Woodbury teen (un) schooled in ways of the world REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
BY MATT JOHNSON

“I really got a sense of being a self-learner,” he said. “When you’re unschooled, you never stop learning just because you leave the classroom. I know how to seek the information that I want, and that’s huge in college.”

But while he was able to gain a solid fundamental knowledge of English and science, as he spent time with friends he began to realize that there were gaps in his education — such as higher math.

“I was hanging out with my friends, and they were talking about something that had to do with math and I had no idea what they were saying,” he said. “I started working harder to keep up with them.”

Berkowitz said his passion for information technology and the desire to keep up with his friends pushed him to dive into math more seriously than he had. He developed his own curriculum for learning algebra, but found that teaching himself more complicated concepts like geometry were beyond his means.

That realization drove him to a place he had never before stepped foot in — a classroom.

The article specifically asks for comments regarding unschooling:

What do you think of unschooling? Do you think it can work with the right child? Share your comments using the form below.

ht to Judy Aron of NHELD

Connecticut-On being a “self-learner”

Apparently, Connecticut homeschoolers dodged more than one legislative bullet this past session.

• Journal Inquirer, Manchester, Connecticut, 11 May 2006, Conservatives find fault with legislative session

  “The session was more important for what it almost did than for what it did,” said Deborah Stevenson, the executive director of National Home Education Legal Defense, a home-schooling advocacy group.

  Stevenson was talking about bills that would have required preschool for 3- and 4-year-olds, and other measures the General Assembly opted not to pursue.

Connecticut bill for preschool