Educational Approach: Unschooling

Unschooling as a method is hard to define because of the personal flavors that each family brings to it and the fact that there is no set curriculum to follow. In fact one of the very things that sets unschooling apart is the typical lack of a curriculum. Unschooling is not be confused with what is sometimes referred to as “relaxed” or eclectic schooling; where parents/teachers use real life experiences rather than books to education children. Unschooling is called child-lead, delight-driven and natural or independent learning. The student is the one in charge of the direction of the learning process, they control the structure. Families of faith who use this method might call it God-directed and believe that God will lead their child to the information/experiences that they will need for their life.

Parents are very heavily involved; they are simply not choosing what the child will learn. Parents are responsible for exposing children to life and creating experiences and situations that children can then choose to explore further; unschooling is not unparenting! If it is parent-led then some will say it is not unschooling, even if the focus and goal is still the same, while others are more flexible in their definition. Parent-led unschooling would still be concerned with a child’s interests but the parent would choose to pursue that interest or not and what resources to use.

Unschooling has an emphasis on learning with “real world” situations and books (reading manuals instead of readers) but does not exclude the use of texts or curriculum if the child chooses it. It is more concerned with how to learn or love of learning than completing certain competencies. It is assumed that everyone has gaps in their learning and no education is complete. Therefore it is more important to build the ability to learn and a love of learning in a child than any set standards of education.

History:
John Holt coined the turn in 1964. He originally used the term for anyone who took their kids out of the public school system to educate them at home. Over time the word “homeschool” has taken over this meaning and the term unschooling is used as a particular method of homeschooling.

Sample day:
Because this method of schooling is more a lifestyle than standard of practice, unschooling homes will differ dramatically from each other! Days are spent doing normal household chores, play is encouraged (and usually more imagination-based toys are provided) and children are encouraged to learn simply by the environment created around them.

This is only one example:
Sara is out playing in the back yard and finds an interesting leaf. She brings it inside and asks her mother to identify the tree from which she got it. Her mother pulls out a nature guide on trees and the two of them use the reference system of the book to identify the leaf. During this time the mother might point out the system of classification; how leaves are shaped, how leaves are places on a branch, the bark, the difference in seasonal observations. Sara then takes the book in the back yard and tries to use the system set up in the book to identify more trees or she loses interest and moves on to something else. The mom may offer that grandpa is an excellent source for information about trees and plants and plan to visit him so that Sara can ask other questions. The mom might offer to take Sara to the library to get more books on the life cycles of plants. The mom would hopefully offer to come out with Sara to look at the trees with her.

The point is that the mother took a teachable moment and used that moment; including showing Sara how to access more information on her own next time. The mother also allowed her child to decide what was worth her time and attention.

What it is not:
Unschooling is not staying home all day and expecting your child to entertain or educate themselves. Unschooling is not about withholding discipline or boundaries. Unschooling is not about letting children run loose or unsupervised. Different families will take different approaches with these issues just as families will typically vary in approaches to discipline and boundaries. Unschooling does not mean that parents never measure their child’s knowledge of a subject though tests or other tools of mastery are generally not used.

Pros:

• The goal is that children learn to love learning! They carry this with them and continue to learn their whole life through.
• Low pressure to find the perfect curriculum or text book for your child and for their age level.
• Studies have shown that if a question is answered when it is ask, as opposed to being put off for the “right time”, that a person is more likely to remember the answer. You learn better when you are interested in what you are learning.
• Freedom in understanding that no education is complete and to trust that your child will learn what they need to know for their life.

Cons:

• Parents need to be dedicated to helping children dive into what ever they want to learn. They need to know the answers or at least where to find them. This can take up a lot of time.
• If you don’t have a great library system it can get very expensive to keep up with the necessary resources, books, and experiment equipment to satisfy your child’s curiosity of a subject.
• Pressure from those who think that learning has to be in a certain order or cover certain subjects. This can include internal pressure as parents deprogram themselves in their priorities.
• For larger families this could become more difficult as their children’s interests may vary widely and outside activities pile up.

Prepared by Tamara Kaufman

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