Finding Self Directed Education
When my child was born l wanted to provide the best education for they. I enrolled they in Head Start to give they a early educational “edge”. They seemed to enjoy it, and was moving forward academically and socially. But, as the years went by they became less and less interested in school. They rarely had anything happy to say about their time there. Their progress and interest in learning was disappearing the further along in the traditional system they went. As a teenager I had been equally dissatisfied with school, feeling bored and held back. I decided to look at some of the books and authors that had inspired me learn outside of the system. I reread books by John Taylor Gatto (https://www.johntaylorgatto.com), Peter Gray (https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/freedom-learn) and the Teenage Liberation Handbook. My partner and I watched new and fascinating TED talks on learning in the 21st century.
When my family and I moved to the Mission Valley we had already chosen taken our daughter out of public school, and attempt homeschooling/ unschooling. There are many reasons we chose to do try out something new, but the most important one to me was trying to regain the joy and excitement of learning and playing. Something that my daughter seemed to have lost in the 4 years of school they had attended in their short 6 years of life. Then we found Glacier Lake School, the first democratic school in MT.
My son just started school this year, having never been enrolled in a traditional school. They immediately was excited to sign up for most anything. They loves to participate and be included in all group activities. I often wonder if their enthusiasm comes from their freedom from traditional structure. They are not burned out on learning they have never been forced to do it. Over the course of the year they has naturally picked up many of the skills they would be learning in a traditional class. I will find them practicing their writing or counting on their own. They also can tell you all about various things they have learned in STEM class, one of their favorite subjects. It is a lot of fun listening to a 5 year old explain the relationship between burning coal and global warming. Being given the freedom and responsibility to learn on their own seems to have given them the confidence to be excited and succeed in any subject they are drawn too.
Glacier Lake School provided an incredible alternative for our family to learn and grow. More than just a school, it is a community of learners, discovering their passions together. Stepping back and trusting them to find their own path is sometimes difficult. We are traditionally taught that learning only happens through forced instruction and testing. It takes a bit of patience to wait for the rewards that would normally be given by grades or scores. I find there is something even more special in watching your child being genuinely curious and intrigued by a subject. Being able to listen while they recount what they did that day because they were having so much fun they actually remember it. When these things happen you see the real rewards of a democratic education. Children finding the confidence and space to become the best individuals they can be, that is what we found at Glacier Lake School and in the Self Directed Education movement.
#unschooling #freedomtolearn #democraticschool
