Our Unschooling Adventure - which officially started in Lowell in the Fall of 2005 - now continues in Berlin.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

"A Well-Rounded Education Doesn't Have to Start with College"

Much of what I learned in school or college was useless. I did not choose it and had no investment or interest in it. Our emphasis for our kids' learning is always going to be to make it personal, relevant and real. Needless to say, I agree with this article completely.
...I have some advice for talented high school students: Don't go to college.

And advice for talented college graduates: Don't get a job.

Of course there is a caveat. You should do both of them eventually, just not right away. Take a year off, either after high school or after college.

Use that year to do something interesting that you'll likely never be able to do again: write a book, hike the Appalachian Trail, live with your grandparents, trek in Katmandu, volunteer at a health clinic in India, or serve your country in the military.

Just do something that will make you a more complete person. I suspect that it'll also make you appreciate your education more (and, ironically, make you more attractive when you do apply for college or enter the job market).

Chef Aseem Salad

Manisha and the kids planted cherry tomatoes in one Earthbox (which have worked out well for us, by the way, even though we have not made real good use of them) this year. The kids have taken good care of them - all you need to do is water them every day. Now the tomatoes are ripening, and we are getting deluged with fresh, juicy, red tomatoes right off the vine. It's a great problem to have! Yesterday Aseem created a salad using the cherry tomatoes. He does not know how he got inspired, but the resulting dish was just wonderful!
  • cherry tomatoes chopped in halves
  • peanuts
  • raisins
  • yogurt
  • salt to taste
Just mix and eat!