Touchstones

This is a program that we used last year in a very informal co-op with some other unschoolish families.  I kind of miss it this year.  It was fun getting together regularly with liked minded moms and I appreciated the positive experience my teens were having.

This program's goal is to teach and guide students into learning how to think via Socratic discussions.  I led the youngest group.  I did use the program from October through December but I grew uncomfortable with it after a while.  It was too open ended.  Young kids are in a formation period and need clear, safe answers.  They don't do well with ambiguity, I don't think.  I thought the program was trying to rush kids into analytical thinking before they were developmentally ready for it.  It seemed a real strain and the kids weren't having that much fun.  The only lesson they liked was a picture study.  That got them going, but otherwise it felt artificial.  So after Christmas we changed our meeting to a little art club.

The middle school aged kids and the high schoolers continued, though.  I wasn't involved in the middle school group because I didn't have any kids that fell in that age group.  They did seem to have trouble getting those kids going.  It could be that just some of the kids were shy and there was one particular student who was very outspoken and emotional so that became a little strained too.  So perhaps it was just the chemistry of that particular mix of kids.  But again, I think it might be that the kids were just not developmentally ready for it.

The most successful group was the high schoolers, and frankly, I think this is because Socratic methodology and analytical thinking are completely what a teenager's mind is all about!  Asking questions and wrestling with possible answers!  The ages ranged from 14 to 18.  These teens had enough experience behind them and enough information to draw on so that they didn't feel threatened by others countering their views. And their minds actively sought to distinguish and define ideas.  The little tidbit of thought or the ethical issue presented engaged them and got them excited and really thinking.  It was often exhilarating!

The best thing though was what I saw my teens doing after the meeting.  They'd bring up the discussion later with the family at the dinner table.  I'd see them reading Wikipedia on Francis Bacon or thumbing through an old copy of the Dialogues of Plato leftover from my college days.

Now other people might have different experiences with this program.  You might find the elementary and middle school levels are great.  But I really liked it at the high school level for several reasons:

1.  It was a fun time hanging out with other teens!

2.  It honed the students' ability to discuss provocative issues politely.

3.  It enhanced critical thinking.

4.  It didn't require lots of homework from the teens.  They simply came in, read an excerpt or article and then  were asked questions to get them thinking.  The atmosphere was relaxed and encouraging.

5.  It whetted their appetites to learn more on their own.

This last reason really resonated with my unschooling heart.  I was glad we weren't doing some on line class where the kids would have to slog through a course on Aristotle or read volumes of dense language they weren't really into.  To me that's what college is for!  LOL!  I can see that really burdening and turning off a teen.  Not all, of course; some kids are very academically oriented and thrive on that approach.  But mine wouldn't.  Instead the program, in a very enjoyable way, got my kids interested in philosophical and ethical issues and made them want to search out more knowledge on their own.

I liked that.