HS Comments on the Fly

From an unschooling article:

“The [public] school system that we have now was invented in the late 19th century and had very explicit models: factories, railroads and the army,” Glass said. “So they took features from each of those areas and created a school system.”

The article has some interesting tidbits on educational philsophy — even mentioning Rousseau — and worth a read whether you believe unschooling (or Rousseau) has merit or not.

The article, surprisingly (or not so surprisingly) mentions Ferris Beuller. “Beuller? Beuller?” And possibly Ferris Beuller is the most famous of all those who practice unschooling — even though in his case it was only for a day. Who can forget his famous words after serenading us with the clarinet? “Never had one lesson.” Yes, that’s one of our most favorite movie quotes for homeschoolers. And no I don’t recommend this movie for the little ones.

Jeanette Symons and her homeschooled son died in a plane crash Friday. She was piloting the plane. Her daughter was not on the plane. Jeanette was the CEO of Industrious Kid and founder of Imbee, a free social network for kids.

A new book, Chasing Windmills, includes a homeschooled character who has a fairy godmother who introduces him to the wonders of pizza. (source)

Is that a stretch or what?

Sebastian has never eaten pizza and his controlling homeschool dad takes sleeping pills at night which allow Sebastian to sneak out at night to ride the subway, meet married chicks, and eat pizza.

What 17-year-old homeschooler in the US/Canada has never had pizza? Well .. for any reason other than health issues?

How do authors come up with this stuff? Has this author ever even met just one homeschooling family?

Talk about negative stereotypes based on thin air.

Interesting tidbit for authors who want to write about real homeschoolers: One of my homeschooled students ate pizza crust as their first solid food. Exclusive breastfeeding followed by a long-term weaning which begins with Domino’s Pizza — yeah, that’s how we roll.