What is Unschooling

So for my friend Katie Tepas in Anchorage, AK, and all of you out there who wonder what the heck I am referring to when I talk about unschooling, I want to take a stab at explaining it.

Unschooling is a form of homeschooling. It is essentially child-led learning. An unschooled child is one free to explore whatever interests them. As a parent, I act as the facilitator to their learning. I am really tuned in to what they are curious about and help to provide ways that they can learn more about it if they wish and in ways that best suit them. For me it's all about freedom and in allowing a child or any person, for that matter, to have freedom, they will find what makes them happy. They will find what they are passionate about doing. They will find their calling or callings in life. It's about living a joyful life. It's about doing what makes you happy. It's about finding your genius. There are no limitations to what a person can learn, but schools place many on our kids.

I stumbled upon unschooling as a result of practicing Attachment Parenting (www.attachmentparenting.org). It just seemed to flow naturally from it. I feel that practicing Attachment Parenting took me on a very different path as a parent as the one I had anticipated. In a way, I felt like there was no turning back!

The part of a more gentle parenting style that really led me to unschooling was choosing not to use rewards or punishments with my children--I read a book called Unconditional Parenting by Alfie Kohn which really resonated with me in regards to this subject. I don't want my children to do things because they will be rewarded or punished for them. I want them to really know what they want in life, not to decide what they want based on someone else's arbitrary notions of what is a good or bad choice for them. I believe that children do not need to be coerced to learn--what natural learners they are!--but using rewards or punishments and coerced learning can take away this natural love of learning. Some children end up rebelling against this system and in the process learn to hate learning. Some children comply, and if seemingly outwardly successful, they really don't know what makes them happy or know what they really want to learn. They just learn to please others. I have seen this in my own life as a student and as a middle and high school teacher.

This is just a quick peak at what unschooling is, and I am sure I will add many more posts on this subject!