Sunday Book review: Guerilla Learning

Guerilla Learning: How to Give Your Kids a Real Education With or Without School, by Grace Llewellyn and Amy Silver

My initial attempt at a review on this book turned more to just my musings on the subject. For more of an actual review of the book, here is an excellent summary by a friend of mine.

Because my family takes an alternative path on education, I sometimes find it difficult to connect with others on the subject of education and particularly, public schools. I long had Guerilla Learning on my to-read list because I am a fan of Grace Llewellyn’s first book, The Teenage Liberation Handbook.

Guerilla Learning, however, is a book written for a much wider readership. As the secondary title implies, it isn’t written for a strict homeschooling audience. If I had to summarize the goal of this book, I would have to say that it encourages parents to deemphasize the role of school in their children’s lives. It’s not saying that children can’t be healthy and happy in a public school setting, but it is saying that when children aren’t healthy and happy, perhaps we, as parents, would be better off focusing on creating an environment where our children are able to thrive rather than asking them to thrive in an environment which isn’t well-suited for all children.

I think of one of my favorite gradeschool teachers. I remember being excited about going to her class every day. I loved that she was always smiling and enthused about being in the classroom. I remember laughing in that class. I remember diving into books and being entirely captivated by the discussions. A few years later, my cousin was a student in that same teacher’s classroom. I was so happy for her. I remember telling her how lucky she was to have gotten that particular teacher. Sadly, my cousin’s experience was anything but positive. She endured, instead, a horrific year of schooling. This teacher who had left me in smiles sent my cousin home from school in near-tears most days. I learned later that the teacher had some unfortunate personal issues in the years between teaching my class and that of my cousin. I don’t know if she was truly a different person than I had dealt with in school, or if it was simply a matter of conflicting personalities between she and my cousin. It was a valuable lesson, however. As well-meaning and passionate as any teacher might be, it is impossible to be a one-size-fits-all personality.

The book goes a bit further, however, than looking at alternatives for children who might not fit easily in traditional school settings. Regardless of what type of educational setting your children are in, the authors look closely at how people best learn and encourage parents to value a child’s interests and individual ability above classroom expectations. It challenges the standard assumption found in schools that there is an age-based timetable learning that children must adhere to, across the board.

A classroom teacher has the enormous task of making sure twenty or so young people acquire a given amount of material in the nine months they are in the classroom. In the effort to maintain that bar, you will have children twiddling their thumbs as some areas of study are covered. They've already mastered that material. Some of those same children might become anxious in other areas because their comprehension of other subjects is not as advanced in the area of their strengths. In an ideal world, each child would be able to focus on his/her own bar, perhaps diving into reading while taking longer to grow comfortable with mathematical concepts. In an ideal school, we would have the time and the resources to follow each child’s individual skill sets and allow them to flourish while honoring their learning styles.

Back to what the book is suggesting, I would have to say that it advocates parental responsibility in the role of education. Rather than relying so heavily on schools as primary educators, perhaps we need to look at schools as just one more resource in the enormous pool of resources available to us in the world. Classrooms are huge consumers of our children’s time and energy. What is happening in the classroom is often given primary importance and this seems to spill out into the few hours that are left for family time, as well.

I once asked a friend if she would like me to pick up her kids from school when she went into labor. I thought they would be delighted to arrive at the hospital so soon after their baby brother was born and I imagined the thrill and excitement would far surpass anything that was happening in school that day. Her answer was that she didn’t imagine the school would “allow” her children to leave. I’d like to believe that she was wrong, but it illustrates for me that families have taken a back seat to schools in our culture and I find the ramifications of that simply chilling. Note that I say schools, not education.

The opportunity for learning is everywhere. It surrounds us. The world is a big place, only limited by what we choose to do with it. Guerilla Learning isn’t saying that every family should homeschool their children. It simply isn’t feasible or possible in every situation. It certainly isn’t even desirable in every situation. But it is possible to say today there is something more important to my child than school. Today I will excuse my child from homework or a class project they are really not interested in because today there is something of higher value going on. It’s possible to say that the grade doesn’t matter. It’s possible to say that this project or passion your child is currently following has higher priority than what a teacher has assigned.

You may not agree, but this is one book I would challenge parents to read, regardless of your educational leanings. It’s another buffet full of things to think about.