Un/Homeschooling

Lesson 5: Learning Experiences

Organized Classes

When your children express an interest in learning a skill that you do not possess, outside classes may be an option. Classes may cover theater, music, dance, gymnastics, art, sports teams, martial arts, language, computer programming, math, etc. As an unschooling family, however, you may worry that structured learning activities might act to inhibit your child’s natural curiosity as schooling might.

“In fields such as ballet or martial arts, where instruction is carefully sequenced to develop physical skills, unschooled kids usually adapt fairly well; it’s easy to understand the reasons for the mandated progression. You’ll just need to choose the particular style that interests your family.

”But other skills can be acquired in more flexible ways. Your unschooled child may have definite ideas about what she wants to learn and how she wants to learn it, and finding a teacher willing to consider and work with those ideas may require more time and effort.” - Mary Griffith.

A variety of classes may be offered by your local recreation district, charter schools, cooperative public school, homeschool group, community college, craft store, art gallery, dance company, museum, science center, nature center, etc. Additional sources include private instructors, student tutors, mentor programs, correspondence courses, online classes, etc.

Classes taken through community colleges, cooperative public schools, charter schools, and accredited private schools may offer school credit to homeschoolers for those courses completed should your child wish to earn credit.

Your choices for classes may include group classes, private classes, classes for specific age groups, classes for all ages, adult classes that allow teens, etc. You may wish to request a trial period to determine whether or not the class is a good fit for your child. Your child should continue to enjoy her learning, to feel that she does it for herself, even in a structured setting.

Local homeschool groups can often provide listings of class opportunities in the community that are open to homeschoolers. My local group’s website lists business that give home educator discounts as well as a lengthy list of classes and activities of interest to homeschoolers. The list includes volunteer opportunities, educational enrichment programs, recreation and sports, arts, dance, theater, etc. Our local public library offers a class specifically for homeschoolers to learn to use the library’s resources for research.

You can also browse your local yellow pages for businesses that might provide learning opportunities to your child. Besides the many businesses specifically offering classes, local professionals are often willing to be interviewed by students, and some may be interested in mentoring.

If your child is interested in a particular career or career area, an interview with a professional can provide realistic information about that career and related careers. Many children know, for example, that they want to work with animals, but they may not be aware of the wide variety of career possibilities within that area. Mentoring, somewhat like an apprenticeship, can be a great opportunity for your child to try out a career.

The unschooler uses classes and other traditional educational resources as she uses any other experience, object, or helper to pursue her learning. She approaches it not with the expectation that the teacher will cause her to learn, but that she will learn from the experience.

“Education must be of such a quality that it will train students in intellectual self-reliance and make them independent thinkers. If this were to become the chief aim of learning, the whole process of learning would be transformed. The present school syllabus contains a multiplicity of languages and subjects, and the student feels that in every one of these he needs the teacher’s help for years together. But a student should be so taught that he is capable of going forward and acquiring knowledge for himself. There is an infinite sum of knowledge in the world, and each one needs some finite portion of it for the conduct of his affairs. But it is a mistake to think that this life-knowledge can only be had in any school. Life-knowledge can only be had from life. The task of the school is to awaken in its pupils the wish to learn from life.” - Vinoba Bhave, an educational philosopher born in the Indian state of Maharashtra in 1895, identified by Ghandi as his spiritual successor.

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