In Defense of Unschooling

I’ll admit it. I love unschooling. It’s a method I've used with all of my children, especially when they were very young. Unschooling harnesses the child’s natural curiosity and allows the child to direct their own learning. Done properly, unschooling can be very encouraging for children.

I will never forget the day when a friend of mine began posting anti-unschooling comments on Facebook. She described a situation that had been highlighted on the news the night before. The reporter had focused on a family that claimed to be “unschooling” when they were really just letting their son sit in front of the television all day.

That is absolutely not what unschooling is. Unschooling is child-directed learning. It is allowing the child to take charge and learn. My oldest boy chose to learn about trains, but his little brother focused on dinosaurs. They both learned, but they learned differently.

I stand in support of unschooling, but it does not work for everyone. Children who are not motivated or who have lost their natural curiosity may find unschooling very difficult because they do not feel driven to learn. Parents who thrive on structure or schedules may also find the unstructured learning environment of unschooling unnerving.

However, unschooling is a perfect fit for most young children and for certain children who are starting to homeschool after an unsuccessful "real" school experience. Young children are naturally curious but can quickly burn out on structured learning. Similarly, unschooling can give a child who has felt like a failure in a traditional, structured classroom the opportunity to feel successful and happy while learning. A love of learning creates a foundation and a motive for a good education. 

Ultimately, there are no "one size fits all" education solutions. The homeschooling method you use should depend solely on your preferences and the preferences of the child you teach--but that doesn't mean that an alternative method is bad or wrong. Judging a homeschool method by its name is as ignorant as judging a book by its cover. We must learn to do better.