Customer Reviews

Christian Unschooling : Growing Your Children in the Freedom of Christ

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have been homeschooling for over 18 years. I started out with the traditional classroom approach, for that was all I knew. But as my children increased to five, I realized that I could not teach the traditional method and still have any time for fun, sleep, or anything else. At the end of each school day, I had a mountain of homework from each child that needed to be graded. I knew there had to be a better way!

I started reading about unschooling from John Holt books and then I discovered Grace Llewellyn. I was hooked. But it hasn't been easy at all. I felt "safer" with the traditional method. It was accepted by other homeschoolers and that was what I was accustomed to. So I struggled day-by-day and year-by-year, and I still have difficulties with feeling comfortable with unschooling.

But this book is the very best encouragement I have ever read! I couldn't put it down! There are others like me everywhere and this book tells stories that I can easily identify with!

It has explanations, scriptures, etc. It has a vast amount of useful information, even for veteran homeschoolers like me. But the encouragement is the very best part and the most needed part!

If you are new to homeschooling - BUY THIS BOOK! It will save you years of frustration and confusion.

If you are a veteran homeschooler trying to unschool - BUY THIS BOOK! It will comfort you, inspire you, encourage you, and always be at hand when you need a word of wisdom and an optimistic opinion of what you are trying to do for your children!

If you are a homeschooler that doesn't understand unschooling - BUY THIS BOOK! It will thoroughly explain unschooling to you in an easy-to-understand way!

If you ever wanted to invest in a book that will probably change the way you think and feel about unschooling, this truly is the first book you need to read! I just love it, it has become like a warm, understanding friend to me!

I was excited to read this newly released book and hungrily gobbled up the contents in the first couple of days I had it home. It was affirming to read about others' stories much like our own. It validated the way we've been led by the Lord to raise and educate our own children! The book was very easy to read and full of material that, in its familiarity, was comforting and built my confidence. Reading the essays sent in by others was like sitting around sharing our experiences, struggles and triumphs from the heart. My favorite section of the book was the one entitled "Guided by the Lord". In it, a couple of stories gripped my heart and brought both encouragement and inspiration. In my opinion, it is a "must read" for those looking into homeschooling and as well, those who are searching for a more relaxed and enjoyable way to homeschool their children.

This book is wonderful. It has personal essays and comments collected from Christian unschoolers who are living the dream existence - homeschooling in the freedom of Christ. It has encouraged me to keep on striving for the ideal for my own children, and to care less about what the world thinks education should be. I plan to keep this book for review during those inevitable bad days. Some of the essays were so true of my life that they could have been my own words (but were not). It is great to know there are others out there like me!

This is a wonderfully encouraging book - a great one to get off the shelf when experiencing a PPA (Parental Panic attack). The essays are my favourite section, but I am concerned that the contributors "days" could be seen as a typical day in their house, rather than one that was obviously extraordinary. Overall though, this book is an absolute keeper and I am thankful, so thankful, to have it.

This is an excellent book, would highly reccomend reading this book if wanting or thinking of unschooling your children! Very informational and I can't say it loud enough "INSPIRING"!

As an evangelical Christian Educator with professional curriculum design experience, I must admit that I came to "Christian Unschooling" with enough knowledge to know exactly where the book was heading. Needless to say, the authors did not disappoint me.

In the realms of education, hordes of ideas compete to be heard. Following the writer of Ecclesiastes is wise, since he has already written of there being nothing new under the sun. And true to this, there is nothing new to "unschooling". Unschooling is simply a warmed-over version of Rousseau's "Emile", in which children learn by being left to their natural devices, all the while being shaped by natural law. The Christian unschooling movement adopts this same thinking, but with a view toward the Holy Spirit, rather than natural law, as the guide behind each child's education.

On the surface, this rather Zen-like idea that "the curriculum is that there is no curriculum" appears so obvious as to warrant a self-inflicted slap to the forehead (and the parental anecdotes included in the book universally describe that slap in detail.) Letting a child primarily learn what sparks his imagination seems like a breakthrough in this context. But again, the idea isn't new or revolutionary. Modern versions of this philosophy - as espoused by the likes of Ralph Tyler and John Holt - tend to fall more naturally into the Christian viewpoint than Rousseau's, but the genesis of the ideas are the same. (If most Christian unschoolers knew of Rousseau's lifestyle, there might be a bit more introspection concerning the use of his theories - and ultimately their source - I suspect.)

But there are serious deficiencies to examine here. The problem with any book such as this is that it is in love with its own premise. However, though truth is usually found somewhere in the middle, "Christian Unschooling" is clearly mired in one end of the spectrum of educational thought. On the other hand, books in the other camp (such as "The Well-Trained Mind") cling to the more behavioral (B.F. Skinner) approach of "drill, drill, drill, rote, rote, rote" that has been traditionally predominant in Christian homeschools, certainly to the detriment of those children as well.

What is needed is a proper synthesis. Surely children need to be encouraged to find avenues for learning that appeal to them and come naturally, but this must be tempered by continuously providing experiences far outside their comfort zone and limited scope. And certain knowledge may be desirable to have even if it does not come by self-exploration. Sometimes we must knuckle down and learn things we don't immediately want to know.

Take, for instance, a case appropriate for the Christian audience. A child might love the great heroes of the Bible, earnestly researching their lives and tales, while at the same time showing no desire to ever understand or pursue doctrinal knowledge. Certainly no parent would want that to continue. The hole in the unschooling model is that there are few ways of remedying this lack without moving outside of unschooling. Therefore, as a philosophy unto itself, it fails. Other examples that find the chinks in the armor abound.

Now in the case of this book, the authors earnestly quote Scriptures to prove their philosophy is correct. Unfortunately, they ignore as many or more verses that cramp their theories. This is disingenuous on the part of the authors. The truth is, as mentioned previously, more broad than one educational philosophy. It is necessary to incorporate a wide-ranging scope of education ideas when homeschooling. Unschooling is only one color in the rainbow of ideas.

As for the actual content of the book, it is far too anecdotal to be helpful as a reference tool for building an unschooling program. Large sections of the book consist of "Me, Too!" stories by parents who have jumped on the Christian unschooling bandwagon. This seems to fly in the face of the author's own advice to parents to find their own way in all teaching. If no example is appropriate, then why include any? In short, the entire middle of the book only functions as a cheerleading device. That the authors feel put upon by other Christian homeschoolers who look down upon unschooling, only adds to the need to pad the book with supporters.

This is not to say that the book has no merit. As a counter to other forms of education, it is good that someone espouses this philosophy so that parents can make informed choices. Unschooling does have appeal in that it tries to make learning more practical, applicable, and fun. Who could fault that? And while the majority of the book has truly little to add to the topic of unschooling, the appendices in the back contain lists of useful resources.

An important philosophy and possibly one of the few Christian unschooling books out there, but on the whole, not a great book.

(One final note: As homeschooling comes under increasing fire by professional educators and bureaucrats- witness the trends in states like California - unschooling will become increasingly harder to justify to state governments. As a person who supports homeschoolers of all philosophies, my warning is to think hard about unschooling since it may be the first philosophy to wither under proposed new homeschooling standards.)

Christian Unschooling is a fun, upbeat book that will encourage and reassure other Christians that unschooling is not incompatible with their faith. The authors talk about their own experiences homeschooling and include essays by many others about their experiences. The essays discuss why they homeschool/unschool, what a typical day looks like, etc. However, this book is not meant to convince anyone that unschooling is the way to go. It provides little or no arguments or deep discussions about the nature of education. It is meant for people who already feel attracted to unschooling but would like encouragement or ideas on how to do it.

Believe it or not this book can help unschoolers who are already practicing, as the advice is subtle and the anecdotes reinforce how an unschooler feels. Christian Unschooling: Growing Your Children in the Freedom of Christ inspires the parent to allow your child, with God, to educate. It endorses spirit-led and "child-led" learning.

For those of you who are considering unschooling--perhaps you need an alternative way to homeschool, or you are attempting to school at home for the first time ever--the book is insightful and helpful, without telling you what to do (organization is good and needed always, but too much organization is a no-no). You'll find the stories give you pause to think, and to reconsider, how you are currently schooling and how changing that method to another worked for others.

You might believe the "me, too" stories are irelevant, but the truth is, those stories are the meat of the book. They don't tell, they show.

This book I recommend for those already homeschooling, but needing to get out of the mindset of book and workbook after book and workbook at set times during the day each week. Even homeschoolers tend to get caught up in the idea of public education and how it's done (though at home). A breath of fresh air by Teri Brown.

Other parents will appreciate and value this book, as well, though if you are completely new to any type of non-traditional education, should read SEVERAL books on unschooling, including Christian Unschooling: Growing Your Children in the Freedom of Christ.

What's inside:
Introduction
What is Unschooling?
~~The Dream and the Reality
~~The Possibilities
~~What Unschooling DOESN'T Mean
~~Different Meanings for Different Families
Why Unschooling?
~~The Lord Made Us Unique
~~How Children Learn
~~The Environment Factor
~~Can Christians be Unschoolers
~~Original Sin
~~A God of Order
~~Teaching Diligently
~~Jesus as Our Model
Getting Started
~~Deschooling VS. Starting Right
~~Journaling
~~Bridging the Gap Between Structure and Unschooling
~~Unit Studies
~~The Charlotte Mason Method
~~When Are You Ready?
Children and Choices
~~By Example
~~By the Book
~~By Prayer
~~By Consequences
The Worth of a Day
~~Examples
~~What Will Your Day Include?
A Round-Up of Ideas
~~Language Arts
~~History
~~Math
~~Science
Teaching VS. Facilitating
~~What is a Facilitator?
Learning to Lean on Spirit
~~Unschooling Christianity?
Records and Record Keeping
Why We Unschool
~~What I Want for My Children (Taylor-Hough)
~~Journeys (Wickwire)
~~A Long Road (Flem)
~~Our Family Unschool (Kronz)
~~Our Journey into Unschooling (Hastings)
~~Unschooling Unchristian? (Muncy)
~~The How and Why of our Homeschool (Moon)
A Day in Our Life
~~Our Own Paths (Chorpinning)
~~A Working Unschool (Rusk)
~~Behind the Mask (Hollingsworth)
~~So What About Prepared Curriculum (Shelton)
~~Unschooling Christianity (Simms)
~~A-Mazing Unit Studies (Goldman)
Guided by the Lord
~~Thoughts on Unschooling the Faith (Ward)
~~Fending Off the Fears (Jeffrey)
~~Our Unschooling Family (Smith)
~~Many Celebrations (Timura)
~~Time Spent with God (Schermerhorn)
What About Support Groups?
~~Start an Unschooling Support Group
~~Your First Meeting
~~Activities
~~Existing Groups
Homeschooling on the Web
Resources




BTW: Seven kids live here, the oldest recently began college and has gained straight A's her first time 'round. She was homeschooled from four years to about twelve, with only a month and a half stint at a private religious school, and unschooled the rest of the time. We did (and do) use books and workbooks and a changeable schedule, but we are in no way opposed to changing any and everything that doesn't work. And that's the beauty of unschooling.

Teraisa J. Goldman
Editor: Get It In Writing! & True Crime Fanatic

I was so excited and relieved to find that there are Christians who hold similar educational beliefs and philosphies as myself. As I enter into the world of unschooling, it's affirming to know that I don't have to be a closet Christian unschooler! This book is inspiring as well as practical and informative -- a quick read too!

I have heard a lot of criticism from other Christians about Unschooling. They really don't understand how a Christian can unschool. This book explains how Christians can unschool in Biblical terms.