Unschooling/Natural Learning

[Rouge]

This thread is for all members who have chosen the path of unschooling to share and discuss their journey. Please read the following guidelines of this thread before posting.

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[SunnyRain]

Thank you, this will be a great and informative thread for those of us who choose a different path for our children.

Who else is considering or has chosen this option?

[BrightSparkles]

This may seem really naieve of me? What is natural learning/unschooling??

[M D]

My Dd goes to school next year and although that will be the style we have chosen I am very intested to hear others stories. I have recently had a light bulb moment where I realized I can teach my children at home but without the structure of doing x for y minutes z times a day. I came across a blog of a lady who unschools her children. Reading her blog really opened my eyes to this style of learning. I can't wait to hear your stories.

[SunnyRain]

Sunshine: it's difficult to explain because it requires a mental shift. One of these days I'll sit down and compose an eloquent response.

However, unschooling is a philosophy that centres around the ideas that:
1. A child learns in their own way, in their own time, according to their own interests.
2. A child learns without being taught, they learn to crawl, walk, talk, think, feed themselves, act independently etc.
3. Learning does not begin at the age of 5 at school and end at the age of 18, but begins at birth and never stops.
4. We don't necessarily retain, use or require most of what is taught to us externally, but what we learn through exploring our personal interests, we will retain and find a use for.
5. (requiring a total change of mindset) We should only ever really need to learn that which will help us achieve our dreams in life. Do we want our children to be like us, working jobs we don't really love, or do we want them to discover their passions and pursue their dreams?

Note: dreams, passions, interests are flexible and change throughout our lives, and it is our prerogative to pursue new dreams, learn new tricks, gather new knowledge when we want to.

Unschooling does not deny a person a right to attend classes, college, university in order to achieve a dream that requires specific qualifications or complex knowledge. However, it is not up to parents or other educators to choose what a child/ teen/ adult studies.

There are many resources available for independent learning. Google Khan Academy, for example.

There, that's a start. As I said, it takes a mental leap to consider not sending your child to school or even formally homeschooling them in any structured way.

[Butterfly Dawn]

we have just pulled ds2 out of school for health reasons and I will be following his natural interest in things.
I taught briefly at a kindy and I find it rewarding to semi structure our day.
I guide him through our daily life, explaining and teaching and following up with more things he enjoys. he's very creative and loves to make "machines" out of whatever he can find.
every day I have a rough idea of what I want to teach him and make sure we get outside into nature as much as possible.
I'm finding him becoming more settled in himself. but this is a temp thing just to get his immune system a break.
ds1 however is totally different and this kind if learning doesn't suit him. he needs the regiment of school

[SunnyRain]

That's interesting, dt. Your ds1 doesn't mind that he goes to school while ds2 is having adventures with you?

[Butterfly Dawn]

he did for a few days but ds1 loves school. ds2 does as well but he really needs to be stronger and healthier to go. its was showing good response with his behaviour- til I had to be away for 2 days and left them with mil. now back to start again.
I make sure I do stuff with ds1 when he's home. so he doesn't feel jealous.

[Shanti]

Happy to see this thread started! great to see a few people posting in here too.

DD is only 3.5years so not old enough for school yet but once she is, we will be 'home educating' which is what I like to call it because that's what we're already doing now I understand the term unschool/natural learning and we'll be doing this however to family and friends we call it home education because it's just easier for others to understand it!
We're so excited about all the natural learning we will be doing including what we already do with the girls and they're only 1yrs and 3yrs. Museums, beaches, rainforest walks, etc there is so much to learn out there in the environment and real world. Our kids are learning ALL the time. It's impossible to inhibit their learning as they are such curious little things. I love how natural learning/HE allows the child to learn at their own PACE. That's really important for me. We plan to record daily the things we do. Lots of unit studies so if we went on a walk and found lots of insects for example, we would then go to the library and get a book on insects and bugs and learn about them maybe through a documentary. Collages.... that sort of thing.

I look forward to following this thread where we feel safe & unjudged by others with differing opinions.

[Lady-bug]

I too am very interested in unschooling/natural learning. We haven't made a decision either way.
However can I ask, no pressure to answer of course, do you plan to be out of the work force the whole time? Obviously this is a big commitment.
Just interested to hear what other people's plans are.

[SunnyRain]

Shanti, that sounds like such a great, dedicated approach to "home education". I'm a bit lazy when it comes to going to the library, we do a lot of research online and finding youtube videos about things of interest. My eldest is just 4, not technically school age but I also consider his "education" to be ongoing.

Like you, I'm really very much attracted to the allowance for my children to learn at their own pace. I can very clearly see that as necessary for ds, who is quite unlike any of his age-related peers in that he has zero interest in competing with others and his interest in learning specific skills occurs in waves and ebbs to the point that at times it seems he unlearns something until I see that he is simply trying something new, rewiring what he knows and trying old skills in new ways. It's very interesting to witness.

I do consider our family very fortunate, it won't just be me at home with the kids. Dh's business affords him the opportunity to share the role with me, which is almost paramount to our success because I would worry I might burn out otherwise.

We're actually currently conducting research to find studies on the topic of unschooling, so that we have some facts to back us up and to uncover any potential problems we might face. As we know it can get ugly and gee people have such strong opinions about everybody else's parenting choices, don't they. I mean, they must all be experts and have done lots of independent research to back their opinions, right?

[Heaven]

We are interested in Natural Learning! I think about 7 months ago I read something somewhere about homeschooling (which I previously thought was for weird hippies ) and have been reading more and more since then! It is something I NEVER thought I would do. But now that I know more about it it sounds like a fantastic lifestyle. And after learning that my kids can learn as much as they learn in school in a far shorter period of time I don't know how I could send them to school and away for that long when it's not necessary. I like that I could give them much more time to just be kids and to get involved in more extracurricular activities too.

I really like the idea of Natural Learning. I guess that's what we have been doing since birth! Following their lead and watching them learn. I don't see what that has to stop at age 5.

[blessedatlast]

I would love to hear from anyone that unschools and also works outside the home.. I am a single Mum (although that could change by 'school age') but I'll have to work. I would love to unschool, but I'm just not sure if it's viable.. In the mean time I'm planning to send him to a steiner school if he does end up going to school.

[Heaven]

Lady-bug: Sorry, I missed your question before. Yes, we plan for me not to work, and we'll hopefully have a couple more kids too We rent so we don't have a big mortgage to pay and that's one of the sacrifices we've made so I can be a SAHM, but no big deal for us, plenty of time for that later

[SunnyRain]

Work is an issue. I've heard of teenagers leaving school to start unschooling. Even at that age it is beneficial. In that case it's not uncommon for those kids to spend a good year doing nothing but playing video games until they get bored and decide to pursue other interests. That could be a daunting year.

But my point is, if it's not an option when the kids are young due to simply having to work (I realise you can make every sacrifice to be sahm but sometimes that's just impossible due to debts or whatever) then you can introduce unschooling at an age when your children are old enough to entertain their own interests.

[SunnyRain]

Heaven, I was like you. Lol. When I first met dh I lived next door to a very very intelligent guy who had been homeschooled in a very strict family. He was gay, but had a lot of trouble coming out to his friends because he had no exposure to anyone who would accept him, he had no idea that his friends would be perfectly fine with it. I felt really sorry for him, knowing how sheltered he had been all his life. I thought all homeschooled children were weird. Intelligent, yes, but weird. I remember arguing with dh (then just bf) and declaring "children need to go to school to be well socialised".

Lol. Now I hear those exact words and all the arguments I used to use and I have to laugh. After years of learning more and more about education and getting to know my own children, watching them learning... My attitudes and beliefs have swung right around. I realise my old beliefs were based on a total lack of understanding and gross generalisations. As if the life of one home educated child applies to every single home educated child out there. Ha-freaking-ha!

[Heaven]

LOL, yes, if I get negative comments when telling people about homeschooling I will have to try to remember that I had the same views once too. But once you read into it it just sounds really positive doesn't it? I also researched the negatives a lot and for me none of them outweighed the positives. Mostly they were about the mother burning out or the loss of income, not actually any disadvantages for the child. I'm getting excited about it now!

I just read this about Unschooling which might be helpful for people wanting to know what it actually is too so thought I'd copy it in here:

Unschooling

With variations known as "natural learning", "autonomous learning", "self-directed learning", "life learning", "radical unschooling" and probably many others. I'll talk a bit more extensively about this as it's the style most different from school, so most people who haven't done it find it difficult to imagine how it works.

Unschooling is a philosophy of learning based on the belief that children learn best when they are learning what they are interested in, when they are interested, in their own way, and for their own reasons. The parent supports and encourages learning, rather than directing it. This partly involves honouring the child's passions, but also setting up the learning environment in such a way that the child will be exposed to things they might not have known about, so they will develop new interests and gain a well-rounded education.

In particular, the unschooling approach is philosophically opposed to any use of force, coercion or extrinsic reward systems, which are all seen as damaging to intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is regarded as the key to meaningful, permanent learning.

Parents with a strong philosophical commitment to unschooling usually take the stance that if a particular skill or piece of knowledge is truly necessary, the child will sooner or later come up against a need for it, and will be motivated to learn it because they need it. Therefore, so long as they know how to learn, curriculum plans are redundant. These families focus on providing a rich learning environment for their children, and trust that their children will learn what they need to know. Other unschoolers keep a close eye on what their children are learning naturally, and compare this to what they would like them to be learning, and find creative ways to "fill the gaps" without coercion. (These are often parents who have gravitated to unschooling because they have found it to be how their child learns best, but who had no prior commitment to the philosophy.)

Unschooling is a good approach for children who have never been to school, as they can simply continue learning all the time, through play and exploration, as they did when they were preschoolers. There is no transition, just a gradual morphing into a more mature learning programme. Unschooling also suits children who are very self-motivated and independent, who have strong ideas about what they want to learn. It can sometimes be helpful for children who have had bad experiences in school, who have lost their love of learning, and who are apathetic or downright resistant to any formal tuition, although a lengthy "decompression" period may be necessary until the child regains their intrinsic motivation. Children with very high energy levels (who are sometimes misdiagnosed as having ADHD in schools) are free to pursue lots of active learning, and will be much happier without a requirement to sit still on demand for lengthy periods. Some parents find their "hyperactive" or "oppositional" child is suddenly "cured" when they begin unschooling.

People not familiar with unschooling often wonder how the children will learn anything. Basically they learn in all the ways people do when they aren't at school. This includes preschoolers, adults, and children doing extra-curricular activities and learning things for pleasure. Experimenting, playing, asking questions and conversational learning, reading books, attending clubs or formal classes, finding tutors, study buddies or mentors, making things, practising hobbies, using computers, learning from real life experiences, visiting art galleries, museums, and so on, exploring the natural world, travelling ... the possibilities are endless! Unschooling students do sometimes choose to use textbooks and workbooks too, when it suits their learning goals. Most unschooling parents are happy to use formal curriculum when their child expresses a desire to learn something specific; they regard formal instruction as fine if the child has requested it, but not if it is imposed upon the child.


There are a few myths about unschooling:

Myth #1: Unschooling is not academically challenging and lacks rigour.
Not so! Unschooling may be more or less rigorous than other styles of homeschooling; it depends on the child. Bright students who are unschooling often move at a faster pace, cover a broader curriculum, and choose more challenging materials than they would have had access to in school.

Myth #2: Unschooled children are undisciplined and won't learn how to knuckle down and do unpleasant jobs that need to be done.
This is also false. Life presents many opportunities to learn discipline. Doing household chores, behaving properly, caring for pets, getting on with difficult people, and so on are all ways to learn discipline. It isn't necessary to take the joy out of learning to develop discipline.

Myth #3: Unschooling parents are lazy - they don't have to do anything.
Definitely false! Unschooling parents have to create a rich learning environment, set a good example of lifelong learning, understand and support and mentor their children, help them find resources, allow time for in-depth conversations, read to their children and play with them, teach them life skills and things they want to learn, take them to interesting places, expand their horizons, and so on. If you have naturally compliant children, getting them to plough through a couple of hours of workbook pages may be much easier!

Myth #4: Unschooling can't be mixed with other styles of homeschooling.
Not true. Many homeschoolers study some subjects formally and use a natural learning approach for others. Some families find unschooling suits their younger children, but their older children want a more formal curriculum. Others may find their younger children like a structured programme, and as the children get older they are more able to study independently and become more self-directed. These are all options.

Myth #5: Unschoolers don't go to university.
False. Many do go to university, and do very well, as they are used to self-directed learning.

Myth #6: Unschoolers won't get real jobs.
This may be partly true. If your definition of a "real job" is something that earns money but has no personal meaning, people who have been unschooled often don't want such a job. Unschoolers usually try to find rewarding work they love. Unschooling graduates are more likely than most people to start their own businesses or develop careers in creative industries, or find a way to turn their hobby into employment.

[Shanti]

I too am very interested in unschooling/natural learning. We haven't made a decision either way.
However can I ask, no pressure to answer of course, do you plan to be out of the work force the whole time? Obviously this is a big commitment.
Just interested to hear what other people's plans are.

Ladybug, yes I'm really lucky in that my DH & I can afford for me to never have to work again and we own our own home (huge mortgage though in saying that!!!!). So I'm in the position to be able to choose whether our kids go to school or home education. I understand not everyone has that 'choice' so I feel very lucky.

Kuraiza, yep there are a lot of people out there who have plenty to say about home education/unschooling whatever you want to call it, but they don't really know much about it. I didn't either until I started researching it at the beginning of this year and subscribed to various websites and magazines and forums and started chatting to people and realised 'wow these people really REALLY care about their children's' educations!!!'. It's so sad that majority of society assume that people who home educate are 'neglecting' our kids or something. When it's the total opposite. Home educators REALLY care.

I've already met a few homeschooling families at a workshop we did in a park with my local group and they were so lovely!!! It's so exciting to know that I don't have to send my kids off to school and miss a HUGE part of their growing up.... I also don't want teachers and school kids having great influences on my kids because that is what happens in schools. Whereas for us, we want to be the greatest influence on our kids

I also think it's totally empowering to be different to what the majority do.....