Mom Is Teaching

Tammy from Just Enough, Nothing More recently posted asking about a film that she had not yet previewd. That film is SCHOOLED.

I have to tell you, after watching the trailor for it myself I’m very excited to watch the film. The basic plot is a high school teacher who is burnt out. He goes to visit an old friend to try and get his groove back, but in a twist this old friend is teaching at an alternative school where the kids are in charge of their own education. A place compeltely opposite from what he is used to.

“Whats the school like?”
“You’d hate it.”
“Why?”
“‘Cause the kids have fun all day.”
“It’s not a school.”

The alternative school in the movie is based on the very real and vry successful Sudbury Vally School in Framingham, Massachusetts. A school where the students all mingle together, there are no classes, no curriculum, no seperating the students by age.

There is a very good article about the Sudbury Vally School in Psychology Today. It discusses the one of the most valuable tools that children have for learning, one that is not often used in a typical clasroom: play.

The 38-year-old day facility in Framingham, Massachusetts, is founded on what comes down to a belief about human nature—that children have an innate curiosity to learn and a drive to become effective, independent human beings, no matter how many times they try and fail. And it’s the job of adults to expose them to models and information, answer questions—then get out of the way without trampling motivation.

When the kids are having fun they are more open to learning. A concept that many schools feel is absurd. Though more schools and teachers are getting that kids who are engaged learn easir, there is still the undertone that learning is a job, a chore, something you have to do. Most definitely not something meant to be fun or exciting.

Playing and directing their own education is something that many homeschoolers, and more specifically unschoolers, are understanding. Kids who are happy, having fun, and allowed to follow their own passions have an easier time learning. Why? Because they want to learn! Where as worrying over tests and performance and scores can lower how well you actually do.