Posts Tagged ‘labels’
Kids Are Capable of Much More Than We Give Them Credit For
The recent sailing misadventure of sixteen-year-old Abby Sunderland and the successful climbing of Mount Everest by thirteen-year old Jordan Romero have me thinking about skill and ability as related to age. Whenever a kid accomplishes something major, it hits the media because children aren't expected to achieve much in our society. But the [...]
There’s No Right Way…So Let’s Lose the Insults
For many years, I have taken it for granted that people know what the term “unschooling” means. Truthfully, I really haven’t paid much attention, since I dislike the word…and labels in general. Since many people seem attached to it, I just happily play along, using it when necessary – as a web keyword, for instance – and quietly [...]
Unschooling, Radical Unschooling, or Something Else?
Most life learners don’t like to label their children – whether it’s using the alphabet soup provided by those who would drug children into submissive behavior or by means of school-style grades. So I’m always amused and disturbed in equal parts when the debate begins about what to call this sort of child-led, non-coercive, lifestyle that [...]
Accessing Articles From Life Learning Magazine’s Archives
Although we charge for subscriptions to Life Learning Magazine, we aim to keep approximately 15% of the content from back issues available on the site for free. We've recently made that simpler for you to find. Now, on every page of the website (left hand column, halfway down, is a link to the archive of articles that are on the site. We are [...]
Labels That Unschoolers Reject
Our school systems like to label children, then medicate them for these so-called problems. Kids are said to be "learning disabled," "hyperactive," "oppositionally defiant," and to have a variety of other "disorders." I've written about this for years, preferring to think that the problem is with the schooling system rather than with the [...]
Not Boxing Ourselves In With Labels and Definitions
Back in the 1970s and 80s when my daughters were young, they learned by living their daily lives, through experience...both that which found them and that which they sought out. They reacted to a need or an interest by exploring, researching, asking questions, listening to others, testing their ideas and putting them into motion, getting feedback, [...]