There are a million and one methods to homeschooling it seems. Some methods have roots in a particular educator’s philosophy, like Charlotte Mason. Other methods, like eclectic homeschooling, were derived from families not falling into one particular method causing them to create labels for themselves. Of all of the homeschooling methods you can find, probably the most controversial method is the unschooling method.
Unschooling can have different meanings and definitions, depending on who you ask. For the most part, it’s an educational philosophy that kids learn differently. It’s not fair to expect all children to learn at the same pace and in the same manner. The philosophy also insists that kids learn naturally; from life experiences and the everyday things that go on around them, not from textbooks and rigid school schedules.
Proponents of unschooling believe that children want to learn; therefore parents should be facilitators in their education rather than their teachers. Instead of providing them with workbooks or curriculum programs, parents should provide their children with the means to learn about what is interesting to them at that moment. Many people who are critical of the unschooling method, feel like unschoolers are lazy and aren’t providing their children with an education at all. Then you have people who fall somewhere between those two beliefs; either unsure or uninformed about the benefits to being an unschooler.
Some unschooling families are very strict in the “no formal curriculum” belief, and have even gone so far as to proclaim that those families that use a curriculum in any way or form are not true unschoolers. Other families, like my own, feel like they do fall into the unschooling category, even if they use a curriculum. My boys use an online homeschool curriculum. It’s there for them to log into of their own volition and it’s there not necessarily for all subjects, but only for certain subjects (primarily math) where I feel they may need a little more than what they are getting on their own. They can go a few days at a time without logging on, but that most certainly doesn’t mean they aren’t learning during those days.
For instance, they can spend hours (or even days) working on a study of insects. They go outside, find and collect their specimen, research either online or at the library about the life cycles of said specimen and document what they observe. I am there not to tell them what they want to know, or to test them on what they find out, but to help them get online, get to the library and just provide opportunities for them to find what they are seeking for themselves. In this study, they will have worked on reading, spelling, vocabulary, geography, life science and/or biology.
As with anything in life, unschooling has its share of pros and cons. If the method is something you think you might be interested in, give it a try for a few weeks in your own homeschool. Worst case scenario is you go back to what you were doing before you gave it a try. However, you might find that unschooling brings out not only the natural learner in your child, but in yourself as well!