“Are You an Unschooler?”

I don’t know if anyone would consider our way of homeschooling unschooling or not. I don’t call myself an unschooler, but if you saw my children during the ‘school’ day you might think they were unschooled.

There are many forms of unschooling. For some it means very little structured parental involvement day-to-day and for others it’s a whole day of full-attention learning together.

Some homeschooolers do ‘school at home,’ which is simply buying curriculum or workbooks and working through them during your school day at home. The parent chooses the books and topics and finds ways to engage the learners in the material.

In a perfect world, it would be impossible to tell where schooling ended and the rest of life began. Everything is a learning activity and nothing is a learning activity. I know some people do that and raise strong readers who become successfully integrated adults, but I didn’t have that level of trust or the energy to do it in a way that felt ‘right.’

Spending all day in enriching activities and trips and experiences with a child is a wonderful gift to give, mining each moment for teachableness. I can do that some days, but as a complete academic offering it’s too exhausting. I have my own interests that need time.

We don’t school traditionally, but we do have some work time with workbooks they’ve selected. They spend most of their day making, researching on their own, and dreaming and scheming. It’s a happy medium.

For us right now (learners ages 6, 9, 11), this consists of the following expectations:

• Pick a math book or a way to learn math and do it every day.
• Read whatever you want; do it everyday.
• Read some non-fiction.
• Write in your journal often.
• Choose whatever workbooks you want to do. None is also fine.
• Be working on a big, fun project.
• Practice your instrument.
• Spend time outside.
• Get some exercise.
• Help a younger sibling, teach them something, or read with them.
• Think of things you want to learn about and skills you want to acquire. I’ll help however I can.

It works pretty well. Feel free to steal it.

I advise against picking a curriculum, philosophy, or title for your homeschooling endeavors. Don’t box yourself or your family in. Just figure out what you can do, what you want to do, and involve your children in the decisions.