fett on 10/3/2013 at 14:35

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They largely work. There have been lots of such experiments and they typically turn out productive, happy people. They tend to be a little more structured than what you probably imagine, but they are very interest driven. There's a segment of the homeschool community known as "un-schoolers" or "non-schoolers" that does not use curriculum or have a set course of study, but rather just lets the kids stumble through daily life and latch onto whatever interests them. I would say we're a combination of that style and a more strict "but then there are these few subjects that you NEED, whether you realize it right now or not - you'll thank me later."

@Phatose - I'm beating the same drum here, but I always feel the need to address the whole social aspect thing as it relates to homeschool. Most homeschool families that I know (including us) try to find a group that roughly fits our social and activity needs, and we stick with it. This means that although the kids are mainly around other homeschoolers, we don't just leave at the first sign or trouble or contention. The group we belong to in PA is extremely diverse - ex-Mormons, current Catholics and Christians, atheists, two Muslim families, a Budhist family, and lots of non-religious folks. Wide economic spectrum and some of the kids are spoiled little shits. But the philosophy is exactly what you mentioned - just like a job, this group is roughly a good fit for us, and the rest you're going to just have to put up with because you can't choose every interaction based on your personal preferences. Added to that, that nature of our homeschooling life is that our kids interact (often without adult supervision) with everyone from the cashier to the UPS guy to any adult they may need information from - we don't do that for them, they have to actually interact with the adults. It's shocking to the adults, but it produces little humans that are just as comfortable playing capture the flag as they are sitting in on an adult card game or discussion about health care. They aren't intimidated by people out of their age group or gender. Case in point, yesterday I arrived at the cash register of Kohl's (getting some things for the wife's birthday), and my ten and seven year old had already found what they wanted to buy - with their own money - and were in a heated, but polite debate with the cashier as to why they needed mommy or daddy to make a purchase. Rich was in the middle of saying, "So you're telling me it's against the law for me to buy something because I'm here by myself?" Cashier was totally flagergasted by the time I stepped in (he would make a great attorney). He wasn't being rude, just insisting that his business was equally as valid as anyone else's. It's generally the adults who are uncomfortable in situations like these, not the kids. They've been forced to interact, and at this age it's become natural to speak up for themselves and not act like lesser beings just because they haven't reached puberty yet. I love it.

demagogue on 11/3/2013 at 04:40

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That cashier story is pretty awesome.

If you do programming, Python is the language that usually gets props as a good, relatively simple first language to learn to do small tasks.

nickie on 11/3/2013 at 08:55

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I always thought (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summerhill_School) Summerhill was enlightened in that respect.

Vivian on 11/3/2013 at 19:54

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Ok, quick question - if you want to have a dynamic variable name based on some string list somewhere, how do you do that without eval?

SubJeff on 11/3/2013 at 22:51

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Oh, and Vivian, I think perhaps that's bad practice anyway. Why would you want to do that?