12.09.06
An unschooling story
My daughter, FyreGoddess, just accepted a new contract doing more accounting - something she really doesn’t want but is accepting rather than be unemployed right now. It reminds me of her first year back at public school after years at The Albany Free School, a very alternative school. She had the incredible bad luck to get a math teacher who believed in teaching the lesson for the week on Monday then giving worksheets and homework for the rest of the week. Fyre was not only not used to this style of teaching, but it made her “unlearn” the lesson. She went to her math teacher and asked to make a deal. The deal was that he would let her do whatever she wanted during his class period, and if she could pass the test on Friday without doing the worksheets and homework, she could continue the next week doing whatever she wanted during that class period through the end of the year. If at any time she failed the test, she would do the work. That afternoon I got a call from him telling me that he “wanted to teach her a lesson” and wanted my permission to approve the deal. He was very snide about the whole thing, so I, chuckling to myself, told him to go right ahead. I thought a lesson was certainly in order. Fyre, true to form, spent the rest of the year doing all of her homework for her other classes and reading many wonderful books. In June, I got another call from him, thanking me for letting the deal go through. He told me he was reevaluating his style of teaching as a result of this experience. Fyre always was a go-getter and still is. Go get ‘em, Fyre!