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Unschooling is homeschooling that fits many families
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What is unschooling?
Unschooling is a type of homeschooling that involves a student creating his or her own structure to suit educational needs, rather than imposing a structured curriculum on the student.
Unschooling is also known as unstructured homeschooling, or “life learning.”
“Generally, unschoolers are concerned with learning or becoming educated, not with 'doing school,’” according to www.unschooling.com.
“The focus is upon the choices made by each individual learner, and those choices can vary according to learning style and personality type.”
Unschoolers read, play, sing, dance, grow things and write, depending on their interests. They may build Lego villages to learn math and history, or they may learn geometry in quilt making.
Is this type of education legal?
Each state has its own specific guidelines, some stricter than others, but there are unschoolers in every state.
Personally, I homeschooled for years, and was never quite comfortable with the unschooling method. I wanted to be sure that my children could transition back into the schools if possible, and especially wanted to ensure that they could get into college.
However, a certain portion of my children’s education involved unschooling, and I found it highly effective.
Many people have been very successful at unschooling. In fact, a new book has just been published called “Life Learning: Lessons from the Educational Frontier,” edited by Wendy Priesnitz of Life Learning Magazine.
This book is “a passionate collection of essays from the leading edge of educational theory and practice. It demonstrates how families around the world are embracing the philosophy of unschooling,” according to Priesnitz.
“Non-compulsory, non-coercive, active, respectful, interest-led, family- and community-based learning from life is growing in popularity and will displace prescribed curriculum, standardized testing and the other regurgitation-based relics of our outmoded school system,” she said.
Topics of the book include learning to read and do math without being taught, the importance of unstructured play, learning when you’re ready, the problem with curriculum, trusting children to do their best naturally, a grandparent’s reaction to unstructured homeschooling, learning in the real world, parents as role models, self-reliance in life and learning, how unschooled kids are changing the world for the better, and much more.
Those who believe in this unschooling method are adamant that it is the only way to go.
"I am beginning to suspect all elaborate and special systems of education, says Anne Sullivan on unschooling.com. “They seem to me to be built upon the supposition that every child is a kind of idiot who must be taught to think. Whereas, if the child is left to himself, he will think more and better, if less showily.
“Let him go and come freely, let him touch real things and combine his impressions for himself, instead of sitting indoors at a little round table, while a sweet-voiced teacher suggests that he build a stone wall with his wooden blocks, or make a rainbow out of strips of colored paper, or plant straw trees in bead flower-pots.
Such teaching fills the mind with artificial associations that must be got rid of, before the child can develop independent ideas out of actual experience."
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