"Mom called what we did 'unschooling'..."

"... a concept championed by the home-schooling pioneer John Holt. She agreed with his assertion that 'schools are bad places for kids,' or at least for a certain kind of kid; my brother Aaron, she decided, was better suited for public school and was sent off on the bus each morning. I, on the other hand, was a 'creative global learner,' and Mom said that she was going to give me a 'free-form education' in order to 'pursue passions.' Other than math, which I began to do by correspondence course, I mostly spent my days with her visiting shops, libraries and restaurants of our rapidly-growing suburb, or else having 'project time' — drawing superheroes, rereading my David Macaulay and Roald Dahl books, or writing short stories.... Mom had been going through a hard time — ever since we’d moved to Plano, Texas, her social life was dim, her career as a children’s magazine editor had been put on hiatus, and her own mother had begun a long decline into dementia — but... 'You are better than any grown-up, Stef. You are more than all I need'...."

Writes the novelist Stefan Merrill Block, in "Home-Schooled Kids Are Not All Right" (NYT).

Here's his memoir, "Homeschooled" (commission earned).

I'm interested in seeing "unschooling" again. I've blogged about it over the years— in 2006, 2016, and 2022 — and even wrote a law school exam about it. Here's my old exam:

In State X, which is facing severe budget problems, people are fascinated by high-tech solutions and intrigued by the concept of unschooling.* After much public debate, a political party promising to end public schools wins a landslide election, takes over the state legislature, and promptly passes legislation ending the state’s compulsory schooling requirement and cutting all funding to local school districts. The idea and intent of this legislation is to cause the local school districts to close all of their public schools, and it is likely that, in this political climate and without any state funding, no locality in the state will retain its public schools. It is well understood that one consequence of this change is the loss of all of the federal spending that is designated for public schools.

Here's what will take the place of public schools. State X already provides free WiFi internet access to all of its citizens, and it will provide laptop computers to all school age children. Pursuant to the philosophy of unschooling, it is believed that the children, facilitated by their parents, will pursue their education via the internet or in whatever other manner they choose, such as by reading books or through work or play.

The state is funding the creation of what should be an excellent, state-of-the-art educational website, with readings, video lectures, lessons, and contact with teachers, that will be freely available to the children who want to use it. The website will also allow students to organize sports and other “real world” activities. A majority of parents, children, and taxpayers in State X are very excited and hopeful about this innovative and cost-effective approach to preparing young people for life as adults in 21st century.

Huge numbers of teachers, administrators, and other public school employees are about to lose their jobs. An organization that represents their interests would like to file a lawsuit in federal court. Its lawyers have a theory that children have a federal constitutional right to free education in public schools. Can the organization file the lawsuit in its own name or should it find particular plaintiffs whose rights are — according to the theory — about to be violated? Can some of the teachers who are about to lose their jobs serve as the plaintiffs? If the new program will not go into effect until 2 years from now, must they wait or can they sue now? Answer these questions in terms of current doctrine, and, once you have done that, discuss whether, given this doctrine, the courts, in this case, will be able to perform the role that properly belongs to courts in our system of separated powers.

Many Americans are shocked at the impending abolition of schools in State X and worried that other states — with their own budget crises — will turn to the high-tech “unschooling” approach. They are putting pressure on Congress to do something to stop this radical experiment and force (or induce) the states to retain traditional public schools. As noted above, the state accepts that it will not receive the federal funding that is offered for public schools, but does that necessarily mean that Congress cannot use the spending power to induce the states to retain its public schools? Can Congress use the commerce power to require the states to have public schools? Answer these questions in terms of current doctrine, and, once you have done that, discuss whether, given this doctrine, Congress, in this instance, will be able to perform the role that properly belongs to it in our system of federalism.

Now, let’s say the courts do not stop State X from embarking on its experiment, and Congress does nothing to stop it. State X — and States Y and Z — go forward with the abolition of public schooling. These states resolve their budget problems, and there is a good deal of evidence that the children are doing reasonably well, especially in one respect: childhood obesity has been entirely eliminated in all three states. Health experts attribute this striking benefit to freedom from the restraints of the classroom and freedom from cafeteria and vending-machine food. Some members of Congress are beginning to think that the State X approach is so good that it should be imposed on all of the states. Analyze the federalism values at stake in this proposal: To what extent is this idea different, in terms of the proper role of Congress in our constitutional system, from the proposal in the previous paragraph?
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* According to Wikipedia, “Unschooling is a range of educational philosophies and practices centered on allowing children to learn through their natural life experiences, including child directed play, game play, household responsibilities, work experience, and social interaction, rather than through a more traditional school curriculum. Unschooling encourages exploration of activities led by the children themselves, facilitated by the adults. Unschooling differs from conventional schooling principally in the thesis that standard curricula and conventional grading methods, as well as other features of traditional schooling, are counterproductive to the goal of maximizing the education of each child.”