What is Unschooling?

If a teacher spoke on a subject in a classroom, did learning happen? If the child marked a right answer on a test but forgot the information the next week, did learning happen? If a child learned to speak in full sentences without an English class, did learning happen? Unschooling is a rethinking of what constitutes as ‘education’ and how children learn.

Parents who are interested in unschooling often ask “what is unschooling?”, with an underlying plea of “please tell me what to do", or "how do I unschool”. The beauty of unschooling is that there is no ‘right way’ or boxes to check to live into the freedom of this lifestyle. It looks so different for every family.

Unschooling is not a rhythm to follow, but a belief that children are able to educate themselves with the right environment where they have freedom to play, explore and be curious.

Unschooling is a term coined by John Holt to explain learning that happened without the structure and systemic process of school. He was a teacher who asked why his student’s didn’t learn what he was teaching. Then he watched his sister's children learn joyfully without formal instruction and asked if children could continue to learn in this free and easy way. The answer he found was yes, they could.

There is a spectrum in the unschooling world. On one end lies radical unschoolers where everything from bedtime, meals, and electronic use is chosen by the child, while on the other end you have families that leave many aspects of life up to the child, while still requiring other rules (boundaries and structures) to be followed. There are also relaxed homeschoolers who tend to teach math and language arts in a more traditional method while unschooling the rest of the subjects.

I often hear to “live as if school didn’t exist.” This is very much part of it. But I don’t think that unschooling means to live as if you’re not concerned or invested in what your children learn about. If school as a structure didn’t exist we would still want to make sure our children can be functioning adults and members of society. We still want them to share in our family traditions and values. But it removes the time-table set by someone else, and gives us the freedom to trust our children to learn and want to learn what they need to know. Not many of us had to worry about if our child would want to learn to speak. Instead we delighted in their first words and laughed at their miss-spoken grammar. (I am currently lamenting that my youngest doesn’t consistently call yellow “lellow” as she used to.) The same is true for the countless other things that young children learn without formal teaching. So instead of pulling out a math book and insisting that we finish page 42-45 as the schedule has printed, as unschoolers we have discussions about real life situations where numbers are used and problems need to be solved. We live where learning is everywhere and as if school didn’t exist.

While a few people may be anti-curriculum, there are others who are not. As an adult, there have been things I needed to learn that I couldn’t just learn from an internet search or watching YouTube. If a child has an interest in or a need to learn something, there is a time and a place for taking a class. There is no rule saying you can’t learn that way. But most learning happens naturally, though hands-on experimenting, play, games, reading and conversation. Without being instructed on “what it’s time to learn today for the next 20 minutes” most kids have a curiosity and enthusiasm to learn even things the majority of schooled-kids would find dull. Learning is not limited to a text book, schedule or pre-planned lesson. It tends to be more seasonal, with a long period of time focused on a single topic before moving onto another. There are days where I see so many things my schooled mindset would qualify as learning, and other days where they just played all day.

While unschooling is interest-led, it is not necessarily child-centered. There are still all the other people in the family to take into account. Dropping the workbooks and curriculum frees up time for individuals to follow their own interests as well as spend more time together as a family. There are many compromises that need to be made and helping hands to be contributed to keep our house going and our family strong. As part of my faith, I want to encourage my children to learn the joy in sacrificial serving and to see themselves in the context of community. I want them to work at self-improvement and self-understanding without their ‘self’ becoming an idol.

Unschooling also doesn’t mean hands-off parents. I do research on books we read for read-alouds, a cherished part of our day, because I want to choose books to help shape their character and expose them to people, history, and other cultures. I look for events in our community that we might enjoy, and fun ideas to try. When we take a vacation I research to see what places and attractions might be available for us to experience. If a child expresses an interest in a topic I help find resources to further their interest and knowledge. I try to help them identify goals for themselves, and resource them as needed to accomplish these goals.

“It is a misconception that self-directed learners learn alone in isolation. Rather, they learn as they go through life, interacting and collaborating with children and young people of all ages and adults too, asking for help and direction when they need it. “ (https://www.progressiveeducation.org/approaches/why-do-we-need-alternatives/reimagine-8/)

As a Christian, unschooling means trusting that God designed our children with a purpose and the desire to learn. Babies begin learning about the world around them from the moment they are born, and this process will continue if we don’t hinder them. While our sin nature is a reality, God created us as learners. He created each of our children with their own unique interests, personalities and purposes. As our family follows Jesus, we find unschooling allows our children to naturally flourish with the strengths God's given each of them.

Daily schedules and the details of the days may look very different between unschooling families. But the foundational belief that education isn’t school and school isn’t education connects us. We believe that there is a better alternative to school where the child is free to learn in a way that is natural to children.