What is Unschooling?
To answer this question, I will first describe what homeschooling is. This, alone, is difficult to do because there are endless ways to homeschool one's kids. For the most part, though, homeschooling consists of teaching one's kids at home. The kids are still given lessons and tests, and they even sit at desks, with the mom being the one and only teacher. It's basically the same school structure, just at home. Unschooling, however, does not consist of lessons, tests, and desks. The kid gets to learn and explore the topics they are interested in with minimal direction from the parent. This requires a lot of faith on the parents part. :) Of course, there are endless ways to unschool as well, and my mom had her own way of doing it. Like I said, though, I'm not going to talk about unschooling philosophies here. I'm going to share the key aspect that unschooling brought to my life.
I Love to Learn
As a child, I was rarely forced to learn anything. I found my own interests, and my mom fed them with resources and opportunities. I loved to read, so I read books. I loved to write, so I wrote stories. I loved animals, so I spent time with them. I loved crafts, so I made them. The list could go on and on. Of course, my mom did introduce me to more formal education later in my childhood, but to me, these additional lessons were just as fascinating as anything else I had experienced in the past. There was no expectation for a knowledge base that I had to "keep up" with to be considered "normal" and "educated." My mom didn't test me; I just learned. My mom didn't compare me to others, or point out the subjects I was weak in, or push me to do exceptional show-me work. I just learned, and with this freedom, I loved whatever I learned.
Image by Espador
So imagine the intriguing conflicts I experienced when I went to college at age 21. My professors "threatened" to take away points if I didn't read an assignment I was already interested in reading. I didn't have time to study and ponder material because of insane deadlines, thus limiting my learning. And worst of all, I learned and had fun in the classroom, and then was forced to stop learning and take tests. Ugh, I hate tests! Cramming, regurgitating, and forgetting? That was opposite of the way I grew up learning! I dare say it isn't learning at all. Yet I got good grades and earned scholarships. Does that mean I was "smart"? Does that mean I would be successful after college? Was I really learning any better than the way I learned growing up? I don't think so. Granted, I learned a lot at college, things both academic and social. But there is one big difference between learning to earn the grade and learning out of interest: when you love to learn, there is no graduation date. Learning has no boundaries. takes many different forms, and lasts a lifetime.
That's me!
Does this mean I am an educated guru that has started my own business and can answer every trivia question on the TV shows? Heck no! (See my blog post "Ooooo, The Pressure" for more on this). It simply means that learning is not a chore for me, nether is it about an end result. It's about discovering something new that awes and fascinates. It's about personal fulfillment and progression toward something I want to create, whether it's big and fantastic, or small and simple. It's about preserving the sanctity and beauty of education, and relishing in the joy it brings to my life.
