Nothing more than a cop-out for irresponsible parents. Kids MUST learn math, language & science in a disciplined curriculum in order to find productive employment as adults. Non-schooling is exactly as the name implies. Non is defined as none or without, thus non-schooling is no schooling with the kids doing without a real education.

I home-schooled my oldest son through middle school (he's now attending a private high school)using a combination of a prepared home school curriculum and "unschooling" experiences. Using "unschooling" alone is shortchanging your child.

Sounds like open-space school buildings.

The beauty of "unschooling" is that you learn the math, etc. through your passions.
I wish I had had the nerve to do it when my kids were little.

I am an advocate for home-schooling with a focused curriculum.

Jerry, you're making the mistake of equating 'schooling' with 'learning.' They are not the same.

I don't know about you, but I learned many things without being schooled - how to eat, walk, talk, go to the bathroom, read, do basic math, play baseball, cook, kiss, use a computer... Pretty much everything but cursive and algebra, actually.

And every job I have ever held was learned on the job, not in a school. There's nothing magical about a building full of desks that makes learning possible.

My wife and I have PhD's in education and physics, respectively. We home-school, (free-range is for chickens, which we don't eat) we provide the same education as any kid in public or private school. Anyone who writes negative comments and/or does not homeschool cannot empathize with the choice. If anyone wants to ridicule, then they should reimburse us for the taxes we pay to send their kids to school.
Thank you for posting this.
MM

Don't you think that the headline "Free Range Schooling" brings frantic chickens to mind? Perhaps alternative terminology would better express the main idea of your blog post. We are talking about children - students, in fact - not Rhode Island Reds. This headline is, in my opinion, anti-homeschooling and therefore biased.

If you don't trust Maryland's county homeschool reps to review and approve homeschool portfolios as state law requires, then all bets are off. Maryland law requires semi-annual review of each homeschooler's accomplishments, by either a county representative or a state-approved umbrella school. Isn't that enough? Unschoolers as well as structure-oriented homeschoolers must comply with this law, after all.

It strikes me as odd that parents and non-parents who trust county representatives, elected and otherwise, to ensure that students in taxpayer-funded schools receive an adequate education, aren't comfortable trusting the same representatives with oversight of homeschooling, regardless of methodology. Think about it.

Three (3) brief comments: 1)Maryland's challenged schools may lack adequate school equipment (e.g., books, dictionaries, etc.). I haven't read of any analysis between the two. 2) I haven't read of any analysis between the "challenged" schools and the economic status of the students relating to the challenge. and, 3) I must assume that Special Education students receive a special tests or receive a separate analyzed result which is included in the test(Special Manner).

The title makes no sense with the article it is discussing. Free Range Kids are not all home schooled. And not all home schooled kids are Free Ranged. The idea behind the Free Range (mini)movement is that children today are hypersupervised by parents who have fears about harm coming to their children --fears that the world is a more dangerous place than it was "when they were kids"--fears, that, when you look at the statistics, are irrational. Free Ranging Kids and home schooling are two different things. More about Free Ranging here: http://freerangekids.wordpress.com/about-2/

As a mom to a 10 yr old unschooling boy, I can say that unschooling doesn't equate uneducated, just as schooling doesn't equate educated.

It also doesn't mean we don't have a structure to our days. We do. It's just not the same structure as a school - sit in one spot for most of the day except for a 5 minute break to pee and a 20 minute break to run on the blacktop (if running still allowed - it wasn't at our local school). Our structure looks like the same structure an adult would have - self-made and self-regulated. School structure looks oddly like prison.

We also learn plenty of math, science, language, hostory. But again, it's learned differently and based off my son's interest. So, no glazing over of the eyes as it goes in one ear and out the other - only rapt attention as he learns what applies to him.

Cop-out? I wish. I'm always on duty. Every moment is a learning opportunity, every day is filled with rich experiences, every experience is our classroom. Answering questions, helping him look something up, introducing new and exciting materials, on the look out for cool places to visit or activities or yes, even classes if he's interested.

Still don't think this can work? Check out the long history of schools such as Summerhill or Sudbury schools. Learn about the numerous grown unschoolers. Look into another person's experience before you assume your experience is the only "right way".

All-important social learning, and learning from peers through class discussions and cooperative groups is left behind. These are necessary skills for employment.

Social learning, and learning from peers? Perhaps, Laurie, you should spend time with some unschoolers and homeschoolers. We actually do provide our children with cooperative learning opportunities through Scouting, co-ops, church groups and sports teams. What we don't do is randomly throw 35 kids of the same age into a room.

Employers select the "players" on their "teams." They don't fish 35 names of people who all happen to be the same age out of a hat and hire those people. I would argue that groups such as the Boy Scouts (multi-age groups with peer leadership) more closely resemble today's workplace than do traditional classrooms.

There are many great traditional schools out there. I was lucky enough to attend a couple of them. Now, as a parent, my standards are high, very high, because of my own educational experiences. If I truly believe I can educate my children more effectively at home, that is what I am going to do.

Should unschooled children learn math and English grammar? Absolutely. Should they learn how to learn and study the things they love, and to do so independently? Yes again. Basic academic skills (arithmetic, writing) and life skills (study skills, personal finance) should be the twin pillars of any educational program, public, private, parochial or home-based. In Maryland, county oversight is there to help ensure all students are learning the things they should.

What unschoolers and homeschoolers don't typically experience is merciless teasing and bullying based on race, weight, parents' jobs or lifestyles, and other factors they, as children, cannot control. These negatives are the flip side of traditional school learning experiences.

My first child was homeschooled, and I worried what people would think. I let him study Dirr's Manual of Woodly Landscape Plants- he wanted to know all the bushes in the neighborhood. He learned the Latin names for everything while he was at it, & that seems to have helped his vocab skills. He read some code books when he was little, then decided to try to zoom by a more traditionally homeschooled kid in math who was only 5 years older. By 9th grade he put the math and code books together and by 11th had a patent pending on a new way of encryption. He's now at MIT where they also learn by doing - mens et manos, mind and hand. I think this method is more of how we learn as adults, learning by following our passions.