A not so perfect mom sharing ways to make life simpler. Find product reviews and giveaways, money saving tips, recipes and more.
For about the last year or so I have been checking out homeschooling. For one reason or another there have been times when I have not been too happy with my children’s school. I recently came across a term I never heard before, unschooling. Unschooling is an alternative to educationing your children but it is nothing like homeschooling. While homeschooling follows a curriculum similar to traditional schools, unschooling does not follow a curriculum at all. Unschooling focuses more on allowing the child to decide what is actually learned. Children learn more about the things they are interested in.
Unschooling raises the same questions for me as homeschooling, maybe even more. How are children socially after being homeschooled? Are children that are participating in unschooling learning at least the basics? Are they adequately prepared for continued education?
I definitely can understand the pros to unschooling. Some children could definitely excel in an environment where they have the choice of what to study and when to study it. Unschooling is more about teaching your children personal responsibility through interest driven learning. I do believe structured standardized learning is not for everyone. Unschooling may be seen as being to the extreme. It almost seems like a free for all. Maybe homeschooling is a happy medium. The setting seems to be more intimate but there are still some rules.
I don’t think it is right for my family but I was able to find some great resources to learn more about unschooling:
Family Unschoolers Network John Holt and growing without schooling and Unschooling Blog Directory.
I am curious about what everyone else thinks. Have you heard of unschooling? Do you unschool?
Related posts:
I’d try to homeschool my son, but I think I’d go insane. But good luck with your research and stuff.
I think that this is where active parenting and mama-time-outs come in. Send the kids to school (for the mama time out) and if there’s something you feel they’re lacking in school, teach it to them at home. The child(ren) becomes very well rounded and still can show a “formal” education which makes higher education requirements much easier to meet. Also, it gives you more interactive time with your child and cuts down on some of the issues later that can stem from the kids wanting attention from their parents. When introducing something outside the curriculum being taught, make it game-ish so they’ll be interested, and the teaching will almost be osmosis.
Aria’z Inks last blog post..Where Is My Sign