Unschooling

We're technically "unschoolers", but we don't like that term, here. Puts "school" at the center of the mind's attention, not learning! :) We use the term "self led learning". ;)

We have six children, the oldest is 14. None of them have ever been in any type of school or enrichment program. I've never used any curriculum with them. I've never made them memorize their times tables, or force them to learn how to read.

My 14 y/o is a math GENIUS. This kid can run circles of math around me AND my husband; who happens to be a biomedical engineer. My 12 y/o (WILL be 12 tomorrow, rather), reads anything and everything he can get his hands on. He's read Charles Dickens, because he wanted to. Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Narnia, the Neverending Story, Star Wars novels....He even decided to read Les Miserables this year (who IS this kid?? lol).

My 9y/o is just getting the hang of reading, but she looooves to be in the kitchen and experiment. Last night, she cooked the whole family dinner. :)

My 7 y/o has decided that this year, the only thing he wants to learn about is dinosaurs. I'm telling you, this kid can tell you EVERYTHING about them. He even gets mad when people don't use the term "paleontology"!

I looove this method of learning for my children. They're amazing little people, and even my Dad (who was NOT pro home education AT ALL!!!) comments all the time about how bright, smart and extremely well behaved they are.

Feel free to PM me if you want to talk!

UPDATE:
I've spoken with and know some adults that were unschooled. There's a young singer from Pittsburgh, PA that never went to school and was completely "unschooled". Her name is Cathasaigh (www.cathasaigh.com or www.myspace.com/cathasaighmusic). Her older sister was accepted into a really good University...And she never had a "structured" lesson, either.

I know a young man who is currently a second year medical student...Yup, never had any structured lessons. I'm friends with a woman, and her niece is in college...Majoring in business development and environmental science. My friends older niece owns her own printing company. A young man my husband knows is currently working on his PhD in English Literature...He plans to be a college professor! And he was unschooled, as well. :)

There are many, many other stories out there of successful young people that were unschooled. So what happens to the unschooled in 15 years is just what has been happening for the last nearly 30 years (in PA, at least). There is NO reason why a self led learner can't end up an amazingly successful business owner or college graduate. And sending your child to school or structuring their education also in no way guarantees that they'll end up successful.

What is unschooling?

I think the previous poster's description of her smart, well read kids is exciting and cool. But I think we always concerns me about these efforts is the lack of rigor, and how that might affect those kids later when they want to get serious in college and beyond. Can they write reports, papers, and essays? Can they study material that is assigned, glean information they need to answer questions? All those tedious skills that we all find rather unattractive about school are necessary evils in advanced education and some careers. As amazing as it is to follow your interests, you also need to know some real academic processes to succeed later on.

I was basically unschooled for part of my childhood, it was not the best experience. Children NEED structure and they want to learn, but they don't always have the internal drive to study every subject. I had to do tons of remedial math classes after my unschooling experience. And although I loved to read and read many great books, I didn't really pursue science and history like I should have (I did very well in theose subject eventually, but I always felt like everyone else had a better base of knowlege that I never gained). In my opinion, unschooling techniques should be left for summer break.

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One of my good friends does it with her 3 kids. She obviously absolutely loves it but as an outsider looking in and one that watches her kids from time to time, feels they need social skills classes to go along with her way of teaching. I'm not against unschooling, I just think you have to be spot on and consistent or your kids end up being a bit unruly.

I homeschool and can't wrap my mind around unschooling. How do you learn to read without a curriculum? How do you teach math without a guide? I really don't understand.

I am not against alternate methods of schooling, because I do believe the structure of traditional school does not work for every child.
However, the parents must be extremely committed for this to work, and it should truly be in the child's best interest, not just because the parent buys into the philosophy after reading some books and blogs.
I think it's important to give regular school a chance and see how it goes. Many kids thrive in school, and there is a rich social environment to learn from: both good and bad. I'm not big on protecting kids from every negative situation because those are real life learning experiences too.
I myself always loved school, including college. As a liberal arts major I felt I got a very well rounded education and was exposed to some subjects that I never would have been if I hadn't been required to take that class. I do well in a structured environment with clear goals and expectations, that is MY style. I think you owe it to your child to make sure you are honoring and encouraging THEIR learning style, whether it's traditional school or not.

I agree with Kate B on this one. It's a beautiful theory to follow your heart and only learn about what inspires you. And passions should be followed! But I think Real Life needs to have its place as well. If I am an enthusiastic and passionate reader, but cannot add and subtract, I will have trouble getting even the most rudimentary job. If I am a history buff with an amazing recall of facts, a job interviewer might enjoy chatting with me at a party, but I wouldn't necessarily be a good employee, would I? I wonder what will be happening to the unschooled in another 15 years or so. Hmmm.

I think that in order for unschooling to be completely successful there needs to be a lot of parental involvement, and I mean a lot. I have seen great success with the children of my friends who chose to unschool, whether at home or at an unschool center. What I like most about unschooling is that it is completely child led learning, and focuses a lot on teaching children to become active participants in their communities. I know it is hard to understand how one teaches without a standard curriculum...but many parents are able to teach their children to read, cook, fish, ride a bike, ski etc. without one....it is very similar to that.

I even considered it for my own child next year. But in the end for my own child, I decided to send her to a special focus school (horticulture and environmental issues) because her personality does crave structure. She thrives in structured situations that have predictable routines. She has always been that way. If her needs change over the years and she conveyed that she would be more successful with less structure, then I would have no problem unschooling her.

Wow, I think your daughter would really benefit from being homeschooled. We've been homeschooling for 1 1/2 years, and we love it. We are taking an "eclectic" approach, meaning that we are not strict unschoolers, but we do not use a strict curriculum, either. There is a book that I checked out from the library called "The Unschooling Handbook: How to Use the Whole World as Your Child's Classroom" by Mary Griffith, which will give you a lot of information about unschooling.

We have days where I have specific things planned out for them to do, and we have days where I let them choose what they want to do. On those days, my son will come up with really creative ideas for stories and he uses his action figures, Legos, Playmobil figures, etc. to act out the stories. My daughter will sometimes join in, but sometimes she will spend all day reading, reading, reading. I "test" her reading comprehension by having conversations with her about the characters and plot of the stories. Sometimes they will come up with art projects all on their own, and other times they will learn about gardening by spending the afternoon in the backyard. But there are other days where I want them to learn about specific things, and we have a more traditional homeschooling day.

Today we spent five hours at the park with other homeschoolers. It was a great day. :-) I think you should try it and see what happens. Hopefully you will have a great experience. Oh, and it helps to connect with other homeschooling families, so if you can research those groups in your area, it's a great way to get advice from people who have already been homeschooling for years (also a great place to connect your daughter with other homeschoolers her age). There are also groups that are specifically unschooling groups, so try to connect with those as well if you can. Good luck, and have fun!