I read the definitions of "unschooling" and I still have no idea what the fu*k it is...

I like the idea of un-schooling, but I think that un-schooled kids don't learn how to function in the real world in group settings. How will the get along with all the people who did to to school and how will they learn that sometimes you just have to suck it up and take it, even if they don't like it, especially after all the years of their parents telling them they don't have to do anything they don't want to do?

I don't like the idea of unschooling. I think if we all have to go to school, everyone should too.

I do have some experience with living around un-schooled kids. The main problem was socialization. The un-schooled kids didnt know how to relate to the schooled kids. It was awkward and difficult. They seemed immature in many ways.

I like the idea, but I'm concerned about socialization. Clearly, a competent and motivated parent can teach their children a curriculum better than an impersonal school setting can, but there are some basics of interpersonal relationships that I believe children must learn for themselves, through play and interaction with other children. A parent should always be encouraging their child to learn, but they are always doing it from the perspective of an adult. Kids learn a great deal about life from their peers, and I feel homeschooling is problematic in this respect. There is also a slow process of creating a child's independence that is forged in early school years, which might be undermined by the constant oversight of a parent. That said, I've long believed that the socialization of high school is largely unnecessary. Kids have the essentials of interpersonal relationships pretty much figured out by then. All they learn in high school is the basics of feeling isolated, how to have unsatisfying sex in someone's basement and then lie about it to friends, and the intense pressure to grow up faster than they should. If a teen can be motivated enough to be self taught until they achieve a GED, I've always felt they would be much better prepared for higher education. Drugs and sex can wait until they've learned what the value of education really is. This of course only refers to the standard, American form of high school. I'm quite in favor of programs like they have in the UK and Quebec where the final two years before university are more of a concentrated university style preparation. If a kid could teach themselves from 13 to 17 and then enter a Cegep motivated to learn, they will be far better off than the majority of their cohort.