How to Unschool

Unschooling is a form of homeschooling. With unschooling though, there are no traditional curriculums used or schedules followed. Instead, children are allowed to lead the way as parents spend time focusing upon their interests, not what a textbook tells them they should be doing.

Start With A Little "Homework"

Before you start unschooling your child, you should do some research to ensure that this homeschool style is going to work for you and your family. It is important to note that parents who feel that the only way in which their children can learn is by being taught will not be happy with this form of homeschooling.

Learn What It Takes To Be A Successful Unschooler

There are several things that you will need in order to successfully unschool your child.

First of all, you will need to have a parent who is home throughout the day and that can observe the child so as to discover what they are interested in. This parent will then need to discover ways in which to encourage these interests. Here is where the library can play an important role and thus should be visited on a regular basis. You will be able to find lots of information here about anything that your child is interested in.

Secondly, you must be willing to allow your child to take the lead. This will change the entire way in which your day goes and everyday will be different. One day you may be playing at a park while the next day you may spend hours on end reading books at the library. You must trust that your child is learning in both of these environments though.

Live In The Moment

Unschooling parents must be able to seize every possible teachable moment. For instance, whenever you bake cupcakes with your child they will be learning math. Whenever you hang up a birdhouse in your yard for your child to observe, they are learning about science.

You also need to be ready for any and all questions that your child asks. Whenever they ask you a question you should take the time to look up the answer as soon as possible.

These things are important because life is your child's teacher whenever you choose to unschool them. Everything from errands to cooking and cleaning will provide teachable moments in things such as money, measurement, fractions, chemistry and even occupational and life skills. You simply need to be able to spot these teachable moments. Thankfully, this will become much easier for you to do as time goes by.