why are you unschooling?

sorry to be a pain, I'm new and I'm interested in unschooling..Can I ask how you got into unschooling? And has it been a good decision so far (how ever you want to measure that)?

I am not sure if people "get into" unschooling, or they're just not "into" schooling. I am not a true unschooler, but as a child I found the rigid structure of the institutional environment to be oppressive, and I have no desire to recreate that at home.

[Teribear]

Philosophically I belive that children are born with an intrensic drive to learn...think about it, we don't have to motivate, coerce or coach them into walking or talking do we? As a Christian Unschooler I believe that God created my DD with a particular bent in life and that he also created her with the desire to learn what she needs in order to follow that bent. What I need to do is be her facilitator in the sense that I make sure she's exposed to a rich learning environment (lots of books, our museum memberships, lots of art supplies and science equipment available) and follow where she leads. I help if she needs it. I suggest things that I think might interest her based on my observations of her (but I'm perfectly willing to take no for an answer). But I don't "teach" her in a traditional sense. If she would like instruction in a subject I happen to be knowledgible about I'm happy to share my knowledge with her but I don't sit down and say..."Now we're going to do math. Now we're going to stop and do Science"

The hardest thing about unschooling is trusting this belief when she doesn't do anything but watch TV all day (or so it appears to me). When I've been able to do that successfully she amazes me with what she will demonstrate that she's learned when she appears to be mindlessly watching TV. (My personal theory is that she zones out in order to process what she's been learning previously)

I aspire to unschool because of me. By that I mean, I think about my childhood & education & see this: As a young student I was MOTIVATED to learn independently, if it was something *I* was interested in. I was a book worm, I would take thrown away science books from the school dumpster & read them, I drew and wrote all the time, I read the dictionary & encyclopedias. But as I progressed through the "system" my love of learning quickly became fear of failure. I was afraid that what I wanted to do wasn't the "right thing" and woulden't : !. Please the adults in my life, 2.Make any money . I really wanted to take sewing, body building, art, foreign language, etc... But instead I took Algebra2, Chemistry, College English. I was recieving messages about who I should be, what I should do with my good grades, etc. I didn't think who I really was was good enough. This fear of failure has followed me into adulthood.

Why would I want that for my kids? I don't remember 10% of what I learned in school. I never did go to more than one year of college. What I really want to do doesn't even require college! What a waste of time!! What was important for me to know, I mostly learned the hard way through life experiences & self-education. Why can't I trust my kids to learn through life experiences & self-education? The truth is, when one needs to learn something and they see the real benefit for theselves, they are motivated! How much easier is it for a motivate person to learn than one for whom the curriculum has been pre-decided & artificially imposed? I don't think it can be measured in scores, but in lives lived. And that's why we unschool: to really Live!

We are into relaxed homeschooling....somewhat the same thing, but we have some parental direction. I also believe in child directed learning to a large degree. My son saw birds in our back yard the other day and went to get the bird books and bird call tapes and spent two and !/2 hours "studying" birds on his own. We just live....I don't want to teach "hurry" and "rush" etc. He does take some things outside the home such as tennis, becuase we feel he needs to learn sports and things. he is also required by us to learn to swim, even though his interest is slim to none in swimming. he is not allowed to watch TV much because for some reason he ends up with a bad attitude after watching even the simplest shows. We watch together as a family sometimes. We believe most of the same things Teribear already mentioned so I won't repeat them. But the main thing for us is, God designed my children to be who they are and us to be their teachers and parents and they just absorb the world and learn all the time....walking, talking, reading, etc. Trust is hard sometimes, so I keep alot of Mary Hood books around to keep me from being discouraged. She also sends out a newsletter you can subscribe to. Blessings on this fun journey! Relaxed homeschooling is not for everyone, but God will show you what is right for your family.
Grace and Peace!
Rosie

Thanks for your replies..its so interesting. I agree that we have an intrinsic desire to learn. As I remember, the only things I truly learnt were those things I taught myself, and what I discovererd through a voracious reading appetite.
When I was 10 my Dad schooled me for a year because our family were sailing around Australia. He was horrified to discover that I barely knew any maths, despite fine school report cards (I guess I had already learnt to bluff the system). What I learnt in that one year out of school brought me ahead for 3 following years of school.
I was talking to dh lastnight and while he had some nice memories of school, he still feels upset that one teacher labelled him a troublemaker when actually he was just bright and chatty. She was really hard on him..he was only 7 and it really stayed with him. He has no real faith in the school system and would have no problem with us HSing.
Its such a big decision though. Which I guess is why I'm thinking about it at this early stage.
Can anyone recommend some good reading? I've read a bit of John Holt, and Jan Hunt's little book 'The Natural Child'. But that's all so far.
And also I really go for a Golden Rule-based approach to parenting..any good books on that (OK, apart from the Bible )