Understanding Unschooling

You will find that unschooling is the most fluid type of homeschooling. This is because there is no curriculum or boundaries. For this reason, a lot of parents feel at least somewhat apprehensive about this freedom. However, what they may not realize is that there are some guidelines to follow even here.

Who Invented Unschooling

John Holt, a public school teacher from Boston, gave root to the beginning of the unschooling method. This movement was born out of his belief that children learn best whenever they are free to learn at their own pace and when their own interests guide them. The message herein was to "unschool" the child and allow them to have a more hands-on approach to learning. Herein the parent's role is to simply take cues from their children since no specific curriculum, schedules or materials are used. As such, this really is the most unstructured method out of all of the different homeschooling techniques.

How To Unschool Your Child

If this type of homeschooling sounds good to you, then maybe it is time to give it a try. In this case, the first thing that you will want to do is allow your child to tell you what she is interested in. Allow her to select the topic and then tell her what you know about it without going overboard. You want to make sure that she has the freedom to stop learning whenever she decides that she has had enough. Sometimes this can take a day but at other times it can take a month or more. It is up to your child to decide how much she really wants to learn about a specific topic.

Your job is to help expand your child's areas of interests. This can be done by providing her with videos, books, magazines, puzzles and games. It is also a good idea to go on field trips to places like museums. Not only will this help you to learn more to talk to your child about but it will also allow your child to be able to learn more as well.

Make sure that you take note of all avenues of learning. Whenever you are in the kitchen talk to your child about the vitamins that are in the fruits and vegetables; what makes tomatoes red; and why leafy vegetables are good. If you find that you don't know the answer to something, take a moment to look it up (Google will become your best friend).

In Conclusion

While unschooling may seem to go slow at first, you will see that your children really are learning. This is especially true if you are sure to provide them with a lot of time and encouragement.