What is unschooling homeschooling

You don't need to invest in new supplies or activities. When practicing child-led learning, parents might worry if their child is actually absorbing the right information.

But Steinmeier stresses that success looks different for everyone—after all, how many adults can recall everything they learned from public school?

For each, the drive to accomplish that goal will drive the development of a better understanding, a deeper engagement, and higher quality outcomes than any external set of standards. Want to learn more information about unschooling? Check out Unschooled , a new documentary film that features the Natural Creativity Center and focuses on the power of children to decide what and how they learn.

The documentary follows the journey of three inner-city high school students, who embark on a journey to change their education. What Is Unschooling? By Nicole Harris May 08, Save Pin FB More. A Guide for Parents and Students. By Nicole Harris. Be the first to comment! No comments yet.

Close this dialog window Add a comment. Add your comment It can be helpful to think of unschooling not as an educational approach but as the philosophy that learning is a natural process constantly taking place. He noted a marked difference between the natural creativity in preschool-age children and the lack of excitement and curiosity in elementary school students and beyond.

Today, unschooling is practiced by people across the world for all sorts of reasons, even within their own families. For our middle child, age 11, the driver is independence: the ability to choose which projects to pursue, books to read, and even languages to study.

Our days typically look like a mix of scheduled activities, some guidance or instructional assistance if needed, and a dedicated amount of time for exploration or personal projects. We have some expectations, such as using technology to support a project or interest rather than endless scrolling, or setting goals that we regularly check-in on, agreed upon together as a family.

Not all unschoolers do this, but this is what works for us. A tool we picked up from our unschool community is the use of contracts to outline those expectations and requests. We use them for everything from resolving conflicts to requests to use certain tools and resources this can help with ensuring healthy use of the internet. They may have a virtual class in the morning, something they may request on their own or something we noticed they were naturally drawn to.

Before the pandemic, for two days a week they would attend Natural Creativity, a self-directed learning center featured in the documentary Unschooled , where facilitators would help support, guide, and assist them in their endeavors program costs are fairly reasonable, and there are financial aid options. An added bonus: This gave me two dedicated days to work without interruption.

Will my kid actually learn anything if we let them do what they want? Will they fall behind their peers? And what happens in the subsequent years when they might want to return to school? For example, my son mastered fractions simply by following his natural interest in cooking, where he learned early on how to double or halve ingredients when making his favorite brownies.

Think about it this way: With a defined curriculum, your role is teacher. Children take the lead, explore subjects that interest them, play, and read; you support with assistance, help connect ideas, or introduce new material that builds on those topics.

On the days where more support, structure, or scheduled interactions are needed, especially for younger children who may need more assistance, there are platforms like Outschool , which offers countless live online classes with teachers and other students. A current favorite is Storybook STEM class, an hour each day that occupies a busy first-grader with a story and a project in science, technology, engineering, or math.

Self-directed centers like Natural Creativity continue to offer virtual community and weekly afternoon activities. There are also co-ops where parents rotate during the week to lead a lesson or activity for a group of children — virtually or socially distanced, of course. But remember, school is designed for efficiency, to educate large groups of students. Homeschool is a different strategy altogether.

And while reporting requirements may vary from district to district, unschooling is a perfectly acceptable homeschool method in all 50 states. Homeschooling in a structured manner doesn't mean that parents recreate the school system within their dining rooms. The learning environment at home between parent and child is informal, yet the effort you take to implement your goals and encourage your child's interests will form a basic educational structure to build on.

Having a structure doesn't mean that you can't tutor in a relaxed manner. All it means is that you, the parent, have made the commitment to take the leading role in your child's education. The Independent Learning Stage is the final stage of homeschooling. Independent learning is present in some degree for all stages, but is most apparent during the mid and late teen years. Consider a teenager who already has a good grasp of the basics.

Appropriately, once he shows self-discipline in his studies, he earns the responsibility of gradually taking charge of his own education. At this point the teen is becoming an independent young man. His structured learning has rewarded him with a broader, integrated context of knowledge and, once again, it makes sense to let him assume more control over his educational choices. The parent properly becomes more of an assistant to help the grown child make the transition to "higher" education, or to study vocationally.

The youth has gained a sufficient knowledge base to evaluate his genuine interests and to follow through in charting a course for a fulfilling career. Some might be tempted to regard this growing independence as unschooling, since the grown child is making more and more decisions on his own. But, he's taking on more responsibility in ALL areas of his life as he matures.

The parents grant the child increasing control provided he demonstrates the accountability to handle it, same as borrowing the car, or going away on a weekend trip with friends. If he's not ready to take on the responsibility for his education, then his parents continue to plan, tutor, and supervise his learning.

When he is ready to take that ball and run with it, the parents are finished with their job of homeschooling. The child has grown up and is able to take steps to pursue his long term goals in life. Homeschooling is and ought to be temporary. Parents teach their kids basic skills so that they learn to think well and to use reason as a guide to action. When a mature child has acquired the skills he needs to know in order to think efficiently, act responsibly, and pursue advanced knowledge independently, he no longer needs his parents to "school" him.

Unschooling i. Some kids are more self-motivated than others, but even so, children don't have a broad enough context to know how to gain knowledge. Many are not inclined to expend the mental energy necessary to learn the basics. If left to their own devices, they'd spend their days building sand castles and playing video games.

Without a parent's commitment to teach them, they will learn some things on their own like all of us do, but they'll likely miss out on acquiring basic skills. They may not even notice their lacking until they are grown; then it may be too late or too embarrassing to go back and acquire the basics. They want to respect their child's interests and not squelch her enthusiasm for learning, yet they also want her to learn about and master certain subjects.

What these parents don't realize is that there isn't any conflict. Teaching doesn't mean forcing information, nor does it mean that parents make all the decisions and the child has no say in her learning. The fact is, children are eager to learn. They long to be taught by a caring, respectful teacher.

Parents can lead and teach, and still respect their child's individuality and unique interests. The ultimate goal of homeschooling is knowledge, not freedom.