Let's Talk About Unschooling

Dear authorities, by "unschooling" we do not mean that we allow our children to roam free and terrorize the neighborhood while all the good boys and girls are in school. Well, okay, *once or twice* one (or two) of them may have gotten loose *at one time or another* and painted the neighbor's cat but, what I'm saying is, that's not the goal of the program. (But seriously, how creative is that? Huh? Really, you've got to give credit where credit is due).

Generally, the more experience a homeschool parent has, the more comfortable they are with the concept of unschooling and many of them end up doing it for a limited period of time now and then. It's often suggested (at least by me!) that children who are brought home to school after being in regular school be allowed some period of unschooling time. Some (writers of books) suggest an entire year. That usually sounds too scary for parents new to homeschooling. To homeschool you have to have a certain amount of faith in your child's willingness and ability to learn. To unschool you have to have a lot of it.

Where does one begin? It may be best to bite the bullet and say, "no electronics from blah until blah." That way the little buggers have to figure out something to do to entertain themselves and sometimes (when they're not painting cats) that turns out to be educational. Personally, I don't think you even have to be so fierce, cruel, and self-disciplined (let's face it, it takes a lot of parental self-discipline to put up all day with a kid who has nothing but time on their hands and no electronics!). I'm here to tell you that even with cable TV and the internet, a kid gets bored eventually and is forced to find something else to do (the number of Spongebob episodes being finite).

So let's take it from where we are. Here, just hypothetically speaking, we have a child who has watched so many episodes of Spongebob and The Wizards of Waverly Place (which is really a clever show btw) that they can stand it no longer. Then what? Well, they may wander in while you're cooking. You ask them to get the eggs. One thing leads to another. You may be tempted to take this opportunity to introduce a lesson in fractions, but this post is not about creative schooling, it's about unschooling so try to control your teaching instincts.

They may wander in while you're doing laundry. All I can say to that is "it's about time!" Tell them to pick up the dirty underwear and put it in the washer. They'll say, "That's disgusting!" You'll say, "No kidding!"

Now here comes the magic that must be a part of every homeschooler's life. The Library. Take them to The Library. If, when you go, they only want to get on the computers and there are not enough hours in their childhood to allow them to get tired of every computer game at the library, then just go with a time window in mind and tell them to get some books.

Whether you are an unschooler or a mondo schooler, you have to make the library a part of your life. Just remember all those smart guys who did big things like become president but didn't go to school (Abe Lincoln for instance). How did they get so smart? They read books of course. It's true, Abe didn't have a lot of books and he didn't go to the library but, though I may have faith in my children's ability to learn, I don't have faith that any one of them is as determined to learn as good old Abe. Not one of them is probably going to read the Bible eight times this year just because it's the only reading material in the house.

Other unschooling requirements (choose eight): pencils, crayons, paper, a globe (ours has fallen off the stand, is short one continent, and has rolled under the bed in my room - that's what I call well-loved), legos, Uncle Wriggly, dominoes, water, playing cards, Monopoly, puzzles, measuring cups, blocks, dirt, an easel, water colors, paint brushes, sidewalk chalk, trees. (You may notice I've left scissors off the list. What's with the preschools teaching kids to use scissors, huh? You want to teach your kid to use scissors, before you know it you're going to have a floor covered in confetti and small bits of yarn! Go ahead - just don't say I didn't warn you. Ditto on the glue).

One more important thing for unschoolers and all homeschoolers is Going Places. Going Places is HUGE! It's another big advantage of homeschooling and, in my opinion, it's the BEST part of homeschooling. Movies, museums, libraries, road trips, horse trails. Where do you like to go? As they say, live and learn. That's what it's all about.

Not many parents are going to want to unschool for their child's entire career. Most people who do it at all will only do it for short periods at a time. It's just good to take a look at both extremes (oh, did I not look at the other extreme? please read someone else's blog if you want to read about mondo schooling) and realize that for most of us, homeschooling lies somewhere in between and that it's okay if, now and then, we're a little bit "unschooly".