Our Discovery of Unschooling

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There are so many approached to homeschooling. When we discovered unschooling, we were hooked. Here is our story about how we discovered unschooling.

What is Unschooling?

If you ask two different unschooling families to describe what unschooling is then you will likely get two different answers.

To some, unschooling is simply stepping away from curriculum that mirrors the public education system. To others, unschooling is completely letting go of the idea that learning has to be forced in any way, shape, or form.

Unschooling is an educational method and philosophy that advocates learner-chosen activities as a primary means for learning. 

Wikipedia

But the common ground, at least for most unschoolers, is that the learning is directed by the child or learner. I say “learner” because many unschooling parents consider themselves to be unschoolers as well. There is no age limitation to learning. We can all continue to learn throughout our lives.

Our Discovery of Unschooling

The decision to homeschool, let alone unschool, did not come easy. 

We pondered our decision for a couple of years before we actually made the decision to not enrol our eldest child in school. We literally started talking about school options before he was born. Homeschooling was not a very popular option where we lived, but it felt right for us.

I want to reinforce that – it felt right for us. Your decisions as parents have to fit your lifestyle and beliefs. Do not be afraid to do what feels right to you.

Feeling The Pressure To Enroll In Public School

As registration drew nearer, we had all sorts of pressure to “take advantage” of the public school system.

• I could see the local school from our front yard…
• Almost all the children in our town went to this school…
• I would be able to go back to work without worrying about a babysitter…
• I could have “time off”
• What about socialization?

Why wouldn’t I want to make life easier and just send him to school?

No one in our family homeschooled. 

In fact, it was quite the opposite.  Many of our family members worked in the school system – either for the local school board or as teachers.

Since homeschooling was not a familiar topic for many people, it also came with a lot of fear. A lot of what ifs were presented to us, trying to sway our minds away from homeschooling.

But we followed our gut instincts and began our homeschooling journey.

How Unschooling Found Us

I have always been a strong believer in play based learning.

It was never our intention to buy a kindergarten curriculum for our children. We focused on what he was interested in and we played. Interactions based on memorization and repetition were never appealing to me. Perhaps I am a lazy mom, but singing the ABCs or saying “the cow says moo” over and over again never appealed to me.

I took a much more natural approach to learning. We learned what sounds animals made by going to the zoo and listening to the noises around us. We learned our ABCs while snuggling on the couch and reading Bob the Builder (for the 100th time that week). If a question was asked, I would answer and we would discuss the topic at hand.

As my children got older, I started looking for homeschool groups in my community. I found a yahoo group that was for local homeschoolers and attended a few of their meet ups.

It was through this group that I met and another Mom with boys the same age as mine. It was through her that I actually learned that my approach to learning had a title – it was called unschooling.

As Unschoolers Get Older

It was nice to have a name to our approach to homeschooling.

As children get older, the pressure to conform to societal standards increases. Because I now knew the name of our approach, I was able to research more and explore our options in greater detail.

I quickly learned that this interest lead approach to learning could be implemented throughout life – not just younger students. Unschoolers could even go to university if they wanted too! You just need to trust them to be able to learn what they need to in order to thrive.

I fell in love with unschooling and loved witnessing my children thrive with this approach to learning and life.

That is how we discovered unschooling. Please share your experience with us!

We would love to hear your stories about how you began your homeschooling journey – no matter what approach you take.