Natural Curiosity by Lisa Carne

I must say, I like this book a LOT more than the other unschooling book, the one by the lady that really hates schools. I can't remember the title or author, and I don't really feel like looking for it, but I remember that it was fairly famous.

Anyway, Natural Curiosity is a book on unschooling, based on children's natural affinity and love for things in nature. The book basically posits that you can use nature as a starting base to learn anything, and the author tries to show that through stories about how her children learn. The only thing that I really disagree with is the quote:

"A class rota appeared where the children were occasionally expected to take their turn in sweeping up and cleaning the dinner hall after lunch, which meant missing valuable playtime." 

I can't remember if I've said it on this blog before, but I think that it's good for children to take part in keeping their schools clean (and their surroundings in general). I really do think that by teaching them that they're responsible for cleaning up their surroundings, it's easier to teach them to respect their surroundings. I mean, if they litter (for example), they'll realise that someone has to pick it up, and perhaps it'll help them see that it's best not to litter. Plus, the book itself says "occasionally", so it's not as though the kids were being forced to scrub the school every day.

By the way, as charming as the stories about her family were at first, the "Distraction" sections, which are literally her writing what's distracting her proved to be too much, and I eventually started skipping those and the "Note" sections as well. There can be too much of a charming thing.

I think this was an interesting book, although I still firmly believe that unschooling only works for certain types of children, while school is probably better for others, depending on their character and learning style.

Disclaimer: I got a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a free and honest review.