Homeschooling Update- Year Three

We are in year three of homeschooling, and it is one of the best parenting decisions I’ve ever made. I feel so grateful that I have the opportunity to work from home and that Cash can homeschool. Since I’ve been quiet on this subject for a while, I thought I’d give an update.

What type of homeschooling do we practice?

I talked a lot in the beginning about the process of deschooling and how important it was for Cash to heal from some of the damage that had been done (inadvertently) with his having dyslexia and falling behind, which made him hate any learning. Deschooling was so healing that I decided unschooling would be a natural fit for our family.

I think one of the reasons I don’t talk publicly about it much is because it’s a very unconventional method and difficult to explain in a short conversation. I think it’s good to be open about though- the more research I do, the stories I read, and the number of days we live this lifestyle, the more I become convinced that unschooling is an incredible way to educate our children.

What is unschooling?

Unschooling is a type of homeschooling where the child leads the learning. There is no required curriculum- though they can take a formal course if they like. They learn what they want to learn and how they learn best. The idea is that learning is a life-long practice, and learning how to learn what you need to know as you go is more important than memorizing facts or learning what someone tells you to. A lot of research suggests that when someone is forced to read something out of context, or that doesn’t interest them, and take a test, for example, they are less likely to retain the information.

Children- and adults, for that matter- learn best when they are interested and engaged. Instead of choosing what I want Cash to learn and trying to make it enjoyable, I let him decide what is already interesting and encourage him to learn more about it.

This looks like:

• Learning about fractions through cooking a favorite recipe

• Watching a lot of scientific YouTube videos

• Hands-on experiments

• Visiting museums, different cities, and other exciting places

• Learning about investing from a family friend

There are a million ways for him to learn about math, science, reading, personal finance, and all those other subjects by living it. I think it’s more practical to learn skills in the environment that he’ll be using them in as an adult.

I could go on for ages, but I won’t do that here. I think it’s a unique and freeing way of homeschooling, and it fits incredibly well if you are a parent practicing consent-based parenting. It also works well with secular or religious-based homes.

My favorite unschooling resources

If you’d like to learn more, I recommend reading Changing Our Minds by Naomi Fisher. It’s a deep look into how people learn and retain information. Lucy Aitkenread’s DISCO course, email lists, and socials- her work with women and unschooling is inspirational and lovely. Sue Elvis has been unschooling her large family for years, and her books and blog are incredible.