Learning Through Living (unschooling documentary)
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ธ.ค. 2024
- An internet film by Ben Rehrman 🎥
Note 📝
This film is not a part of my current project Learning and Liberation. It was started in late 2021 and finished in early 2023. It was produced entirely over zoom due to pandemic restrictions. If you have any questions about the project or unschooling, please ask in the comments.
Music 🎶
Folk Festival Massacre
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Email: contactbenrehrman@gmail.com
Hi! I am homeschooled from the UK - This is a very well made and edited documentary! Keep up the great work, Ben. :)
Everything wrong with this “documentary” and the ideology around it:
1. Learning is “part of life,” but in order to learn enough to be an intelligent, well rounded and capable individual, it is very rare that you will get that type of exposure within your own household. You want to be an engineer? You’re gonna need to start with algebra, then calculus, and it builds on itself over time. You want to be a lawyer? You’re going to need upper level reading comprehension. Scientist? Need to be able to write reports with accurate and professional dictation. It goes on and on. All of that comes with challenging yourself within a school curriculum. It’s a gradual process that is proven to work. And it’s quite arrogant of you to think you can teach your kids better than someone who got a masters degree to teach someone of your child’s age how to spell.
2. Kids being “self directed” and “consenting” in what they do and don’t want to learn takes away the discipline they need to succeed in life. Humans naturally lean into what’s comfortable, regardless of what age. You’d be hard pressed to find a kid that would rather do their times tables than sit on TikTok. But that same kid, if pushed to do something, might find they have a knack for it and want to pursue it more despite the challenges. But if they never go through that initial discomfort, they’ll never know. And the older they get, the further behind they get and their chances of catching up get worse and worse.
Life is hard and bosses don’t give a crap about your “consent” to do things you don’t want to do or show up to work on time. You’re therefore setting them up with unrealistic expectations that the world is going to coddle them and failure.
3. 8:20 So your kids wake up late, prepare their own breakfast and spend the day doing whatever they want? Sounds like you’re just a lazy parent. How are these kids getting AT ALL prepared for the real world? Does she just expect them to wake up one day at 18 and change their entire lifestyle and magically be ready to work and responsibilities? This should be considered child abuse.
100% agree, Im not a fan of schools, most of them are bad, but letting these kids play video games and watch you tube? That's crazy, these kids will end up regretting it. If not, they will be weird to say the least. Schools have some ruls, children judge other children, which is also good, because it makes tou think. Besides they might end up illiterate. Unschooling is too extreme.
Well done, Ben. My son named Ben is 19. He graduated 2 years ago. We hardly did any mathematics as un schoolers. My 2 youngest sons are very good musicians and artists. As for Ben, he has a great job and guess what he does all day long? MATH. And he just got promoted after only 3 months. Unschooling is the best path for kids in America, by far!
It's giving your children the chance to want to start learning so they don't feel like it's shoved down their throats.
Thank you for this. We unschool too. I didn't know that was what I was doing when I first started it's been going on 6 amazing years now.
This is interesting. I was a public schooler all the way k-12, and I don't think it was ultimately the best. There were fantastic teachers, but the system itself was so rigid and it was exhausting. It didn't help that the pressure to get good grades and measure up were super detrimental to me. It took until just after my 20th birthday to start really healing my love of learning. While I did a stint with the military, there was a lot more downtime than I anticipated, so I decided to better myself. While I was in the system, I would have denounced homeschool in any fashion because I was very well institutionalized. Perspective is a heck of a thing and learning about unschooling/homeschooling has allowed me to relearn to explore. I would call myself a partly remediated life-long learner. Thanks for sharing about your experience and to the people who gave their input to the documentary. I dig the old film vibe.
Really cool and interesting! If you do a sequel, would love to hear perspectives from people of color who unschooled their kids and/or were unschooled themselves
Yes! I’m an unschooling parent. I have 7 kids at home. Been at it for about 2 years. Still deschooling lol but also learning more.😊
There are some videos on this on the channel @BlackDad.
I’m unschooled and I don’t have any friends, I don’t have social skills, and I’m afraid to speak to everyone. Unschooling is fine for some, but there are plenty of people who are left scarred by it. Humans NEED socialization, and most times home/unschoolers don’t have the luxury of being able to make friends, or even to work efficiently. Unschooling isn’t a good thing to promote, my mom fell for this propaganda and I’m ultimately punished for it.
Hi! Is there any way you can ask your mom about joining a homeschool/unschool co-op or club? We are in several, and my daughter has friendships with people of all ages. You are right--social time is really important.
Thank you so much for sharing this information, we are embarking on a journey of unschooling our small children & I’ve felt confident that we are making the best decision for them but it always helps to hear first hand accounts that reinforce the validity of this choice. Only 3 videos in but already appreciate your account. Thank you so much for the content you create for others to learn from.
For all the people hating on unschoolers take a look at the product being pumped out of public school nowadays.
Also, this not a very good look at unschooling in my personal opinion. I recommend listening or reading “Dumbing Us Down by John Taylor Gatto” and “Free to Learn by Peter Gray”.
Please watch other unschooling videos. I’m a huge fan of unschooling, but if was the first unschooling documentary I’ve ever seen I’d been heavily concerned as well.
Hi Ben! Thank you for this documentary! This is very important to the community.
When you stack this up against all your prior work, it's quite an evolution and achievement, Ben! At the same time, for me, there was a nagging sense of how much farther this documentation could go--and I would imagine this isn't unfamiliar territory. Filming in person, rather than through video call is surely one aspect, but then also being able to encompass the wider breadth of unschoolers out there, what this kind of education looks and feels like, the context for and ramifications of it...Well, I guess there will, and should, always be further ambitions--and, indeed, the growth that has occurred up to now doesn't cease here :)
Yes!! This project was completed in small chunks over a few years, and so I definitely don't think it's as far as it could go. I'm excited to have many more people and places and experiences featured in Learning and Liberation :)
Really well done! I’ve been learning more about unschooling since reading “Free to Learn.” I’ve come across misinformation/misrepresentations of unschooling on social media. This documentary js a breath of fresh air! It really conveys the beauty and potential of life outside of compulsory education.
Also, funnily enough, I also happen to know a child who was super resistant to reading, but obsessed with drawing dragons!! They are an amazing artist! When I heard the mom talking about her daughter I had to do a double take because she was perfectly describing my friend’s life.
Fantastic work Ben, on an unschooling journey in the UK!
So awesome! I love how you keep popping up on my suggestions. It’s nice to see you growing ☺️🌱
Thank you :)
Thank you! This was great. I don’t have children yet, but I’ve been doing research and am considering unschooling my own kids.
Then please do not have children
@@ElizabethPietropaolo I was considering it, but I didn’t say I would 100% do it. I may only do it for a short amount of time, or I may put them in Montessori or Waldorf. Personally, I did go to public school, but I grew more and developed into a better person because of my parents putting me in Vietnamese Girl Scouts for the majority of my childhood. I would go every Saturday, and all of these team building, character building, patrol method, leadership training, team skills etc benefited me way more than all of the hours I spent in the classroom.
Have you ever read the book Weapons of Mass Instruction by John Taylor Gatto? He was even named New York State’s official teacher of the year. He taught in classrooms for 30 years and said there are many issues with the public school system. He had a very interesting thesis and wrote many books about the topic. He saw the damage and harm public education was doing to children and people.
He claimed that there is no reforming public schools because the public school system was designed to create docile, obedient, manageable factory workers. Realizing that goal demands the young be conditioned to rely upon experts, remain divided from natural alliances, and accept disconnections from the experiences that create self-reliance and independence.
I was raised in VERY community oriented and connected/close social groups. I’m a very extroverted, social person myself. I would not have my child be raised in isolation without any contact with peers or other children. I value the ability to communicate, socialize, connect, and relate to others. I would never neglect that aspect. Maybe some homeschooling parents HAVE NOT placed that as a priority for their children or a value, but being able to connect and socialize is one of my values.
I also was surrounded and grew up with my extended family all around me. I was always doing things with my cousins, aunts, and uncles. There was so much help and support in Vietnamese families. ❤ and I’m so happy I got to experience that.
Great video!!
Unschooling doesn't mean no learning
By incorporating what they need to learn into what they want to learn, the necessities become easier to handle
Beautiful documentary thank u ... I'm not quite warm to the idea of unschooling all though I like some aspects of it I think a combination of homeschooling and unschooling would be something I would like more
Totally agree, we did this too!
your stuff always feels like it was made after the end of the world lol
How are the parents making an income while traveling so much?
So, unschooling can work if your parents have a flexible enough schedule and enough money. Gotcha. Unfortunately most people don’t have either of these things, which is why public schooling is so important-It allows for an education regardless of your social class. Also, the amount of unschooled kids in these comments saying they don’t have friends, feel behind, are depressed, etc. breaks my heart. This is what happens when there’s no standard. Some kids will benefit but MOST kids will be neglected because there are no rules for parents to follow.
Great job!
Thank you :)
Drawing dragons, I like it. What would you do if you couldn't make content?
Hmm, I'm not sure. I feel like I'd be doing some other type of art, maybe design?
Amazing work 🎉🎉🎉thank you for sharing this
You are trying to defend your family/ parents who abused you.
Unschooling is child abuse, don't sugar coat it!
I feel deeply sorry for you.