In the midst of all the controversy about education in the United States, have you heard of this ? I really hadn’t and find this quite revealing. It is the complete opposite from the “helicopter parents,” of which I am most familiar. I just wonder how something so precious as having children has become so complicated?
I would love to hear your thoughts, experiences, and/ or have some debate!
TalesAlongTheWay 
I think it’s the ultimate in helicoptering.
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Katie, very intuitive and spot on. The total control is found in the chaos of it all!
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Never heard of this, but I think this is a very good thing ~ as long as the parents/care-takers at least keep the focus and a learning environment. Kids cannot lead efficiently at young ages…can they?!?
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This to me sounds rather extreme. I have always been a proponent of Montessori method which is project and integrated curriculum. I think it can be a very positive way for children to learn. But in my experience, the answer is no to children leading efficiently at an early age. They should be given opportunities to take personal responsibility for their educations as soon as possible.
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Annet, I agree that for most children, unschooling would be a bad thing, not because of the children, but because of the parents. To make this work, the parents have to be extraordinarily committed to achieving targets, just as public school teachers need to hit targets. But what I would like to see more of in public school is less of the factory method, and more of the facilitation method where there is more time devoted to the children exploring in a teacher guided environment. I think many of my childrens’ teachers have been moving that way already. One thing I appreciate about my childrens’ teachers is that to help my children not get bored, they have been giving them additional challenges while the teacher focuses on needier children. One teacher actually gave my daughter a responsibility to tutor the other children because my daughter was always perfect on her homework and tests. It has been great for her confidence and skills, and it helps the other children in the class to have a peer help guide them.
Not all solutions work for all children, so that’s why I’m a big fan of teachers being facilitators and not instructors. I like teachers because I have noticed children don’t necessarily like listening to parents (hence the reason I pay someone else to teach my children piano).
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David , you sound very knowledgeable about education. And I agree with what you say. But now it is all about test scores and little about educational curiosity and helping the children become lifelong learners. Good you have had teachers who will accommodate the children who need enrichment. I personally don’t like having children being the teachers for other kids. I think each child needs to come to school each day to learn and be challenged. Curious if your children are in public or private schools? Thanks for your thoughtful reply !
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