The Beginner’s Guide to Unschooling Post written by Leo Babauta. Babauta.
There’s nothing I get asked about more as a parent than unschooling unschooling,, and nothing I recommend more to other parents. It’s an educational philosophy that provides for more freedom than any other learning method, and prepares kids for an uncertain and rapidly changing future better than anything else I know. My wife and I unschool four of o f our kids, and have been for several years. And yet, as powerful as I believe unschooling to be, I’ve never written about it, because the truth is, I certainly don’t have all the answers. No one does. The beauty of unschooling is in the search for the answers. If anyone had h ad all the answers, there would be no search. And so what I’d love to teach unschooling parents and kids is that the search is the oy of it all. !ut I’m getting ahead of myself" what is unschooling# $hy should you do it# %ow do you do it# $hat should you read# $e’ll $e’ll talk about all that today.
What is Unschooling? &irst, it’s a form of homeschooling. !ut there’s no easy answer to that e'cept in comparison to regular schooling. There’s no one way to do unschooling, and peo ple who do it often do it for many different reasons in many man y different ways. %owever, this is how I describe it ( in contrast to school" •
$hile school has classes with subects, unschooling doesn’t.
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$hile school has goals set by teachers and the school system, the unschooler )the kid* set his or her own goals.
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$hile in school, knowledge is handed down from the teacher to the student, in unschooling the student is empowered to learn for himself.
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$hile school has specific books or sets of learning materials, unschoolers can learn from anything ( books they find, things on the Internet, siblings or parents, the outdoors, museums, people working in interesting fields, anything.
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$hile school is structured, unschooling is like a++. It’s done on the fly, changing as the student changes.
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$hile students in school learn to follow instructions, unschoolers learn to think for themselves and make their own decisions.
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$hile students in school are asked to learn at pace arbitrarily set by administrators, unschoolers learn at their own pace.
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$hile in school, learning happens in the classroom at certain times, in unschooling learning happens all the time, and there is no division between learning and life.
et me emphasi+e that for a minute" in unschooling, life itself is learning. There is no -doing school / you are learning all the time. 0nschoolers learn ust like you or I learn as adults" based on what interests them, figuring out how to learn it on their own, changing as they change, using whatever resources and learning materials they find, driven by curiosity and practical application rather than because someone says it’s important. This is how I learn as a self1employed writer, as an entrepreneur, as a parent. It’s how our children will learn when they’re adults. $hy not have the m learn like that now#
Why Unschool? et’s think about what school is about" preparing kids for obs )and life* in the future / a future that’s probably a decade or more away. Now think about a decade or more of change" how many of us predicted 23 years ago what life would be like today# 4id we know about the economic recession, or the changing ob market, or the fact that things like smartphones and i5ads and ebook readers would be so widespread# And that’s ust the start. If we can’t predict what our kids’ future will be like, how can we decide today wh at they should be learning to prepare for that future# $e’re preparing them for today’s obs, not tomorrow’s obs. 6chool teaches kids a set of facts and skills that they might not need in the future. 0nschooling takes a different approach" kids learn how to learn, how to teach themselves. If you know how to learn and how to teach yourself, then you are prepared for any future. If in the future the things we know are obsolete, then the person who knows how to learn anything will be ready to learn whatever is in use in the future. The person who only knows how to learn from a teacher will need a teacher to teach him. More reasons to unschool" •
It’s how entrepreneurs learn . 6chools prepare kids to follow instructions, like good employees, while entrepreneurs take charge of what they need to know and make decisions for themselves, navigate through uncharted waters. 0nschooling prepares kids to be entrepreneurs instead of robots.
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It’s much more natural . The school system is a fairly modern invention, and isn’t how humans have learned for the maority of our history. 0nschooling is the learning method used for most of human history ( including by people like eonardo 4a 7inci, eo Tolstoy, Mo+art, 8instein and !enamin &ranklin.
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It’s reer. The structure of school is good for people who like decisions made for them, but if you like making your own decisions, and figuring out things based on current needs, you will want more freedom.
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We learn with the !ids . $hile in school, many parents are removed from the learning process, and ask the teachers to take responsibility for their kids’ education, with unschooling you learn with your kids. The most important learning I’ve been doing is learning about learning. $e figure out, together, how people learn, what’s the best way to learn, for each kid.
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Learning is unlimited . In school, learning is limited to the classroom and homework time. Then kids believe they stop learning and they can go play and live life ( as if learning is boring and they only do it because they’re forced to. !ut unschoolers learn that learning happens all day long, every day, no matter what you’re doing. If you’re not studying a te'tbook, does that mean you’re not learning# 9an’t you learn from playing games, going for a hike, talking to strangers# %ow about from figuring out how to cook dinner, or fi' a broken faucet, or make a fort# earning is all around us, and it’s fun: That’s what unschooling teaches us.
There are many more reasons, of course, and each person will find her own reasons. These are ust a few of mine.
"ow to Unschool This is the hard part, because there is no right way to do it, no single way. And parents who are starting out always, always want to know how to do it. I know we did, and the honest truth is, we’re still figuring out the answer. $hy is there no answer# !ecause every kid is different. 8veryone has different needs, interests, abilities, goals, and environments. $hat would you say if people told you there was only one way to live your life, one way to do your ob# ;ou’d hate it, because it would take away your freedom, and also all the fun. Telling you how to unschool is like taking away your freedom and all the fun out of it. The
#ollege bound . =ur 2>1year1old has decided he wants to go to college, and so studies for the 6AT on his own, and is taking some free college courses online, and writes practice
college essays on topics he chooses. %e also learns things on his own, like programming or 34 animation, and plays the guitar. •
$rigami master . =ur 231year1old wants to get good at math, so does some math courses on ?han Academy. 6he also makes origami and weaves friendship bracelets and reads teen novels and Archie comics and plays piano and goes to the park to play basketball and likes to learn to cook.
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Wol%es and wi&ards . =ur @1year1old loves to read about wolves, and often will pretend he’s a wolf. Also a wi+ard or werewolf. %e likes to play games and read with us and make up stories and draw. %e’s pretty good at math on his own, though we don’t really study that with him much.
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'orts and restaurants . =ur >1year1old likes to be read to and isn’t into reading on her own, though she’s been learning to read through games and reading with us. 6he doesn’t like math but will do it in games. 6he makes forts and art and likes to play outside and pretend she owns a restaurant or store.
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The power o (uestions . $hen the kids ask a
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People you !now are incredible resources . If your kid wants to be a chef, you might know someone who is a chef or owns a restaurant. If your kid wants to create i5hone games, you might know a programmer. If your kid is interested in science, you might know a marine biologist. And so on. 9onnect them with these people.
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Games are your best riend . 5lay all kinds of games. 4on’t be concerned with what they’re learning. They’ll have fun, and learn that life can be play, and so can learning.
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'un pro)ects . $orking on art and science proects can be a lot of fun.
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Pursue interests . If the kid is interested in something, show her how to find out more, or play with it.
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*eschool . If you’re new to unschooling, and your kid has gone to school for awhile, it’s often a good idea to -deschool. That means to not worry about learning or schooling for awhile ( a couple weeks, a couple months. The idea is to get them )and you* out of the mindset of schooling, which can be very difficult, because we’ve been trained to think in terms of school. $e think we need to be productive teachers and students, and that school has to be done a certain way, and that if the kids aren’t learning something from an activity, it has no value. All that is crap, of course, so take so me time getting out of that mindset.
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+,pose them . earn to give kids a variety of stimuli ( books and maga+ines lying around the house, watch shows about interesting things, play old board games, get out
and e'plore your town, meet different people, find stuff together on the Internet. This e'posure will help them to e'plore new interests ( even if they don’t seem interested at first, the e'posure will allow them to find new things on their own. •
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Learn as you go. The most important thing is that you need to figure out what works for you. Try different things. 5lay. Make things. o out and do things, meet people, have fun learning about new things. &un, always fun, never hard work unless it’s fun, never force, always get pulled. Be patient. ;ou won’t see -results right away / changes in your kid will happen over time, as he learns that learning is fun and can be done all the time in lots of ways. ;ou also might get frustrated that your kids doesn’t want to study or read or write papers or whatever. !ut instead, let him play music or play pretend games or read comic books or play outside. Trust is important . It’s hard in the beginning )we’re still learning to do this*, but it’s important to trust that kids can learn on their own, with minimal guidance, and that if they’re interested in something, they’ll learn about it. $e all think kids can’t learn on their own, but they can.
!efore you get the wrong idea, I should give credit to 8va for doing most of the unschooling work, and being better at it than I am )8va is really great, though she won’t admit it*. 6he has read more books and websites on the topic than I am, and does the maority of the unschooling on a daily basis )though I do help out as much as I can*. I should also give credit to my awesome sister ?at, who inspired us to unschool, and is one of the most ama+ing unschooling moms I know.
-ore eading This isn’t a definitive guide ( I don’t have the e'perience or knowledge to write that guide. !etter people than I have written much more on the topic, and while I can’t provide a comprehensive list, I will share some books and sites to get you started )many are from 8va and my sister ?at*" •
6andra 4odd B one of the first and best writers on unschooling.
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Cohn %olt B another of the seminal writers on unschooling, a classic.
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A1D %omeschooling B so many things for homeschoolers. 6o many.
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?han Academy B ama+ing resource for learning all kinds of subects.
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=pen 9ulture B such a powerful collection of free learning resources, including a list of free online college courses, language learning, and so much more. $ow.
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9lickschooling B newsletter with links to learn about different learning topics.
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6chmoop B a fun way to learn literature, history and more.
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Eeading Eants B blog by a librarian who gives reading suggestions for young adults.
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&ree Eice B game for learning different subects.
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;ouTube B It’s an interesting video site that you might not have heard of. !ut what an incredible resource for learning videos ( learn &rench or 6panish, math raps, and much much more.
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6elf1Made 6cholar B free classes.
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&ree1Eange ?ids B how to raise self1reliant children.
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The 6parkling Martins B for unschooling inspiration.
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%omeschoolers uide to etting Into 9ollege B it’s not only possible, but very doable.
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ife earning Maga+ine B on non1coercive, interest1based learning.
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Natural 9hild B learning to treat children with with dignity, respect, understanding, and compassion.
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Coyfully Eeoicing B great overview of unschooling philosophy with more resources for learning more.
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Dinn 8ducation 5roect B e'cellent resources for learning history, %oward Dinn style.
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9oursera B free online courses.
