Unschooling
What does "unschooling" mean to you?
posted by UU Homeschoolers at
11:29 AM
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3 Comments:
Unschooling to me is following the lead of the child. If the child is interested in animals, then you get library books out about them, plan filed trips to farms, zoos, etc, and if possible, work toward ownership of animals they can have. This is what I did with my oldest daughter, and she now owns 4 sheep (and lambing season is here :-)), 3 goats (also pregnant), chickens, guinea hens, ducks, dog, cats, gerbils, and fish (I think that's everything!) Oh, and her sister has 2 rabbits. My oldest learned all about these animals and caring for them was the next step. She is so in tune to her animals that she caught a disease in one of her goats really early, that can paralyze them or kill them. Anyway, this is an example of what I think unschooling is to me.
By
Olive Oyl, at 7:53 PM
Unschooling to me means fitting the schooling to the child rather than the child to the schooling. If I have a child who wants to learn to read early, we buy videos, play games, etc. If I have a child who struggles to read and just isn't that interested, we work on science and math, read stories aloud and wait until the child shows interest and motivation. Each child is an individual and homeschooling allows me to give each of my four children what they need without pushing them to be like the other kids.
When my 7 year old decided she liked science, we put aside the books and raised tadpoles and butterflies. When my 15 year old son with learning disabilities fell in love with roleplaying games, we used those to learn math, logic, and motivate him to read.
Learning can come in so many different forms and unschooling has given me the freedom to use more than just books, without feeling as if my children were missing out. Also, it gave me the courage to stop worrying about whether my child would be able to keep up with other children academically. I was able to realize that I could be proud of my pre-reader who knew more about reptiles than most children her age even though they could read better.
Most of all, unschooling is the art of learning for enjoyment and curiousity rather than simply to pass tests or 'get through a workbook'.
By
Laura, at 10:47 AM
I'm lookng for the HUU-L discussion list for
inclusive unschoolers.
Please send me a message on
tranet@rangeley.org
By
Bill Ellis, at 10:25 AM
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