Unschooling: it’s a point of hopeful discussion in the homeschooling world, garnering enthusiastic support from some and concerned skepticism from others.
In fact, the term “unschooling” itself is a topic of debate, with certain groups attributing it to one definition while others attribute it to another. Regardless, many parents are curious about it, about what it means as an educational philosophy, and about whether it really is as effective a schooling option as many claim. To that end, let’s take a look at the reality of unschooling.
Unschooling is often called “child-led learning.” As this name suggests, unschooling allows children to follow their own interests at their own pace, without supervision from adults. In this sense, parents act less as teachers and more as facilitators, watching to see what the children are interested in, and then providing the environment, resources, and opportunities to explore those interests.
Skeptics wonder how anything ever gets learned at all through this method. Don’t children need an adult to constantly tell them what to do? On the contrary, adult unschoolers tend to exhibit a strong sense of self-direction and motivation, and are fully capable of setting goals and then finding the resources to achieve those goals. There are plenty of examples of unschoolers who have gone on to succeed in college and life in general.