What is the difference between homeschooling & unschooling? ?

Question

i have a question to ask. What is the difference bewtween homeschooling, & unschooling? I have been homeschooling our son now for 3 years in a row, & I have never heard of this until now.

See what we do is get the studies thats reguired for him to learn, then let him pick out what else he wants to learn, like photography, comic book drawing, & home ec.

I was just curious is all, both my husband & I are confused, we just never heard of unschooling before until now.

Thanks for your help guys. Please no rude comments about homescholing our children either! Its our choice, & some kids arnt meant for public or private schooling. So any rude comments will be reported, & ignored. My son was in public school too, & hated it & we wernt happy with the teachers lack of education too!

Answer 1

l have not heard about "unschooling" but there is a movement called "free schooling" where the children are free to do whatever they wish, as long as it does not interfere with others, on the theory that whatever interests them is what they need to learn in order to be able to lead a productive, independent life.

l have observed such a school and, in my opinion, this was entirely unacceptable and a detriment to the kids.

l do believe that education works best when students follow their own interests, however... within that construct skills must be developed, both academically and in work habits.

The end result needs to be an individual who has mastered a basic curriculum in language, math, science, social studies, knows how to learn, how to occupy time productively, and respects others. And is capable of earning a living or otherwise contributing to society.

Where that takes place is immaterial- it's the results that count.

Having read Lori's answer above, l am in total agreement with her. She and her husband automatically taught their children the basics through events of everyday life and everyday conversation in such a manner that no one thought  of it as "school" but was actually far more effective.

Answer 2

Many people call homeschooling unschooling.  I totally do not agree with them.. I was home schooled for a few years, and I had a great education.. Some people think that home school kids are stupid, and have no life.  I beg to differ.  I was involved in many activities, and had friends to.. Some people just don't see that side of it.  Its sad that homeschoolers get a bad rap.. I think that people who have been home schooled need to prove those ignorent people wrong..

Answer 3

well..i don't know what unschooling is but i did just want to say GOOD FOR YOU homeschooling your child! I'm going to homeschool mine once they hit 1st grade..I feel like Pre-k and Kindergarten are important as far as socialization is concerned. there are so many programs for homeschooled childeren around here, field trips, P.E class picnics christmas parties its great! I'm excited. I was homeschooled until 4th grade when i switched to public school i went from getting Straight A's to failing because I couldn't understand the teachers. (grew up on the A.C.E system going at your own pace and everything) when i switched back to homeschooling in 6th grade i started passing subjects again. my mom figured for highschool she'd send me to a christian school i ended up failing, getting pregnant, dropping out. for my childeren Homeschooling is the only way to go!  

Answer 4

Hi, Tammy.

Unschooling is a form of homeschooling, which is also known as Interest Lead, Child Lead Learning.  The premise of unschooling is that children will learn what they need to know when they need to know it in a natural, organic way. It is difficult to define, however.  Here is some info on the subject:  http://www.unschooling.com/library/faq/i...

http://www.unschooling.org/

All the best.

http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/meth...

Answer 5

Hi!

I am a "veteran" homeschooler (15 years) and we unschooled. We began as "relaxed homeschoolers (where you do not spend large blocks of time like school and you are just more relaxed about everything), and as the kids got older (going into teens) we began to transition into unschooling.

Unschooling is learner-led and interest-based education. It can have various meanings to many people, but basically you trust your kids to learn what they want to learn and when. I figured that by the time they were 12-13 years old that they had the skills they needed to continue on with their education with input from me when they asked for it.

We have three kids who have "graduated" from our unschool and are now leading very productive lives. All are very educated, well-rounded people who are continuing to pursue their interests and (I hope!) are life-long learners, which is what  I had hoped to achieve.

Unschooling is not doing school. It is a philosophy, a learning style, and a great way to live and learn with your kids!

Many people think this sounds "irresponsible", but it is actually making your kids responsible for their own educations, with you there to guide when needed. You would be amazed at how well it works! The kids actually retain what they learn, too, and they are not fed a bunch of tripe just because it is being taught at the public school.

My kids know math, science, English, grammar, history, and lots of fun stuff inbetween. Each kid had their own interests, but they often overlapped. And the kids have continued to delve into all kinds of interesting stuff since they've grown up. All have jobs, one is married, one is into local acting, and one is still a teen (16) and has two more years to complete for the state, but she is having fun.

Hope this helps! If you have any particular questions, then please feel free to email me!

Lori

Answer 6

It is my understanding that the term "Un-schooling" refers to they way of educating your child by relying less on books and lessons and allowing his or her own interests to guide the way his education progresses.

For example, if your son is interested in the stars and the solar system, then spend time looking through binoculars or telescope, see if you can arrange a trip to an Observatory, and get a few age appropriate books from the library and allow him to explore the subject for as long as he would like - it may be a day, it may be a couple of weeks - but just see where his interest takes him.  If you wanted him to show how much he knows about Astronomy, then you could help him make a project to show Grandma what he llearnt but the focus is not on making lists of the planets and their relative size to each other, or writing it all down and memorizing it for a test.

Similarly, if your son was interested in Butterflies, then you could talk to him about the life-cycle of the caterpillar and butterfly, and moths, talk about other animals that metamorphoses into something different, such as tadpoles into frogs - books again from the library.

If Dad is building a shed or making a patio, that is a great time to show how mathematics works - 10 rows of 6 patio stones = 60 stones, or making sure the angles are right by learning about the Pythagorean Theory - children learn so much when the information is relevant and what they are interested in.

Have fun with your boy!

Answer 7

homeschooling is just teaching your child at home, but unschooling is a whole different philosophy. go to this website. hope it helps :)

http://www.unschooling.com/