Someone called my educational style unschooling...

[garddwr]

I was describing what I do with my kids, and the mom I was talking to (who is a very structured homeschooler) said "see, that's the way to make unschooling work!" It was a compliment, but...I don't think of what I do as unschooling.

I'm not by nature a very structured or directive person, and I do aim for independent learning for my children. Here's what we do:

 

We have family devotional in the morning, followed by couch time--usually memory work and history read alouds. The rest of the day the doesn't follow any particular pattern, but there are certain things we try to do every day. My main academic goal for ds6 is improving his reading, so we take some time to sit down and read together, sometimes alternating pages. Once he is reading solidly we will move to focusing on handwriting and copywork. I do take a relaxed approach to academics in the early years--I don't think a lot of seat work is necessary. We do lots of learning activities together as a family--science explorations, math games, read alouds... I do expect more formal academic work starting around age 8. Dd8 has a customized planner I made for her, and we sat down together and decided what subjects she should study every day and which ones she should do maybe a couple of times a week. She likes to work independently, and does violin practice, Rosetta Stone Spanish, and writing every day without reminders from me. She is writing a long story on the computer. She will come to me if she has a question (i.e. "Mom, if I'm writing what someone said do I put the period inside or outside the quotation marks?) otherwise I generally don't interfere. She is a voracious reader and it shows in her writing. The only thing she needs my attention for on a regular basis is math.

 

I think what my friend was referring to as unschooling is the fact that I am not very directive with my daughter's learning. I don't hand out many assignments, and I don't do a lot of direct teaching as long as clear progress is being made--unless I see a problem that needs to be addressed, I mostly just leave things up to her. When she has questions, she comes to me. I guess I just see that as "why interfere with what is working?"

 

So what does the Hive think? Would you call this unschooling??

 

--Sarah

[kathymuggle]

Can your kids opt in or out of any academic work you have planned?

 

Yes - it is USing

 

No - not USing.

 

There is more to it, of course, and you can try and convince your kid that "doing read alouds" is a good idea ;) but if the decision is up to him it is USing.

Edited January 19, 2012 by kathymuggle

[Night Elf]

Unfortunately, many people equate relaxed homeschooling with unschooling. They are simply not the same. You are doing relaxed homeschooling. An unschooling family approaches anything schoolish in the same way. Learning any type of schoolish thing is no different than learning how to build with blocks or play in the pool. Unschooling is child led, not adult directed. If the child can choose not to follow the parent's direction, even if they are strong suggestions, then it is unschooling. What really gets me is someone who does traditional schooling except in one subject and they say they are unschooling that one subject. Unschooling is all or nothing because it's a mindset and family lifestlye. That is MHO.

[Farrar]

Agreed with others. That doesn't sound like unschooling to me. It sounds like relaxed homeschooling or eclectic homeschooling with a kid who is independently happy and motivated to learn.

[angela in ohio]

Not unschooling at all. She probably refers to anything that doesn't look like what she does as unschooling.

[Veritaserum]

I'll dissent and say that's a mild form of unschooling. It's certainly not radical unschooling, which is where you get 100% kid-directed activities all the time, but it is child-directed and child-paced. There's a continuum from ultra-structured and "schoolish" to radical unschooling.

 

I agree that your way sounds like a great approach for you and your dd. :)

[Jean in Newcastle]

Relaxed homeschooling. It's exactly how I homeschooled the early years.

[garddwr]

Hm, so maybe it's a sort of hybrid:

 

There are certain non-negotiables, for example, dd8 is expected to do music practice, foreign language, and math every day--and I will intervene as necessary to make sure these happen (generally, there is no intervention necessary for music and foreign language as she is working independently at a level that I consider appropriate. I do have to follow through to make sure she does math). I would not require creative writing at this point, so she is very much student-directed in that subject. But if she weren't working on the creative writing I might require some other language arts activity. Certainly I would be alert for any area of weakness and find a way to address it. She has also started working through Mapping the World with Art in a self-directed manner, and I would not have required that at this point. I like to leave a lot of room in my kids' days for them to follow their own interests, within the general limits we maintain for our family.

 

I also expect all the children to participate in any group learning activities I have planned, and if participation is not entirely voluntary on their part I will incentivise it in some way (i.e., only those who recite during memory work time get mid-morning snack). Mostly the kids enjoy our together times so I don't have to require anyone to participate.

 

We do use curricula, sometimes in a structured way (math, foreign language), sometimes more relaxed (history, science). I consider each child individually to determine which skills they need to work on at a given time, and I don't feel tied to a scope-and-sequence approach. I expect my children to master basic reading and writing and to make steady progress in math, a foreign language, and a musical instrument in the elementary years. Beyond that, I mostly aim for broad exposure to knowledge and ideas, including a fair amount of memory work across the disciplines.

[Ellie]

No.

 

I don't use quantifiers with the term "unschooling." Either you is or you ain't, lol.

 

I would say you're relaxed.

 

Unschoolers are not necessarily child-led, because that implies that the parents always have their spidey-senses up and running, waiting eagerly to follow little Orkie's least little interest. No. Unschoolers live life and involve their children; they help their dc if necessary, and they notice that their children learn all the time, but life isn't child-led. Unschoolers might even use Official Textbooks, or use Spalding teach them to read if the dc are terribly motivated and want more than figuring it out on their own, or formal classes of some kind, but only if it suits their purposes, if it's the best way to learn something, or if they just find it interesting. They may also introduce them to things like 4-H or dance or whatnot, because children don't necessarily know that such things exist which could become their passions if their parents don't let them in the secret. :)

[ThisIsTheDay]

Funschooling and unschooling are not the same thing. I'd never call you an unschooler; a funschooler, yes. Imo, it's a worthy goal to have throughout our hsing journey.:D

[Mommyof4ks]

Agreed with others. That doesn't sound like unschooling to me. It sounds like relaxed homeschooling or eclectic homeschooling with a kid who is independently happy and motivated to learn.

 

:iagree: We do exactly what you are doing with the youngers, and around 9 years old we pick it up. My 11 yr old has a much more scheduled day, but she has a lot to accomplish in a day so it is necessary.

[sbgrace]

I don't think what you're doing sounds like unschooling including in your follow up post. You're more relaxed than the woman you spoke with surely but unschooling is a different animal imo.

[SweetMissMagnolia]

:iagree: no not unschooling....you have a relaxed hsing style....kinda the same with us-we have a curriculum...have goals-sometimes try to stick to a schedule but it doesn't always work-zach does do study time but has lots of free time for computer learning and just free time-he needs alot of down time-

[Joanne]

Not unschooling.

 

*sigh* Your post made me miss homeschooling. :) My approach early on was similar.

[lilacii]

If it works, does it require a label?

[catz]

Agreed with others. That doesn't sound like unschooling to me. It sounds like relaxed homeschooling or eclectic homeschooling with a kid who is independently happy and motivated to learn.

 

:iagree: Not to mention your oldest is 8!? You should be relaxed and quite receptive to your kids needs at that age. My approach is very similar with my younger. My older has a bit more structure (but we're lazy compared to many on this board).

[Shellydon]

I would probably call that unschooling. Maybe very, very relaxed homeschooling.

[zaichiki]

Unschoolers I have known well (radical unschoolers) have told me that unschooling means the child has complete control over what to do and how to do it. They say it is a way of life.

[Donna]

Your approach is nearly the same approach I use with my 9yodd...who also uses much of the same curriculum, plays violin, and is writing her own "novel." I don't call it unschooling because I do have a plan for her and subjects she must do daily or weekly. It is certainly child-led and more relaxed than a textbook classical approach because the timetable is hers. She has input into some of the subjects she wants to learn but she isn't in complete control over what she learns and cannot opt out of math or any of the other basics.