Emma Frost and homeschooling.
This is off on a tangent but it's sort of cool when you see a piece of your life referenced in a comic book. This is from the strangely good Emma Frost series. She's in a college class and homeschooling comes up. And it's not about the nutty christian wing of the homeschooling family...It's John Holt!
John Holt was an educator in the 60's who came to believe that school wasn't simply inadequate for kids but actively hindered their learning. He coined a term, "unschooling," that at first meant homeschooling but has now come to represent a style or subset of homeschoolers who sort of chuck the idea of lessons and formal schooling out the window in favour of natural or child-led learning. It's what we do in our house and it's changed my ideas of what learning looks like and even how I learn.
Basically we read a lot, play a lot and take it for granted that the kids will learn what they need to learn. It looks a little funny at times. Car games are where my 8 year old plays with algebra and though she has a little trouble with reading words like 'this' or 'which' she breezes through 'millions of species'. And the kids pick things up one time and retain it, no drills or constant practice needed.
Anyhow, I wonder if the writer on the series was a homeschooling parent. I must look into this. If anyone's interested I've got some links.
Life Learning Magazine (An unschooling magazine - free PDF downloads of past issues)
John Holt and Growing Without Schooling
Radical Unschooling
Labels: emma frost, homeschooling, unschooling
posted by Dawn @ 5:46 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
Dawn - are your kids gifted? Tammy and I know a number of gifted children and educators thanks to the Sheroes Central discussion web we used to run. In fact, in WHITE TIGER #3 we'll be introducing Angela's new boss's homeschooled, profoundly-gifted 10-year old daughter as a sort of tribute to the gifted kids we know. :)
If you're near any of the cites listed in the link below, you might want to attend one of the "Beyond IQ" conferences held around the country.
Best,
Best,
Tim Liebe
Dreaded Spouse-Creature of Tamora Pierce
- and co-writer of Marvel's upcoming White Tiger comic
Oh coooool. A homeschooled kid? I will now be posting about White Tiget on all the homeschooling boards and email lists you realize. :) It's sort of rare that we get to see fair portrayals of ourselves in the media.
But no, I don't think my kids are gifted. But then they've never been in a situation where I could really compare them to a large group of their peers and judge that. I think they're very intelligent and talented and they express that and themselves differently then many kids I know but then they've had a wildly different approach to learning and socializing as well.
I'll also pass on information about Beyond IQ because I do know that some of the homeschoolers out there do have gifted children.
>But no, I don't think my kids are gifted. But then they've never been in a situation where I could really compare them to a large group of their peers and judge that. I think they're very intelligent and talented and they express that and themselves differently then many kids I know but then they've had a wildly different approach to learning and socializing as well.<
That's one of the reasons I think you and your kids might find Beyond IQ interesting. The people who founded it are educators who are expanding the definition of "gifted" to, well, being judged beyond a child's IQ scores (hence the name). No, I'm not an official shill for them, but I do believe they do good work.... :)
Anyway, look for "Peri" in WT#3....
Best,
Tim Liebe
Dreaded Spouse-Creature of Tamora Pierce
- and co-writer of Marvel's upcoming White Tiger comic
Now that sounds more interesting. I've been wondering for awhile if many kids who get called gifted aren't simply kids who approach learning in a different manner then the mainstream. I'll check it out.
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