Living Free, Learning Naturally: Another Choice for Educating Our Children

While most are familiar with the terms “homeschooling” and “private education”, the term “unschooling” isn’t nearly as well known. The concept of unschooling embraces “child led learning”. Unschoolers are of the belief that a child is capable of chosing what they are interested in at that particular stage of their development. They believe that simply by living their every day lives, children are constantly learning from their surrounding environment.

Many parents who home educate their children simply duplicate the very thing they have removed their child from. Johnny must sit in his desk at precisely this time each day and follow a schedule of given subjects. Sometimes homeschoolers even place their children in co-ops where Mothers take turns teaching the various subjects. But once again, isn’t this merely duplicating what the public school system does.

A child may have just begun on a particular project and enjoying it, only to be told that is time to move on to the next subject/project. It is a proven fact that we all learn more when we are doing something that we enjoy doing. Shouldn’t the child be allowed to explore and experience various subjects at his own leisure instead of on someone else’s timeline? The child will be more likely to retain the knowledge he gains if he is interested rather than having an adult tell him what his interest needs to be at that moment.

Unschoolers could be called relaxed home educators, I suppose. Some of us are more relaxed than others. We strew learning materials in our children’s path from the beginning. Puzzles and books are found on and under coffee tables. Our children are not forced to do anything with the materials, however they are encouraged to explore for themselves. Crayons, markers and drawing paper are always available in order for the child to develop their creativeness. Posters with educational information may be posted throughout the house.

So called “field trips” happen on a daily basis. Sometimes the trip may be out to the backyard, observing nature. Sometimes we even journal our activities as it is fun to come back to it later and discuss our discoveries. Sometimes a trip to the grocery store becomes a field trip. We learn how to compare prices by checking the tabs beneath the items for “price by weight”. Self checkout is also a fun learning experience for younger children. Trips to the library can be both fun and educational.