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Are you an Unschooler?

© Sonia Fluke

It's a funny thing about people, we just love labels. We love to be able to give a name to oddities, it makes us feel safe. When someone starts to deviate a little from the mainstream, they are looked upon as maybe a "hippy", perhaps "alternate" is used or (my personal favorite) describing them as having "gone ferel"...Homeschoolers are a great target for these labels too, putting them into a box where the rest of the population can recognise them at a glance.

Within the homeschooling community you tend to have two basic philosophies - homeschooling (as in curriculum or structure based) and unschooling (complete natural and child led learning). It was the opposition met by unschoolers, even within the homeschooling community, that led me to write this article. As unschoolers tend to be a little scary to those not accustomed to the idea, let's look at exactly what an unschooler is.

Unschooling is a term used for a family educating away from the usual means. School isn't a part of it, obviously but it's more than that. Children of unschooling families learn from their community, their homes, family, books, games, friends, gardens - basically the world around them. The philosophy of natural learning runs along the same lines as the way in which a baby learns - by doing. Babies learn to crawl, then walk. It is a forgone conclusion that they will learn this and we certainly don't need a trained tutor to assure us of their potential to finish this task, they will do so at their own pace with a minimum of interference. This is the attitude applied to all facets of education by unschoolers - all in their own time.

Did you gently guide your child when he learned to support himself, walk around the furniture and eventually on his own? Did you stand back and watch as he pulled himself up time and again, safe in the knowledge that he will stand alone when he is ready and able? If the answer is yes, then congratulations! You've been unschooling!

If you helped your child along when she struggled with words, not giving her a set of instructions to follow but letting her practice until she perfected it - you've been unschooling! What about when your daughter needed help to ride her bike, or use her rollerskates? Did you say "Here's a book, go learn", or employ a specialist teacher? Of couse not! When your children ask a question born purely out of interest and curiosity, we are available to them to guide them to the information, or help them practice their chosen task.