Does that shock you just a little bit? 

How can we properly homeschool our children without curriculum?  I suppose I had better qualify that.....how about without "canned" curriculum?  School in a box, conveyor belt education, institutional model; those are just a few of the coined phrases and descriptions that have been given to the type of homeschooling that depends upon external aids and standards for education.

I have been reading some articles here and there about homeschooling and unschooling.  I have said before that I think the term "unschooling" is more misunderstood than just about any method of schooling there is!  It isn't cut and dried like "Classical" or other definitive title. 

I would love to be up in Madison, Wisconsin in a week or so for the Unschooling conference going on up there!  They will have no curriculum hall to whip anyone into a frenzy of spending. There won't be a zillion and one choices of what you need to buy to give your child the best education.......Of course part of me loves the vendor hall experience.  I love to meet the vendors, I love to BUY new things..... but all that material does add up.  Not ony does it add up in dollars, but space requirements AND the stress of whether or not you are ever going to get to it! 

 So much material, so little time.

One of the keynote speakers is Alison McKee, the author of two books about homeschooling:  Homeschooling Our Children, Unschooling Ourselves , and From Homeschool to College and Work.  She's a veteran unschooling Mama, and I bet we could glean so much from her!  If you are one of the attendees, will you let me know how it went?  From the conference website, it looks like they are ALL full up!  Wow! That is fabulous!

For one of the BEST articles I have ever read on the background of the homeschooling/unschooling delineation, go right here.   Here is an exceptional quote from the sidebar to that article by Billy Greer: 

"School is a case of knowledge (that someone else has determined to be important) chasing after the student, while unschooling puts the student chasing after the knowledge (that they have decided is important)"

You know, so many folks out there get really agitated by unschooling.  Not all unschooling is the same though, so I understand the concern.  I even get a bit agitated by unschooling.....because it can be so hard to break out of the mold that I was stuffed into for many years as a public school survivor. I tend to call us "unschoolers."  Probably "eclectic" fits better, or maybe "delight directed" or something else. Some days look more schoolish than other days. Our homeschooing "experience" is a blend of everyday life activites from the mundane to the interesting, boring to unexpected.  Through all these experiences I find I need to offer up loads of prayers for wisdom as I try to discern the differing needs of my children.  It can get very crazy with so much external pressure to conform to someone elses ideas of what we are "supposed" to be doing! 

However, it can be very peaceful when you recognize the internal drives of your children, and learn to go with the flow.  It is so beautiful to see your children chasing the knowledge!  You still have to balance that "loving to learn" mentality that is built right into those kids of yours, with the "need to have parental authority" over them.  But it is different than having the curriculum chasing the student.  So much of what is available is bland and benign, not to mention boring. If we plan and schedule too tightly, then spontaneous learning and those blessed little interupptions (opportunities) will be squeezed out of the picture!  If we lock ourselves into a "program" written by someone who doesn't have our best interests at heart, then we might miss too much of what we really need!  We must boldly us "use" real life and real books and REAL relationships in our home-education experience. 

 And then of course, and most importantly, how would the Lord have us spend our day today?  Reality says that God's plan trumps all our best laid plans. His Curriculum is the one that we never want to be without!

Happy Homeschooling everyone!

Nancy

Homeschooling IS Life !

(c) Nancy Baetz 2007

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