Nobody Told Me I Was Unschooling

Posted in DemEd in Real LifePhilosophy of EducationParenting on Jan 21, 2010 - 01:31 AM

Have I really been doing it all along?

I first heard about unschooling when I was doing research on homeschooling my daughter. I received The Unschooling Handbook for Christmas (yes, I ordered it myself) and as I make my way through it, I'm quickly realizing that I've been pretty much unschooling my little girl since...well, birth.

Don't we all use our kids' cues to play what they want to play with, talk about what they want to talk about, and that sort of thing? How many times have you switched a toy when your ten-month-old refused to play with the one you've given her? How many times have you let your child pick out his or her own books, or craft projects to work on, or games to play, or even a video to rent?

I used to make a list in my planner with my daughter of five things she wanted to do that day just so she could have some say in what we did as a family. Nowadays I just let her play with what interests her, joining in when she invites me (okay, so sometimes I just have to color too, particularly when it's using markers on balloons) and occasionally offering to do something new and interesting. She's pretty creative with what she comes up with, from play dough to dress up, cooking ("Mama, can we make spaghetti?") to helping with chores, playing in glitter to silently "reading" animal books.

Is that really it? Please correct me if I'm oversimplifying; I certainly don't mean to do that.

I just suddenly feel a little more at ease. How natural this process seems... How relaxed and cozy and just...us. This is pretty much what I did with my sisters growing up as I cared for them as well. Were they partly unschooled? Well, we all attended public school, so I suppose not... but if that's what the philosophy means, we all--including me, from my own mother--definitely got a taste of it.

Now, I was an education major, and I do enjoy planning out activities sometimes. One of my favorite things to do as a teenager was group the neighborhood kids (or the kids in the classes I teacher aided in, or that I babysat, or just my sisters) and teach them a lesson about anything--a book I was into, first aid I learned from Red Cross camp, painting, whatever. Sometimes I made posters or handouts to color, or occasionally food that went with the theme, but usually it was just us goofing around and learning together--no lesson plans or anything like that, just...having fun.

I can still do activities like that if I choose to "unschool," right? Every homeschooling parent uses his or her own unique method, choosing what works best; so if I want to do this sort of thing occasionally and my daughter goes for it, I think I'd still be staying true to the ideals of democratic education. After all, I'm just as much a kid at heart as she is sometimes, and if I want to dress up and paint my face to teach her about stranger safety (which I actually did as part of my final exam at the camp I mentioned earlier), I think I'm okay doing that.

Tags for this entry:
self-directed learning, youth-adult relationships, play, homeschooling and unschooling, natural learning

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