Deschooling as a Part of the Unschooling Journey

The longer you think that you can control and add to your own knowledge, the more difficult it will be for you to become an unschooler. This is because you really do need to be non-judgmental in order to allow natural learning to occur. You must stop thinking of school, as you know it; stop acting like a teacher; and stop acting as though learning isn't a natural part of everyday life. Now start thinking about everything you have ever learned outside of school, you will find that you actually learned more through daily living than you ever did in a classroom. Of course, this is only the very beginning; there are other steps that you must take as well.

Replacing Teaching With Learning

Instead of thinking about those things you have taught or want to teach your child, think about what you want him to learn. You may have to go back to the fact that you think you taught your child to walk, when in actuality, he taught himself how to do this.

Changing The Way You Talk

Whenever you start to change the way you think, you will also need to change the way you talk. Some of the words that you will need to stop using include:

• Semester
• Grade
• Age level
• Grade level
• Scores
• Subjects
• School year
• School hours
• School day

Changing The Way You Think

You cannot even afford to think about those school terms that are listed above. This will allow you to have more time to become more aware of unschooling. Of course, it will also help to change your schedule so that you can truly see how learning is a part of everyday life. Children will learn a lot more whenever they are interested in it than if you were to simply tell them about it over and over because you think they need to hear about it.

In Conclusion

Spend time watching your child without expecting anything from them. See what they are doing, instead of what they are "not" doing. Eventually you will be able to start hearing about worksheets without thinking that you need them. This is when you can truly begin thinking of yourself as an unschooler.