Unschooling - thoughts?

[Maggie]

What does unschooling mean to you?

Are you an unschooling family?

What are everyone's thoughts on unschooling?

Just very curious.

[Soliloquy]

We're an unschooling family.

To us, it means that we trust that our children will have a desire to learn everything that they need to know. For example, Gracie is already reading very well. Simon doesn't even recognize all the letters. But I know that at some point he will have a desire to read and will either figure it out for himself (as Gracie did) or ask to be taught. Same for all of the other traditional school subjects. If my children never take an interest in higher-level math, for example, I believe that me spending time teaching it to them would be foolish. They could learn it, undoubtedly, and pass a test on it, but would it still be in their brains 3 years later? No. If they have a desire for a career or other adventure that requires math or a foreign language, they will make it happen--they will seek out the info/skills and master it.

I absolutely do guide my children in how to treat themselves and others. We do teach them table manners in a laid-back way, for example.

We strive to lead very rich lives, going lots of places, spending a lot of time outdoors, seeking out new experiences, dramatically limiting TV. I have told DH that I will not allow a video game system into our home unless the kids pay for it 100% themselves.

So, I don't know if that answers your question or not.

One of my favorite books is "Homeschooling Our Children, Unschooling Ourselves" by Alison McKee because it is about their family's journey but mostly about the PARENTS' work at undoing the belief that many of us have that what happens in schools is the standard and we need to make sure our children meet that standard. So, another thing that I try to do is spend time imagining that school doesn't exist. What would I want for my children? What things do they need to be exposed to in order to live rich lives and fulfill God's purposes for them?

[dukeofhazzard]

I've gone back and forth on whether I would call us "unschoolers" or not, and I think the label is accurate. I wouldn't call myself a radical unschooler... although maybe some would .

I love to let my kids learn about what is currently interesting to them, and in a way that makes sense to them. My older DS is very interested in trains and watches documentaries about them all the time - then he writes stories about trains, and the stories basically outline things he learns from the documentaries. I haven't led this AT ALL - it was all him . It's honestly something I wouldn't have though of.

I LOVE it.

[HomeWithMyBabies]

I like to think of us as unschool minded. Just cuz I tend to avoid labels and the expectations that go along with them.

What unschooling means to me is well summed up by this quote: "Knowledge which is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind." (Plato)

[Maggie]

Great quote, Amy! Love it!

April, that is very cool!

Lisa, I especially loved what you said here:

Originally Posted by LisaM

So, another thing that I try to do is spend time imagining that school doesn't exist. What would I want for my children? What things do they need to be exposed to in order to live rich lives and fulfill God's purposes for them?

What a great idea. So deep and yet so practical, too! I can't think about it anymore, though, or my brain might explode. I'm just making fun of myself. I seriously loved your comments about unschooling.

I would call us unschoolers. I think DH wants us to be open to using other methods in the future, which I am (I think ). It seems like the kids are always inquiring about or figuring out one thing or another and I always encourage them to do that (not by making suggestions, though, typically...just by talking about what they're already doing and wondering about). I answer their questions and if I don't know much about it, we look it up. I'm surprised sometimes at how easily and often learning seems to happen. It really is a very natural thing!

I love hearing everyone's thoughts on it. Please feel free to comment even if you disagree with the concept.

[SamRose]

I really like Lisa's quote, too
I like the idea of unschooling, but I dont know if we could be called an unschooling family, since my DH has things he would like them to know by a certain age, in order to feel comfortable w/ homeschooling. My oldest is only 4, so not yet school aged, but I dont plan to use any curriculum in the coming years at all. I want to encourage basic skills, & lean through living. If I had to choose a label, Id say unschool minded homeschooler, or laid back homeschooler

[Maggie]

Originally Posted by SamRose

I really like Lisa's quote, too
I like the idea of unschooling, but I dont know if we could be called an unschooling family, since my DH has things he would like them to know by a certain age, in order to feel comfortable w/ homeschooling. My oldest is only 4, so not yet school aged, but I dont plan to use any curriculum in the coming years at all. I want to encourage basic skills, & lean through living. If I had to choose a label, Id say unschool minded homeschooler, or laid back homeschooler

Our situation is somewhat similar. I think DH kind of wants them to be on track with what others are learning at the same age...if we think it's useful for them. I don't think either of us want to push them at all, though. So...we'll see how things go as time goes on, yk?

I love unschooling. dd is 5.5 and ds1 is 3.5.

unschooling is not uneducating. It is taking every opportunity to pass on a love of learning. We have goals for the school year and are mindful of our children's progress. I am still a teacher to my child, but so is everyone and everything in his life.

We do some school stuff but in an unschooly way. Their lessons are short and direct. DD does 10-15 minutes of seat work a day ( stuff she enjoys doing), unless she's grouchy or we're out for the day, or we do something else instead. My kids are not overfed(with facts and knowledge) and so they remain alert and curious.

We spend most of our day taking part in real life; doing chores, errands, playing outside, going for walks, cooking, visiting, and talking talking talking. ds1 goes long haul trucking with his dad and will likely go more often as he gets older. dd loves to be about town, seeing people at work and talking with them.

Unschooling works. Despite having no curriculum and making only sporadic effort with dd last year, she went from not being able to write her name and not knowing her letter sounds to reading everything in sight, writing complete sentences, and doing addition and subtraction problems. Not that these are the only areas by which to measure learning. Had she not excelled in these, I'm sure the growth would have been seen in some other area. God has given each child an amazing mind. It is such a blessing to be able to watch the small learning miracles that are happening all the time!

[cro]

Originally Posted by LisaM

We're an unschooling family.

To us, it means that we trust that our children will have a desire to learn everything that they need to know. For example, Gracie is already reading very well. Simon doesn't even recognize all the letters. But I know that at some point he will have a desire to read and will either figure it out for himself (as Gracie did) or ask to be taught. Same for all of the other traditional school subjects. If my children never take an interest in higher-level math, for example, I believe that me spending time teaching it to them would be foolish. They could learn it, undoubtedly, and pass a test on it, but would it still be in their brains 3 years later? No. If they have a desire for a career or other adventure that requires math or a foreign language, they will make it happen--they will seek out the info/skills and master it.

I absolutely do guide my children in how to treat themselves and others. We do teach them table manners in a laid-back way, for example.

This describes our family too!

My role is to provide opportunities for learning, which can come from going places, doing things, reading, etc. When my kids have questions, I help them find the answers. If they can figure something out for themselves, they'll never forget it. They WANT to learn about the things that are important to them.

It takes a lot of trust to unschool. You don't have a curriculum or guidelines telling you what your child 'should' know at a certain point. But just as babies learn to walk when they need to, children learn to write/read/do algebra when they need to. Sometimes it can be frustrating when they're not doing things by a certain time, but (at least w/ my kids) that seems to be exactly the time when they surprise you!

[AdrienneQW]

To steal a line from Diane Flynn Keith -

My role is not instructor, but facilitator. Not the sage on the stage, but the guide by their side.

[Marsha]

I am not an unschooler. I may do things more laxly than a rigid curriculum schooler, but my dd likes to know school is school. For instance, if she had an inkling that reading Harry Potter was somehow instructive, she'd probably quit LOL, because that's "her time" as opposed to "school." And she's geekily good at school stuff, too.

I require copywork. I require math work and for us, that means a gasp, workbook. She likes it and does well with it. I guide her study of history with living books grouped around a particular time period. She is required to learn spelling (and it's difficult for her). And we are learning parts of speech and grammar.

Now we spend short amounts of time on lessons. We frequently do lessons at different times of day depending on if something more fun was happening, like a playdate or something.

But I am not an unschooler, and am not on board with the concept. I am so laidback, though, that structure is important to have if for no other reason than to have something to rebel against LOL. So my laidback style of organized learning may qualify me as an unschooler in some more organized people's minds, but I remain....in my mind, at least, NOT an unschooler.

[ServingGod]

We have managed to evolve into primarily unschooling. My kids are 9, 7 and 5. In the beginning I thought we would follow the Classical method...um..it didnt work well for us.

My oldest was not reading at age 7, and I was starting to worry pretty bad...I nearly put him in school at one point. Instead I decided I would back off teaching and just focus on our relationship...sure enough, in a couple months, he DID start to read, within 2 weeks he had learned well enough to read on his own that he was reading chapter books. After that things just took off for him.

My 7yo learned to read on his own when he was almost 4...I have never worried about him academically...he is always ahead of what I would be doing with him if we were structured.

I have found that my kids will learn, and there is no way to keep it from happening. My 9yo recently decided he wanted to write more (internally I was stressing over his lack of writing) He started keeping a journal, and copying sections out of books. I asked him why he was copying out of books and he told me that he feels it would help him be a better writer, learn spelling more quickly and punctuation. He does copywork on his own accord without the struggle I know I would have if I made him. (Im all about finding the easiest path)

One thing I do..is I will pick out books at the library on topics I want them to learn about, and fiction books I want them to read. I lay them out around the house, and they pick them up and read them without fail. Others that I know they wont, that might be too difficult for them I read out loud.

My husband used to be really concerned about our method..or lack thereof...of schooling. But now he asks me to please not structure anything out...because he loves how much they learn and how free their minds are to tackle anything.

[Heather Micaela]

Fo rme I consider myself an unschooler mostly because of the philopy behind it rather than the method used to learn. I believe that if there can be a wide rage of skills and milestones that a baby can reach ( walking at 9 or 18 months are both normal and acceptable) then that variety does not dissapear at age 5. And if a baby learns best by being truly interested in what they are doing, then the same applies to adults and children.

So I unschool with that philosopy in mind. Now within our "unschool" there is a Math U see curriculum and some insistence that they keep working on basic reading skills. However dd reads vouluntarily and ds will shut down if I insist too much.

And like Adrienne quoted, I am a facilitator. As a grown up I am more aware than them what will be useful for them to know in the future. So I will bring them in front of things I think are most valuable. Other than reading and math one other area for me is Geography. I think kids need to have a grasp on who and where they are in the world. And once that foundation is laid, they can build upon it the history they find the most insteresting. (Although I will supply a lot of information about our US government, because that is where we live.)

On other things they lead. They ask a question and we go learn. "Why aren't dolphins fish?" Time to go to sea world

[AngelBee]

Originally Posted by Heather Micaela

Fo rme I consider myself an unschooler mostly because of the philopy behind it rather than the method used to learn. I believe that if there can be a wide rage of skills and milestones that a baby can reach ( walking at 9 or 18 months are both normal and acceptable) then that variety does not dissapear at age 5. And if a baby learns best by being truly interested in what they are doing, then the same applies to adults and children.

So I unschool with that philosopy in mind. Now within our "unschool" there is a Math U see curriculum and some insistence that they keep working on basic reading skills. However dd reads vouluntarily and ds will shut down if I insist too much.

And like Adrienne quoted, I am a facilitator. As a grown up I am more aware than them what will be useful for them to know in the future. So I will bring them in front of things I think are most valuable. Other than reading and math one other area for me is Geography. I think kids need to have a grasp on who and where they are in the world. And once that foundation is laid, they can build upon it the history they find the most insteresting. (Although I will supply a lot of information about our US government, because that is where we live.)

On other things they lead. They ask a question and we go learn. "Why aren't dolphins fish?" Time to go to sea world

This is totally how I see it as well.

I have stopped calling myself an "unschooler" due to the fact in most US circles, I do not belong. We sometimes use curriculum. I do have certain things I think are vital to be worked on, but I am not teaching them so much as guiding them, along with myself, on this journey.

For instance, I have learned more the last year about ancient history and the Bible than I ever had in school. I am learning right beside them!

But I do believe that God interested them to me to guide them by example to become Godly people.