Anne Ryman reports that the number of parents engaging in unschooling of their children appears on the increase. John Holt coined the term unschooling decades ago. I thought the idea had disappeared from discussions.
In Maricopa County, (AZ) the number of homeschoolers has grown 50 percent in the past five years, to 12,000 this year, according to affidavits parents must file with the county.
In sum, the term unschooling refers to the type of homeschooling that doesn’t use a fixed curriculum, allowing children as much freedom to learn in the world, as their parents can comfortably bear. Parents and children live and learn together, pursuing questions and interests as they arise and using conventional schooling “on demand”, if at all. “This is the way we learn before going to school and the way we learn when we leave school and enter the world of work.”
I wonder how many children in unschooling arrangements use mobile PCs. I read a mother’s comments in a 2005 blog that her children use an X-Box most of every day. Other parents commented about their children watching TV. I didn’t come across comments about use of a Tablet PC or other mobiles for learning anything. Do you think these children learn as much as children in various tutorial programs? And, is whatever they learn “authentic?”
Maybe this is an untapped market for mobile PCs.