Unschooling

I’m at the Cleveland Public Library, it is the color of cold, wet steel outside. Ample windows are letting in only a dusky light and the whole place has the ambiance of a tomb. I’m researching (well, really, I’m off task, but I CAME here to research) a new book on performance learning. It is the perfect day to do library research, it’s too dank and depressing to do about anything else unless one is a bird discussing travel plans. Browsing the shelves I found (could it be?) The Idiot’s Guide to Homeschooling. right next to Homeschooling for Dummies.

I’m not against homeschooling, not at all. But it might not be the best course of action for idiots (do ya think?). First they define “unschooling,” which is taking a stand against dry texts. Next the guide recommends filling the home with books. Let the kid fix his own breakfast. Viola, the kid just had an hour in home ec. Then the kid can spend the morning playing with Legos, a lesson in engineering.

Okay, these truly are books for dummies. No joke. And pretty effective, I might guess, at unschooling youth, if anyone were so idiotic as to attempt to put them into practice.