Basic Formula for Parents:
Stay out of child’s way +
Don’t try to be a teacher +
Don’t hijack your child’s learning +
Wait….wait…wait (and be patient) +
Don’t stress (talk to other unschoolers when you worry!) +
Read lots of books out loud when your child wants to +
Have lots of interesting books available +
Be ready as a resource when you child asks for it
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= A child that reads. Eventually. On his own timetable.
Last night, as the whole family sat down to watch another downloaded episode of The Amazing Race, DS7 pulled out a sketch …

1.  School Recess Improves Behavior
No big shock here.  You can pick & choose the basic reasons why – all work & no play makes Jose a dull boy?  Or perhaps that punishment doesn’t work?  (see Alfie Kohn’s Punished by Rewards)  Or, as many critics of homeschooling say, that kids need school to be ‘socialized’ – then perhaps they should be allowed to be social instead of cooped up in a classroom being trained for a cubefarm.
2. Too Many Online Friends? Time to Delete
I’ve never quite gotten the whole concept …

Wrapping up self-esteem in grades is one thing. There’s at least the slight charade involving the love of learning. Paying students for grades is another thing altogether, and it is, at best, a half-assed band-aid for a critically hemorraging educational system.
That’s my heavy-handed metaphor of the week , inspired by a New York Times article (copied below).
Once I started down the path to becoming an unschooler, one of the things that really bugged me out about school was how it seemed to be a training ground for corporate labor. …