I read the recent thread "the 7 lesson teacher" and ended up learning more about Mr. Gatto. A comment on one of the pages I read about him included a link to an article about the Sudbury Valley School which is completely student led. The adults at the school are more there as resources than anything. The students vote on issues, they staff a judicial council, they direct their own learning, and even raise money for extra costs for their interests.

In the homeschool world, the closest method to this school is Unschooling, as far as I can see.

My ten year old will be in 5th grade this year. I am trying to decide how to adjust his education for the best possible outcome.

This year and last we skipped the ITBS and used the CAT for assessment. He did alright but not stellar. The one area he excelled at was science. This is an area in which he is mostly self taught. He is very interested in anything scientific, and when asked what subject he wanted to learn last year he chose astronomy. So, to me, this may be evidence that self motivated learning is better for him because he is learning what he is ready and willing to learn. There is still a good chunk of me that feels nervous about this, however, because I want to make sure he is keeping up with the rest of his age mates.

Has anyone here used an Unschooling type method? Any suggestions or opinions on the validity of the various methods?

I spent more time focusing on this child than my five year old this past year. I didn't spend nearly as much time as I wanted teaching him to read. Yet, he is reading fairly well for a six year old, IMO. I feel he picked up much of his knowledge from observing me teach his brother. Both kids picked up quite a bit from PBS kids shows as well. They really like the science shows like WildCrats, and they also like Word Girl and Maya and Miguel. I don't plan on PBS shows being their education, but the point is, they will learn what they are ready to learn, they just gravitate towards it.

So, the evidence is compelling, but is it sufficient to warrant a change? I am in the research stage right now, and I value the opinions of veteran homeschoolers, so I would love to hear your thoughts.