Unschooling - in Home Schooling

Unschooling (also sometimes referred to as "natural learning", "child-led learning", "discovery learning", "autodidactic learning", or "child-directed learning") refers to individual self-education. Unschooling is the most fluid style of home schooling. Under unschooling education, parents may act as "facilitators" and may provide a wide-range of resources to their children.

Proponents of unschooling have a variety of reasons to support their position. A common belief underlying their reasoning is that curiosity is innate and that children want to learn what is necessary to become an adult. Some argue that institutionalizing a child in what they consider a factory model public school, or any form of compulsory schooling, is an inefficient use of a child's time.

Proponents contend that compulsory schooling education is made to be "one size fits all" and is oppressive for forcing a child to learn regardless of his or her interests. Proponents also claim that individualized, child-led learning is more efficient and respectful of a child's time, takes advantage of a child's interests, and allows learning and deeper exploration of subjects than what is possible in formalized education.

The subject matter is less important than the child learning 'how' to learn. This ability to learn on one's own makes it more likely that later, when the child is an adult, he or she can return to any subject that they feel wasn't sufficiently covered and learn the material.

A model similar to unschooling, using the child-led learning approach, is sometimes used in schools, such as the Sudbury Valley School. A similar model is also used in higher education as a free school or open learning approach, such as at Bastiat Free University.

With Unschooling there is no curriculum and no set boundaries. Many parents feel a bit apprehensive about such freedom. But, even unschooling has certain guidelines that make it a great method of home schooling.

Firstly, allow your child to express interests. Let her select the topic. If she wants to learn about flowers, tell her about the various flowers, their functions, parts of the flower, rare flowers etc. But don't go overboard. Allow her the freedom to stop when she has had enough. This process of learning may take a month or a day. It is up to the child to decide how much she wants to learn.

Expand your child's areas of interests using videos, books, magazines, puzzles and games. Go to a museum or take her to a library.  Simultaneously, broaden your own interests. The more you know, the more the child gets to learn.

Notice all opportunities for learning. When in the kitchen, point out the vitamins in fruits and vegetables. What makes tomatoes red, and why are leafy vegetables good? If you don't know the answers, don't worry. Look it up. Lastly, don't worry if the going seems slow. This is just the way kids learn. Give them time and lots of encouragement.