CNN recently ran an article about an unschooling family.  If I had the link, I'd post it, but frankly I don't really have time to go search for it.  Oops, changed my mind.  Here it is.

The family wasn't portrayed in a very favorable light, but that isn't surprising to me.  A lot of folks out there who aren't pro-homeschooling, or pro-family or pro-anything really don't get it when it comes to real learning sometimes.

Unschooling is a very broad term, and a lot of people put it in a narrow definition.  Unschooling does NOT mean that you are not teaching anything.  It doesn't mean that your child isn't learning anything.  The only way, in my opinion, that a child wouldn't learn anything is if they didn't exist.  Children have an inner desire to learn.  And I think most adults do too, by the way.  That is why we read, explore the media, talk to people, make friends, volunteer, work, play.  We were made to learn new things.  Every part of our body is made to take in and process information!  Oh, the blessing of our senses and sense-ability is astounding!

There are many, many lables put on learning styles, teaching styles, homeschool methods.  And that is because as people, for some reason we like to be "in a category."  We like to feel like we fit somewhere.  So according to who we are, what we "do", we give it a name.  If we like a sports team, we are "Bronco Fans."  (I had to say that, being in Colorado.)  If we go to a particular church, we are "Catholics."  If we use a particular program for homeschooling, we are "Sonlighters" or "Classical." 

When I went to public school there were the "Uppertown Kids" and the "Lowertown Kids."  There were the "Teacher's Pets."  In high school there were the "Nerds" and the "Jocks" and the other lables that will remain unwritten here.  We might choose to call ourselves "unschoolers" because we know that the public school model doesn't work for us.  It isn't working for a lot of kids.  It may work for some, and that is fine. I have to say that personally, it didn't work for me. 

Unschooling,  is a term to show that we think "schooling" (public school method and model) is a proven failure and danger to our children.  And we aren't going to do it that way for our family.  It is our God given responsibility to teach our own how we choose to do it.  (And I must add this---we are still under the state homeschool law.  Know your state homeschool statute, abide by it and know what is going on in your legislature! Don't be passive!  Or a favorable law might be yanked out from under your nose.)

We need to get out of the comparison mode and just be lifelong learners, which is hopefully who we are anyway!  Gee, I hope I never am too old to learn a new thing, or unable to.  I hope that because I "socialize" with a group that calls themselves unschoolers, doesn't mean we aren't learning anything!  Yikes, when you get right down to it, this whole world has become way to invasive as to what we should and should not be doing.  I am not opposed to labels, we just get to serious about them........they don't always mean what they say.

  Think of it this way:  Take a newborn.  What else can you call him?  Infant, yes.  Baby of the family.  Maybe.  There are a hundred or more ways to describe this little child.

So you have a family of 5.  You can tell them apart by saying " I have a 19 year old, a 16 year old, a 12 year old, etc."

Or you can talk about their physical description.  "My oldest is very muscular and likes sports."  My baby has red hair."

Or you can label their learning style.  " My Suzy is very kinesthetic." 

When we label what we do,  unless the person you are telling has no biases, then it's ok.  But if they are biased, they might think you are "faulty" in one way or another because of your label. Meanings of words have changed over the centuries. And just because we label someone an unschooler, doesn't mean they aren't learning.  Or being taught.  Labels can lie.

I have a friend who's child is in college.  They might say they unschooled.  But I tell you this, they are the busiest family I know.  Maybe they call it unschooling, but I have to tell you that it wasn't un-anything.  It was loving, caring, serving, sharing, talking, reading, helping, playing, making, experimenting, doing, praying, working.  And now, it's achieving.  And, the achievement is whatever that family wants the achievement to consist of. Attainment means different things to different people.  Their goals might not be your goals.  Hopefully, not.  Unless that is what they want.  Do you see my point?

So the next time you read a story about an "unschooling" family, and you think "how awful! They just let that child do whatever they want and call it school."  Just think of this.  You don't know.  You are just making assumptions based on a label. 

 And until you walk a mile in their unschooling shoes, you don't have a label to stand on.

 Homeschooling Is Life!

Nancy

p.s. get a copy of "Dumbing Us Down" by John Taylor Gatto and read it.  Here is a link to his essay, "The Seven Lesson Schoolteacher."  And then go do some research on Thomas Edison this week!  Here are some links on one of our very own blogger pages at HSB!