Hmm. I’ve been pondering this question lately and it seems to have come up here on the 4 Real Learning forums, although the question posed there is, “Are you radical unschoolers?”. It was an interesting thread. What I found most interesting was that many families posting on that board choose to describe their educational philosophy using terms other than unschooler.
I found this interesting because I always seem to have a strong negative reaction to the term, unschooler, when I think about applying it to ourselves. I think this is because 1) “unschooler” just seems so in your face. It seems to be a term which puts “schoolers” on the defensive and 2) I’m not really sure what constitutes a “real” unschooler. The definition of the term, if there is one, seems ambiguous to me.
For instance, if I require my children to do some reading everyday and limit their television viewing can I be considered an unschooler? What if I let one child choose our read aloud and insist that all the children are in hearing distance, even if they would prefer to read their own book upstairs? And what if I require them to do some sort of math work everyday but allow them to choose the materials they use? Or what if I insist that around age 9 they start formal lessons for math & english using traditional curricula, but the rest of the day, after chores, the children are free to do what they like with it? This is what our “schooling” looks likes; a few have to’s, lots of want to’s, with lots of unstructured time.
Would it be right to call myself an unschooler? I’m not sure. Maybe. Maybe not.
But then there is still just the “in your face” rebellion from the status quo that the word unschooler invokes that I’m just not comfortable with. When I was younger, I reveled in being confrontational with my ideals, proclaiming them to the world on the bumper and back window of my car. I even proclaimed them with my body, through tattoos and piercings, and fashioned myself with Renegade Annie t-shirts. My ideals were quite different back then. And very confrontational and in your face.
As the Lord has opened my eyes to Truth, I no longer have high ideals but rather deep convictions. Convictions so personal, and dear to me that I don’t want anyone to be put off by them but instead want others to revel in their beauty; to see the quiet mystery of my joy and contentment in my vocation as a wife and mother who educates her children in our home, within our family.
I don’t want to be a homeschooling mom who is always stressed, uptight and complaining about never having anytime to enjoy myself because there is so much school work to get done. I never again want to think I have to make a choice between homeschooling and welcoming another child into our family. (Been there. Done that. It only lead to burn out.) I want to always be able to say “yes” to both, enthusiastically and freely! That’s why I’ve fully embraced a a relaxed home learning environment.
Leonie at Living Without School shares this quote by John Holt who had this to say about unschooling:
Any child who can spend an hour or two a day, or more if he wants, with adults that he likes, who are interested in the world and like to talk about it, will on most days learn far more from their talk than he would learn in a week of school. ~John Holt
I agree with Mr. Holt whole heartily. Doesn’t it sound so positive? So relational? So natural?
This is what our learning is:
- Positive
- Relational
- Discovery Oriented
- God Inspired
- Faith-filled
- Family Centered
- Wonder-filled
- Abundant
- Grace-filled
- Living
But that is quite the mouth full, so perhaps we will call ourselves–
Natural Learners.
Isn’t that what we were created to be?
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