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+5 votes
I'm curious if anyone can recommend a home schooling curriculum (for a 12 year old) which does not promote blind obedience to the state, and is free of religious and militaristic propaganda etc.


edited to fix tag
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this doesn't answer your question, but i was surfing with this topic in mind and found this article from fifth estate.
http://www.fifthestate.org/archive/388-winter-2013/unschooling-and-free-schools/
they talk about holt's idea that learning should follow the interests of the learners, which seems like it would mean that you would need more specific parameters (ie, what does this 12 year old already like and want to learn more of: using those interests to teach).

teaching/learning/education is very interesting!
deschooling society (a book by ivan illich) had a big impact on me in my teen years...
Thanks dot for the link. I'll read this tonight. I'm just becoming aware of unschooling or deschooling. My real goal is to prevent my son having to spend 20 or 30 years of his life unlearning the nonsense he has be taught so far in school.
this is also not an answer, but it might be worth reading "Wild Children - Domesticated Dreams" by Layla AbdelRahim, who is a green anarchist and a parent of an unschooled child. She uncompromisingly dismantles education and the very concept of childhood as tools of domestication and domination.

I haven't read the book yet completely, but have seen her speak and her ideas are deeply challenging.
don't talk to strangers, just because someone tells you their name doesn't mean they are not a stranger, this includes cops wearing badges with their names, so don't talk to cops, they are strangers.

1 Answer

0 votes
There are a couple of different ways to approach the question of creating an anarchist-leaning home school curriculum. For one, it really depends on where you live in the world. Laws and requirements pertaining to home schooling are different all over.  For example in the USA, I believe each state has their specific education requirements to follow. For example in New York State, there is compulsory attendance between the ages 6 - 16 years of age, except in some cities where it goes to 18. Instructors are also required to preform an annual notification, instruction plans must be submitted, attendance records kept, along with assessments & testing. You can find more information about specific regulations and such by reading up on the State guidelines.

On top of everything, is creating an anarchist curriculum (and then instructing and using it!). The idea of curriculum is a huge subject to tackle and is something that professional teachers spend a large amount of time on (many of them unsuccessfully). Many departments within schools today lack a meaningful and useful curriculum, and even fewer can provide exemplary work. Recently, there has been a lot more discussion and debate on the subject as the common core curriculum begins to be implemented in the USA.

What may an anarchist curriculum look like? It may start with an idea, as in your case "which does not promote blind obedience to the state, and is free of religious and militaristic propaganda etc.". How do you tackle this? For me, I may start thinking about what I want to happen as the instructor. Read up on other alternative educators and schools like Paulo Freire, Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia, the Modern School, Waldorf schools, Montessori schools,  and vocational schools.

Some areas of study:

play / games - everything. Recently some anarchists have written about play and games, see AJODA issue on Play / Games. "The Ideal Game instructs because it is ultimately all there is to experience' " - Alejandro de Acosta

anarchist studies - history and current events through scope of anarchist vision

language - languages are most easily learned by the young, elementary school age and as you get older it's tougher, but a rewarding and important area. so many different languages to learn!

other stuff.
by (1.3k points)
Thank you for your answer. To be more clear, and perhaps this is a long shot, I'm not actually wanting to develop a curriculum, but use or adapt an existing one. For example, the Ron Paul Curriculum has appealing aspects, at least if you find Ron Paul appealing (and I admire him even though he's not an anarchist), but it seems somewhat entangled with Christianity. And, well, government.
I read today of the Robinson Curriculum, which seems to have potential as well. Perhaps I am being lazy, but a "pre-packaged" course of study would be ideal.
I think I'll do some reading on unschooling.
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