Am I An Unschooler? Well Are You?

Simple question that I hear a lot, are you an unschooler and if you are what does that mean?  

Here is the definition from Dictionary.com....

Main Entry: unschooling
Part of Speech: n
Definition: a home-school education with the child taking primary responsibility instead of a parent or teacher; also called child-directed learning, self-learning
Example: Under unschooling education, parents may act as "faciltators" and may provide a wide-range of resources to their children.
Usage: also unschooler(n)

There now did that clear anything up for you? Maybe?? Well I first starting homeschooling, if you had asked me if I was going to unschool my boys I would have said." NO!" And here is why, I was raised going to a little public school  throughout my education career.  Fast forward to sending my little 5 year old to kindergarten on the bus  (of course that was the only time HE ever went on one, not a good mix for my little guy) I was so nervous for him. After about a week ,  I started volunteering in his class almost every morning with my newborn strapped to my chest. All because I wanted to make sure that he was getting the attention that he needed. Once my youngest went to kindergarten I was at the school more than at home! Even then when I would see my boys struggle or get ignored by well meaning teachers with too many students in their classrooms but I was determined to make it work! Only when our neighborhood got rezoned the next year and we didn't get into the schools we applied for (and took the tour of the school they were sending us to) did I consider homeschooling. You would think that after that I would have known that the school system way of teaching wasn't working. Oldest son was behind (duh he was a visual learner) and youngest son was considered average in kindergarten and never pushed to do anything above and beyond what was required.
Jump forward to our first day of homeschooling, workbooks, text books, and tons of books of "how to" do this and that. Because I had done what any parent would do when thinking of taking on homeschooling their kids, I researched and researched only to be so confused that I stuck with what I had known! Six months later and three very unhappy campers , I finally shelved the workbooks/textbooks, etc.  and started down a different homeschooling path for us all. 


To me unschooling means, child led education, basically letting the child decide what their interests are and from there tailoring the lessons around that interest. But the term "unschooling" can mean different things to different families.  Several families I know don't believe in workbooks, teaching their kids to read (at a certain age/grade), or using teaching aids like~ spelling printables or things of that nature. While others choose a classical approach with literature being the main source for all subjects. In fact, within the first six months of homeschooling; I used mostly books and took english, history, science, math and art lessons from a single book. The boys would love to hear me read aloud a story while they wrote in their journal, copied spelling words or drew in their sketch books. This ,of course, was after the phase that almost drove us all to the nut house which was trying to make a school room at home! We would get up early and be still working on school when my hubby would get home from work. Talk about your major stress for me and the boys!



We are still discovering our journey and it has its hiccups along the way BUT we are learning and discovering things that we otherwise wouldn't have been if we had stayed in school. I am one mom who is struggling to put the "un" into our school, because I believe that my boys will get more out of our homeschooling if I put them in charge of some of their education! Granted I can't totally let everything go, because that's just me!


Let me know what you think about unschooling, did it work for you? Can you make any suggestions? Please feel free to comment below!