I just watched the Radical Unschooling portion of Radical Parenting on Discovery Health. As expected, I’m slightly disappointed. I didn’t have high hopes for the program because going on television and trying to explain Radical Unschooling in 20 minutes is similar to learning Chinese in an hour. I hate the word impossible, but it’s likely that it can’t be done.
First of all, it is hard to bring a valid view of Radical Unschooling using such a young family. While Sarah and Chris Parent did a wonderful job, we really needed more examples and a few of those spectacular teens and grown unschoolers I know! Discovery Health obviously chopped it all up and left in the points that could easily be argued, but understandably so! If the show wasn’t shocking or somewhat entertaining then no one would watch it!
One expert kept calling it “experiential learning”. I really took to that right away. What a great way to describe how unschooled children learn! Right after that, another expert told us that these children were left “on their own” for things like reading, sleeping, and playing! This couldn’t be further from the truth! Unschooled children have their parents all the time. I don’t know any unschooled children who are left “to their own devices” as another put it. What they failed to grasp was that the parents are there all the time acting as facilitators and guides; meeting the children’s needs and supporting their passions and interests.
The big issue seemed to be college. A huge, huge point that I think Discovery Health failed to bring to light, is that children can and will learn what they need to know, when they need to know it. There is no magical age that one needs to learn anything at all. That fact has been proven again and again by grown and successful unschoolers all over the US. The one thing that unschooler’s will recognize however, is that college is a choice, not a requirement.
It’s really hard to present unschooling to the general public. I applaud the Parent family for their decision to unschool and the way they presented themselves, but I think Discovery Health is highly misinformed on the subject and crazy to try and present it in a 20 minute segment.
My ten cents.
For more information on Unschooling there are helpful links on the side of my blog or you can read more of my writing by following the links below.
The program will air again. Here’s the link for the schedule. Radical Parenting
Thanks for your thoughts. I hope I get to see it. I’d say you opinion was at least a two bit!
Great post, and I could have even read more. I watched this program with my mouth gaping open, I’ll be honest. I love that we live in a place where this is a choice and try my best not to judge. Other people’s parenting choice are none of my business.
I appreciate your kind words. Unschooling is not quite what it appears to be. I can only ask that you trust me on that.
Yes, it is most difficult to present unschooling (never mind radical unschooling) in 20 minutes and in such a sensationalized format. It was cut to hit the high points but without a mode for us to respond to the concerns of the ‘experts’. They edited this from 3 days of 10-12 hours each day of filming so much of what we illuminated was not shown. For a brief overview/introduction, I think it was a good glimpse. Those who found the connection, joy, respectful parenting, and/or child-directed learning interesting now have something they can research.
Coming from a viewer’s perspective is hard, I’m always looking to critique and I automatically get annoyed with “the experts”. LOL I also didn’t realize until today that it was only going to be 20 minutes long. I thought it was a whole show. You guys did a really good job presenting yourselves, I enjoyed “getting to know you” a little more.
I didn’t see the show but we were interviewed extensively by Discovery to “play the role” of unschooler (as well as for the “free range parenting”). I had a feeling we wouldn’t come off very “radical” for the exact reason you mentioned; having an older child that reads, writes and speaks well for himself is very sensational.
I’m sure Sarah and her family did awesome though. But it is what it is. I would have hoped Discovery would’ve made things a bit more “balanced” but I think we have a long way to go until this lifestyle will be looked at fully and objectively in the media. I’m just glad that it’s getting some attention. I know that it will pique some interests.
It’s not possible to show much of what unschooling is in 20 minutes – you can barely scratch the surface in an hour. Without seeing any unschooled teens, one doesn’t see the results of our lifestyle choice. Seeing families with young children is great for a glimpse at how unschooling is with *one* family, but the real question in people’s minds is ‘Does it really work?’
I was a skeptic once too – it seemed like the right choice for my family, but did it work? When I finally met some local unschooled teens, I was sold. They were all different in their personalities but they all seemed so comfortable in their own skin. They had an air of confidence about them. Some were more talkative than others, but they were articulate & thoughtful when they spoke.
I hope that people whose curiosity was piqued take the time to read & learn more. There are so many amazing families sharing their experiences. I may not relate 100% to every unschooling family & everything that they do, but I do relate to the love, joy and respect these families have for each other – that’s what inspires me on a daily basis.
(for a second while writing earlier, I felt like this was the X-Files and wanted to yell ‘The Truth Is Out There!’s)
PS Props to the Parents for being brave – I don’t think I would have been able to do it
“play the role”? that’s funny. Yeah she did. They did. The parents were respectful and composed and the children were… well… children!
Arp – That’s I hope comes across most in shows like this. The joy, love and connection.
Watching from my perspective is different. I’m not a mainstream viewer.
Me neither. I’m glad I didn’t see it as even hearing it about it is getting me riled up
It wasn’t terrible. Heck it wasn’t even bad. It’s just that being who I am, it is highly important to me that they get it right! (meaning Discovery Health)
I agree there. It’s easy when things are edited like crazy to shift perception one way or another without showing the balanced, complete picture.
Lee Stranahan is currently working a documentary called Unschooling: The Movie. I have high hopes.
Of course I know and adore some of the people in it and Mr. Stranahan is unschooling. http://www.unschooling.info
eh. It was alright. I highly agree that only portraying one radical unschooling family was a poor choice. While I am a fan (maybe that’s not the right word) of the ‘Clan of Parents’, seeing a variety of families, especially at least one with older or grown unschoolers, would have been better. I also didn’t like how the ‘experts’ didn’t have to support their (what seemed like) opinions with any research, statistics or examples. I also didn’t like that the Parents weren’t able to speak back to the experts or that there wasn’t a pro-radical unschooling ‘expert’ to offer counter arguments. In all, I didn’t see it as really balanced…not to mention that the way it was cut up seemed kind of staged and almost like it all happened in one day. An entire hour with equal time from both sides of the argument and at least two more families, might have made began to make a difference.
I also would have loved to see a range of families from younger children to adults. The experts were terrible. The woman annoyed me the most. I don’t know what i expcted from DH channel. I am looking forward to the unschooling movie.
I am a homeschooling, attachment parent of five. I watched the program last night and the latter two segments were fantastic. The first segment me ticked me off within a matter of minutes. The Parent family was a poor example of unschooling. I hope they are far better parents than they came across last night. While what I have to say has angered many, what I saw was not a family unschooling, but two people who made children not parenting them. I do not see what they were doing as radical, unschooling, and definitely not attachment parenting. Children with no boundaries or discipline is neither smart, loving, nor does it foster attachment. In many ways this family shown hurt all of us who wish to educate our children at home. We are either seen as weirdos or religious freaks when we wish to educate our children at home. We are often accused of not properly educating our children and sheltering them from the world. Now we have another stereotype to overcome.
I wasn’t thrilled with the way the program turned out, or how it made unschooling look but, I don’t see how it could tick anyone off. Many AP parents feel radical unschooling is a natural transition to radical unschooling. The principles are not all that much different, if at all.
“Children with no boundaries or discipline is neither smart, loving, nor does it foster attachment.” I know lots of people who would disagree with you when this statement is understood the way you probably mean it. Radical Unschoolers tend to view life and learning a little differently, and go about helping their children grow and understand boundaries in a non-authoritarian way.
I also don’t see how this program affects you at all. There are MANY styles of home education. I enjoy being a friendly face of radical unschooling. I also enjoy talking about and clarifying misinformation for people. When we choose to do something outside of the mainstream, we need to understand that many people don’t understand what we are doing or why we are doing it.
Before I watched Dicovery’s Radical Parenting show I had assumptions about unschooling that came completely unraveled. Unfortunately it turned me off of unschooling. However, understanding the realities of our media I have done more investigating on my own. And it turns out that while I still think DHC could have done a better job on this segment, unschooling *is* the way the Parent family does things. It’s taken me a couple days and lots of unschooling blog reading to come to this point but I have realized that unschooling isn’t for me/us afterall. Homeschooling, yes, I could do. Relaxed homeschooling (thanks for the term that I read in here somewhere) is probably more my style. It’s been an interesting past couple days. I really admire unschooling families. I guess there’s no shame in saying it’s not for me, but I *was* disappointed that that was the conclusion I came to. I guess I’m just not as free or cutting edge as I thought.
I understand the way you feel and I always say it’s perfectly OK to *not* be an unschooler.
But before you write it off completely, please understand that it isn’t anything that anyone of us has learned and/or embraced overnight. I like to think of unschooling as more of a journey or continuum. We’re all learning new things and new ways to look at learning everyday. 
Thanks for commenting.
I missed this first run, but just saw it. What I am most dissappointed about the unschooling segment is that noone addressed the harmful effects of “schooling” that most don’t know about, or take to be part of our society. John Holt and John Taylor Gatto are two of my favorite authors for those discussions. Anyone considering their children’s education would benefit from “How Children Learn” and “How Children Fail” (Holt), among others.
Unschooling allows a child to preserve his natural desire for learning by not imposing artificial restrictions of curriculum, learning methods, and time constraints allotted for subject matter. In unschooling there is no “teaching for the test” unless the child wants to take a test for his own benefit. There also is no constant fear – of getting called on – of getting an answer wrong – or even of getting the answer right (most kids don’t want to be singled out the older they get). Also the structure of traditional school does not engender critical thinking, but following authority. It was designed that way when Dewey (et al) advocated the change 100 years ago. Not a good segment, through no fault of the unschooling family.
No, through know fault of the family at all. It’s just the way television has to twist things. I always wonder why they feel it’s necessary to present a two-sided view, when they could provide an informational view without any sides. Like, “here’s what unschooling is, take it or leave it”. I guess that wouldn’t make very good television though would it?