Free Range Finnish Education

I read this article on the “Free Range Kids” blog by Lenore Skenazy.  From everything I read of Charlotte Mason, I do believe Charlotte would approve of the educational philosophy described in this article.

High-school students here rarely get more than a half-hour of homework a night. They have no school uniforms, no honor societies, no valedictorians, no tardy bells and no classes for the gifted. There is little standardized testing, few parents agonize over college and kids don’t start school until age 7.  Yet by one international measure, Finnish teenagers are among the smartest in the world.

[cut part of the article and emphasis mine]

Taking away the competition of getting into the “right schools” allows Finnish children to enjoy a less-pressured childhood. While many U.S. parents worry about enrolling their toddlers in academically oriented preschools, the Finns don’t begin school until age 7, a year later than most U.S. first-graders.

I love that their education does not start until age 7 and they do so well academically!!

How is this describing a free range kid?  The article also describes self-reliance in Finnish school children.  The book ”Free Range Kids” helped me let go of most of the worry I felt as a parent, and made me laugh (at myself even) about the over-the-top parenting many of us feel pressured into doing.  I am getting better at filtering things that other people say.  In fact, I’ve become a bit of a rebel and follow the beat of our own drum.  This book is a quick, funny read and yet has enough cold hard facts statistics to set children free.  It’s not about un-parenting.  It’s about creating self-reliant children.

Here is the quote from the article that relates to free range kids:

Once school starts, the Finns are more self-reliant. While some U.S. parents fuss over accompanying their children to and from school, and arrange every play date and outing, young Finns do much more on their own. At the Ymmersta School in a nearby Helsinki suburb, some first-grade students trudge to school through a stand of evergreens in near darkness. At lunch, they pick out their own meals, which all schools give free, and carry the trays to lunch tables. There is no Internet filter in the school library. They can walk in their socks during class, but at home even the very young are expected to lace up their own skates or put on their own skis.

Self-reliance is something we are trying to instill in our children.  We *trust* them to try new things.  I do think “can he die from this?”   If no, then I let him try.  A year ago last January, Ham broke his arm and it needed to be set (he was asleep for that part).  Want to know his risky behavior?  He built a house out of couch cushions, climbed on top and Wingman toppled it. He fell from 30 inches and landed wrong.  We thought about duct-taping him to the couch while he was in an arm sling because he fell on his other arm and required more x-rays.  We didn’t.  He *learned* he needs to be more cautious.  Did he learn this because of the broken arm?  Maybe.  I read that if kids climb a tree on their own power, they do much better than if they get a boost up.  This makes sense.

Keep climbing those trees, son, you can do it!   Your education can wait.  Scratch that, you have already started educating yourself with your ‘satiable curiosity.