Are you leaving public schools because of a negative experience? If so, Unschooling as a form of homeschooling may sound pretty intriguing.

Or – do you like structure and systems and quite frankly believe that this may as well be called “The School for the Lord of the Flies”? Before you click out of this post, I hope you are willing to hear a little more before throwing it to the island for survival of the fittest. (By the way, I read Lord of the Flies for the first time recently. I recommend it for the sake of really understanding the phrase – but I’ll admit it wasn’t one of my favorites.)

The basic idea

Even though “Unschooling” sounds like we are just giving up our children to their own devices, it’s really not. At its core, Unschooling represents turning away from all the traditional requirements, systems, and chronologies of traditional school, and moving toward a child-directed learning experience.

Whew – when I go back and read that it sounds so fluffy. Here’s the nitty-gritty – kids learn what they want to when they want to. It comes naturally through play and discovering interests. We help them along the way.

Unschoolers may spend the early years in a more play-based environment. Learning to count happens when playing their favorite toys. Reading may be centered around a favorite topic. As children get older, their current interests become the springboard for their studies. As a result, one child may dive deeply into research on sharks, while another may dwell on skateboarding. This may sound a little like Unit Studies, and in some ways, it is. But Unschooling is definitely more child-directed in terms of selecting the topic and guiding the learning.

Learning comes naturally through play and discovering interests. We help them along the way.

There is literally no set curriculum for Unschoolers. Your day just revolves around the family unit – chores and responsibilities, exploring your town, engaging in games, movies, and books. Learning happens as children pursue their interests and you guide them to appropriate resources.

If you are intrigued, I encourage you to read what this looks like in a real unschooled homeschool. You can see there is a lot of learning and a lot of enjoyment in their daily lives.

Drawbacks

The drawback here is that if your child doesn’t have the drive to do anything but watch TV or play video games, you may find that it won’t work so well for them. If you don’t function well without structure and systems, it may be too stressful for you. 

You may also risk educational gaps unless you intentionally direct your child to areas they are weak in.

But that’s not to say you shouldn’t try it. In fact, this method may be useful to understand for all of us. Life happens. Family members experience emergencies. Sometimes we need to have the confidence that we can step away from our schedules and curricula and know that our children will still be learning.

Resources to learn more

John Holt from Growing Without Schooling has a number of articles and books that can give you a better understanding of how this all works.

Thomas Jefferson Education – whether you want to Unschool or not, consider signing up for the free video series and read the articles – you’ll get some inspiration for teaching your children no matter what method you are using.

If your child is very self-motivated, and you want to be able to dive deeply into whatever interests them (rather than following a general set of standard topics), this method may work for you. If you want to read about other methods, click here.