Real Lives: Eleven Teenagers Who Don't Go To School
by Grace Llewellyn (Editor)by 11 teens, edited by Grace Llewellyn
What could you do if you didn't go to school? What could your kids do if they didn't go to school? What could our world be like if more of us grew up without school—without being constantly commanded, controlled, evaluated, silenced, and compared to other people? In the words of these 11 unschooled teenagers, you will begin to glimpse some of the possible answers to these exhilarating questions. This new 11 Year Anniversary Edition includes updates from all the original writers/teenagers, plus a new preface from the Editor.
Introduction
In 1993, eleven homeschooled teenagers described their lives in rich detail, and Real Lives quickly became a homeschooling classic. Erin's favorite teacher was her horse Nick, blind in one eye. Kyla flew to South America in September of what would have been her senior year--alone, except for her mountain bike. Jeremiah and his sister Serena published a newsletter on peace issues. Patrick, who hoped someday to design video games, had spent the past few years compiling portfolios of his writing and artwork. Rebecca worked at homeless shelters and, through Habitat for Humanity, built houses for people in need. Anne tended honeybees and plucked a bluegrass banjo. Ayanna kept pace with 50 pen-pals--mostly in Africa--while Kevin talked with people all over the world on his ham radio. Amanda performed with a violin quintet and worked through the mail with her writing mentor. Vallie answered questions at a marine science center; Tabitha answered the phone at a crisis line, and helped midwives at births.
Now those eleven homeschoolers have grown up and engaged the territory of adulthood, college, and career--and the new edition of Real Lives includes updates from all of them. From gaining admission to an Ivy League institution without taking the SAT to crafting a simple life centered on writing and gardening, they tell where life has taken them and where they have taken life, and offer hindsight and advice for others choosing to learn outside of school.
Great reading for teenagers (schooled or unschooled), homeschoolers of any age, educators who want to broaden their understanding of how people learn, and anyone who is curious about what homeschooled kids think of homeschooling--and what those same "kids" think eleven years later. Lots of black/white action photos!
"A wonderful book, a revolutionary book, a book to set people free." - John Taylor Gatto
Where to get the book
Amazon
Written by: Grace Llewellyn (Editor)
11 December 2005
| Posted by: elsa (elsa_riachi AT hotmail DOT com ) 14 January 2009 | Comments: it's true you CAN teach yourself. when i broke my leg i didn't go to school for 2 weeks and i had to understand all by myself and i did twice as good! and btw the whole memorizing thing drives you insane!! think about what you would rather do in the 5 hours you're obliges to spend studying for your history test about someone that died and long time ago and whose life doesn't interest you. |
| Posted by: Stephanie (auralia_1 AT hotmail DOT com ) 17 October 2008 | Comments: For those of you who have been making comments like "But how are you supposed to teach yourself?" You think it's impossible , right? Well. Have you ever taught yourself before? You just can't speak if you haven't done it yourself. I can though. I have taught myself since the seventh grade in homeschool I have learned sooo much more from that then when I went to elementary private school. I even had to relearn some things that I supposedly learned in private school because it had gone straight out of my head. The history books WERE biased. And I was excellent in reading and science. Both of which I hadn't learned in private school. My mom taught me how to read when I was five and I learned extraordinary things about science and history from watching the science and history channels at home on tv. But I did that on my own. I developed a desire to learn. Just like our great ancestors did back when school wasn't required or popular. Nowadays, I get very frustrated with other people my age because a. their world is centered around highschool dramatics, and b. because they can't carry on an intelligent conversation with me. The only group of people I have ever been able to relate to on a mature, intelligent level were other homeschoolers. Oddly enough, a bunch of us gravitated to each other and it was later that we found out we were all homeschooled! I also want to take some time to share what I did with my life that I wouldn't have been able to had I gone to school. I took up professional ballet lessons, have performed in professional productions and have traveled to numerous states in the U.S.A. exploring different ballet companies first hand, and also competing in performing arts competitions. I also have many friends around the world who I speak with and write letters to frequently. This would be impossible for a schooler because of the time differences. Through them, I have learned sooo much about those countries first hand. I even learned to speak Russian from my friend in Russia. With my free schedual I have also volunteered at soup kitchens and traveled to nursing homes in performing groups. Best of all, out of everything I did with my life outside of school, was that I got to spend extra time with my dad. Hours that I wouldn't have ever had with him in school. Because he was a nurse who worked the night shift. In the day he would sleep. My schedual allowed me to see him when I wouldn't have. This January he died suddenly. If I had wasted those years at school, the last time I would have truly spent time with him would have been when I was seven. For the daughter of a night shift nurse, that's not an exaggeration. My hours would have been packed with sitting in hoards of other kids who only talked about, obsessed over, and lived, sex sex sex. If someone wants to disagree with me, then go be a substitute teacher at a public school, no scratch that. Go sit in on classrooms and listen in on the conversations. If you think I'm just a naive homeschooler, you're wrong. I have been to private school, public school, and homeschool and I've even taken a couple of years off on the way as well. ~Steph Maybe School used to be a good thing but times have severely changed. Not even from last generation but from us, to our little siblings times have changed. |
| Posted by: chris (christopherchiesa AT yahoo DOT com ) 8 October 2007 | Comments: I don't want to be home schooled but i think unschooling sounds like my kind of education. I read the first few pages on amazon and it was actually really good. it may sound odd at first but it makes sense. Unschooling I think would take a certain type of person, but most people who visit this site are that kind of people. We should all become unschooled, we wouldn't be bored plus wed learn about important stuff |
| Posted by: Ayliana 5 February 2007 | Comments: College Student, While I agree about that many students today lack the motivation to learn on thier own, I also know the cause of it. If you read John Taylor Gatto's book "Dumbing us down" He mentions time and time again that schools k*ll a students motivation to learn by making it a painfull, long and tedius project. It's not that hard to teach yourself. Thats what studying does. Not only that, the social and economic barriers that used to prevent people from being autodidactic aren't as hard to deal with anymore. Anyone can walk into a public library and request a card to check out books. Most people have some access to the internet, allowing them access to subjects of interest. Newspapers are cheap, anyone with a W2 form and an SSN can file for a student loan for college, and it costs nothing to stand on the street corner and start a conversation with someone. And finally public schools do not offer better guidence into the subjects being learned. The US has been behind other countries in math and science education for years now. History textbooks are biased and sometimes full of lies, and literacy has actually gone down according to a federal study, in not only high school but college graduates. These kids may not be going to school, but they sure as hell aren't missing much. |
| Posted by: college student 16 November 2006 | Comments: btw education is liberation. and the story of the 11 homeschool children sounds like a strech. in some sense i don't blame them the US educational system is becoming obsolete. we need educational reform that will help students perform well and believe that the government and our society is preventing students recieving the best education that can be offered. kids have the ability to learn, they may not use all of what was learned in school but they can leave knowing more about the world than they did before. all they need is a positive role model to help them, alternatives such as "unschooling" will only give them excuses to not go to school. |
| Posted by: college student 16 November 2006 | Comments: yea i think it's great to live in a society of free thinking, however i think "unschooling" means a lot of self motivation from the individual. public schools offer more guidance for children to succeed in the subject being learned. basically, "unschooling" suggests that students would have to teach themselves. how many of us can teach ourselves subjects like thermal dynamics in chemistry, trigonometry in geometry, or the great works of shakespeare? the problem with "unschooling" is that not many people have a driven motivation to achieve. take into consideration economical and social implications that prevent students from learning |
| Posted by: One Eye 6 April 2006 | Comments: Homeschooling sounds cool but it also sounds like ther are still to many holdbacks. Unschooling sounds like my kind of thing. Dont get me wrong I love learning but I want to learn about what I like not what the government thinks I should! |
| Posted by: Chloe 23 March 2006 | Comments: i really want to be homeschooled as i think i will learn so much more. the problem is convincing my parents. i hope they do let me because school is like a prison to me and i dont learn nothing. |
