Unschooling is Not a Box

Unschooling is interest based learning where children naturally learn from their environment and are trusted to learn what they need to learn to succeed in life.  Parents act as a resource person and role model to help educate their children in a respectful manner.  Unschooling will often look different with each family.  This blog includes my family's approach to the unschooling philosophy.  I will sometimes include ideas and challenges and sometimes I will include a blog of an actual day or event of our unschooling family.  Feel free to follow my blog if you would like to learn more.  Thank you for taking time to read my blog!

I was discussing the term unschooling with my husband today and we have discovered that when we tell people we are unschooling, some will automatically place us into a box, including other unschoolers.  However, unschooling is a very free, open, interesting way to learn.  We do not just sit around and let our children play video games everyday, nor do we allow them to act like spoiled brats.  We set parental boundaries with them to help them learn how to live in this world of ours.  We do not own any video games.  I was on an unschooling Facebook group and if I ever would suggest anything that required any type of parental influence on our children in any way, we suddenly were not unschoolers, so they seemed prejudice against us because we were not unschooling as they do; therefore, this is not an approach we are using.  Then on the other end of the spectrum, a group of public school teachers, such as a few people from my family are offended that we are unschooling because they think that our children are not learning because they are not sitting in a classroom or following a preset curriculum.  So a concept that is so freeing and positive still is placed in a box.

As human beings, I think we are programmed to be boxed thinkers even if we are trying to do something that is freeing.  We are taught to generalize and not be independent thinkers.  We are taught to follow the crowd per se, so anyone who approaches a concept differently than we do, we may start to judge, when in reality, this is ridiculous.  The world does not fit inside a box and neither does unschooling.  Unschooling is child lead, interest based learning and this can be anything.  If a child says they want to learn algebra or geometry, the parent will get them a book so they can learn this.  If I child wants to learn to read, a parent will get a book or curriculum to help them learn this.  If a child loves art, the parent will supply them with art supplies, look up techniques or sign their child up for an art class.  In our case, if a child wants to learn about Orangutans or great apes, we will visit zoos, look up documentaries and find books and articles about Orangutans and great apes.  The 2,  4 or 7 year old child cannot do this type of research on their own, so this is where the parents come in.  They are the ones to research and find resources so the child can learn what they want to learn.  If a child says they want to go to college to become a counselor, teacher, doctor, scientist, computer scientist, mechanic, engineer, architect, etc., the parent will help them learn about all the requirements they need to meet to get into college to study what they are interested in  learning to create a career for their adult lives.  This is unschooling.

 It is not permissive parenting, which can be neglectful.  It is living life and learning from the environment.  It is thoroughly researching all interests and trying new things.  My son was in ballet and in the Nutcracker twice, he played T-ball, and now is exploring soccer.  He is not going to be good at everything he tries, but if he is interested in trying anything, I will do my best to find a way for him to do it.  This is what life is about.  This is how extracurricular activities work and learning in general.  You never know anything until you try and unschooling is an open approach to allow children to try and explore anything they want at their fullest potential.  For example, my two year old son showed signs that he wanted to paint yesterday, so I set up the easel outside, let him pick out some paints and let him go for it, so he spent time painting what looked sort of like colorful Winnie the Pooh.  He was inspired to do this, so by paying attention to his goal, I was able to follow his inspiration and allow him to lead me to how he wanted to learn.

There is no box with unschooling, so this is what causes confusion.  It is difficult to think about something without a box around it.  I am hoping we will be able to use this approach through college, but there may be a point where we switch to a different approach or even send our children to school for a while if they choose to do this.  However, I am very excited that we have the opportunity to do this with them now and hopefully we will be able to continue with this throughout their childhood.  We are living outside of the box, but we are still living as members of our society by following rules and doing what we need to do to contribute.  This is unschooling.  Learning is everywhere.