What the heck is Unschooling?!

If you've looked into homeschooling you've probably read a post or an article about unschooling. What the heck is it that right? Anti-school? How is that a good thing? I thought the same things, Until I learned more about it.

What is it?
Unschooling in a nutshell is child-led learning and learning through whatever you want to use.
Does your child like workbooks? Let them have workbooks!
Does your child love getting their hands dirty digging or building or even taking things apart just to see how they work? Well give them things to build with, places to dig and items they can take apart and study.
It's really fun once you get past the name which is why we prefer to call what we do Lifeschooling instead. It's your choice what you want to call your methods.

So how DO you teach then?
For us we choose a relaxed way of teaching. We give the kids lots of opportunities to experience new things and when they try something they really like then, we go more in-depth with learning about it.

For instance, Our son loves trains. So, we got him train books, a train simulator game, we watch real trains, we visit the train museum, he looks up train videos, reads about trains online, we are planning a train ride.... and I think you get the idea. Take their interests and immerse them in all kinds of fun info and activities. Any topic can be used to teach all the subjects. We don't force them to learn the stuff though. If they decide after a day or a week or whatever that they aren't interested in it anymore then we let them stop and we find something else they want to learn about. It's not as hard as it sounds I promise.

Kids (and adults too) have an inner desire to learn new things and they love to have fun & once parents let go of the old ways of teaching they can have fun too. It's OK to have fun and enjoy learning. Education doesn't have to be all worksheets and hours of work from other books. Life offers lots of ways to learn. Find what works for you and your kids. If you find that workbooks are easier for you and your kids aren't bored or frustrated then go for it. What you are doing right this second is essentially unschooling... you are interested in unschooling so, you are looking for information about it and educating yourself about it. Simple right?
Unschooling/Lifeschooling isn't about being anti-curriculum or anti-workbooks. It's about letting your kid's interests guide your activities. Your own interests can guide you too.

For example.. (I love giving examples), I love animals and I want to get chickens and ducks again. Once we have them, the kids will have the opportunity to play with them, take care of them and watch them grow. They might not say they want to do a specific activity or hobby until they see you doing it first.
If you are thinking about being a Lifeschooler, the first thing you must do is RELAX! Take some time to get to know your kids. Explore your area with them and go to different places and experience fun things.
In April we went to a festival and our son saw some crocheted plant hangers he liked a lot. He looked up how to crochet, we got him supplies and now he loves to crochet little blankets. He's trying to learn to do a Japanese form of crocheting animals called amigurumi. He's learning so much from a simple hobby he discovered while we were having fun together.

But what about all those questions people ask
Do NOT worry yourself with what others say or think about your choices. I still get asked about socializing. I'm a former teacher and I can tell you that schools do not allow for much socializing. Our kids are very thoughtful, polite and outgoing. They can make friends with any kid. They're the first ones asking to play or leading a group in a game of tag or hide-n-seek at the playground. Most kids we meet that go to a regular school have no idea how to interact on their own. They're used to being told exactly what to do and when to do it. Recently, Our 4 year old was running around and a younger kid was chasing her playfully. The kid tripped and fell and our daughter ran back to help him up and ask if he was OK. He had a scraped knee so, our daughter helped him walk to his mom and then sat waiting for him to want to play again. This wasn't an unusual thing for her to do, she does this everyday. We teach kindness, mindfulness, consideration and we get them to think about how the other person feels about things. It seems that schools today are failing at this big time. We've met some very mean kids too and when we encounter bullies, we simply leave unless they hurt our kids then we tell their parent before leaving. We LOVE that we can choose who is around our kids to influence their behavior and when bad things happen we are there to talk to them about how to make the situation better.

People still sometimes quiz our kids to see if they are learning anything. It's rare but it happens and usually our kids will ask why the person wants to know whatever it is they're asking which usually gets the adult to change the topic of conversation. Most people are really supportive and positive when we say we homeschool. It's a great icebreaker too. We have found that people tend to pour out their life story when they find out we homeschool. I'm not sure why this topic creates a need for people to talk about their own school experience, their kid's school experience and mention every person they've ever known who also homeschools LOL. We don't mind though, we love to talk about it.

You can do this!
Don't put too much pressure on yourself or your kids to learn everything right now or in one year. I mean, not every kid can be a doctor or lawyer because frankly, not all kids want to be those. Reading, writing and math are the basic building blocks of everything. You have about 10 -12 years or so to teach those and teach them well and your kid will have the skills to learn about whatever topic interests them!

I hope I brought you a little peace of mind. If you have any questions feel free to message us, we love chatting.