Posted on 10/29/2018 3:27:58 PM PDT by Mrs. Don-o
Our schooling time was very unstructured and I did teach mine a lot as we went.
Everything was a teaching opportunity. Much of it was the practical application of what they learned in the books.
However, I had them do the book work for the core subjects such as English, Math, Science and SS. But I did not do lectures. We/they read the lesson and did the work and that was it.
I virtually never spent time on spelling as my oldest two were EXCELLENT spellers and I just watched as they went and corrected the few mistakes I caught.
ping;later read
A great man.
RIP, John Gatto.
He was a pioneer. I agreed with him and saw firsthand how his advice really does work.
I cannot say that I was able to put all his advice into practice in our homeschool, unfortunately, but I strived to.
It's unlikely we'll see Mr. Gatto's obituary in the New York Times, but if we did you can be sure they'd solicit input from teachers' union officials and big-government politicians to make it "balanced."
I'm too old to home-school and the kids are grown, but if this article (first published in Harper's fifteen years ago) had been written thirty years before, it would have lit a fire under me and probably a few million other parents with similar misgivings about what was going on in the public schools our children were forced to attend:
Against School by John Taylor Gatto
It's never too late to free another generation of kids from that 12-year term in government schools. We've lost two of the most prominent advocates in the last decade (Marshall Fritz being the first) but I'm optimistic their work will be carried on by others. Conditions are ripe for a massive exodus from government-run schools.
Went on the spur of the moment to hear him speak once - Albany - maybe 2005 or 2006. My wife and I got there late, but we stayed a little while after and watched his interaction with the people who crowded around.
He gave absolutely his whole attention to each individual or group who had anything at all to say or to ask, and never once shifted off or cut anyone short. Each person (or group / pair) got his full and complete attention and engagement until they were satisfied and ended the interaction - this despite the fact he had an early morning flight cross country.
I was floored. I have never seen anything like it from any even marginally popular public figure. Absolutely giving.
I had wanted to simply thank him for his book (The Underground History of American Education mentioned by others here) but we gave up and left before the crowd thinned.
Took us some time to find a local hotel that night, and we were just going into our room, down the hall and around the corner from the lobby, when I recognized his voice at the desk. I couldn't resist. Went back to the lobby and shook his hand, told him I enjoyed the talk and the book, online and in print, and that he has many more students than he knows.
A good man whose influence will continue.
If anyone has interest, some audio and text files of some talks are archived at this URL: https://web.archive.org/web/20080517100546/http://www.altruists.org/413. I recommend "The Neglected Genius Of American Spirituality."
They're all quirky and they're all terrific. I would recommend, first, the Underground History. It will blow your mind.
There’s also www.johntaylorgatto.com
Oh John Gatto was the best ever. Once at a homeschool convention here in California, he needed to get to a copy shop and I gave him a lift. Got to spend a little time with my hs hero. His book just made so much sense. RIP, Mr. Gatto.
Au contraire - he has impacted the public schools immensely. People are pulling their kids to homeschool bc now they know there is an alternative. He certainly has impacted the way I teach - as I work with kids who are in the system, but as a ‘stealth tutor.’ His words of wisdom were a clarion call to stepping away from the system. Changing it from within - still will be a drop in the ocean at a time. Unless it is (we pray) DE-federalized and reverts back to its ‘local schools’ mode.
“delight directed learning”... I like that. As long as my kids were doing something that I felt engaged their brains, I let them do it. I do wish we had lived on a farm or had been running a small business, because I think that provides amazing opportunities for a child’s development.
Thank you!
Exactly. I don't even begin to see a discussion on this. It doesn't matter whether it is Massachusetts or Mississippi. Local politicians realize how much patronage money and positions there are to hand out through the public miseducation system.Another reason to hope and pray DJT is not a one note phenomenon but rather the beginning of a long process of recapturing the governmental apparatus.
I just saw this. (long story, I’ve been offline
mostly involuntarily.. A tremenoud loss
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