) that while having freedom to learn and grow is most desirable, they don't like chaos, and require some guidance, "otherwise it gets crazy" to quote them, which I agree with. Freedom is a misnomer, at first glance you think free, do what ever, but no, freedom requires discipline, commitment and responsibility. Anything worth doing, is worth doing your best. We have a really strong community of unschoolers around us, as well as community support for these endeavors, so jumping in when we're ready will be effortless ;)

Meredith said:

So why don't you?