Search Results for: blog some unschooling questions answered

Why Some Parents are Unschooling Their Kids

Unschooling is a form of homeschooling that involves less structure and more child-centered learning. Parents who are unhappy with the way that learning is presented at schools have been turning to the unschooling movement as their solution for what their child’s education should be like. Unschooling has some similarities with homeschooling. In both cases, a child stays home and receives his or her education there (instead of in a classroom at a school). Each educational style allows parents to be very involved in what their child is taught. Parents can set the speed that information is presented in order to … Continue reading →

Lessons from Unschooling Families: The Greens

If you haven’t been following the series, I’ve written several articles on unschooling, our experiences with it and how it can work. But just like not all of the 2 million home schooling families in the United States have phenomenally educated children so do some unschoolers give unschooling a bad name. You’ll notice that the majority of my experiences with unschooling have been very positive but I have met one family in my years as a support group leader that I think might make anyone question the validity of an unschooling method. They begin their day whenever they want. The … Continue reading →

Lessons From Unschooling Families: The Smiths

I had asked last week in the forums for suggestions on blog topics. Mary Ann Romans wanted to know about unschooling and essentially how kids will learn everything they need to know if there is no plan in place. Yesterday I talked about unschooling as a philosophy, our own experience leaning towards unschooling with our son (although we are definitely not unschoolers) and I gave an example of one family I knew, and how they incorporated unschooling into their learning environment. Today, I am going to talk about the Smiths, another unschooling family I know with a slightly more radical … Continue reading →

Lessons from Unschooling Families: The Jones

In my last two blogs I have covered the basics of what an unschooling philosophy is and I’ve also talked about our own experiences with our own son. But we are not really unschoolers by any stretch of the imagination. In this blog, I will look at some of the elements of successful and unsuccessful unschooling. Children Deciding What to Learn When The Jones are unschoolers that I know who live in Connecticut. At the beginning of every month they ask their kids what they want to learn about. They have four children and as a group they sit down … Continue reading →

Some Unschooling Questions Answered

In my search for blog ideas, I turned to the forums to ask readers for topic suggestions. Mary Ann Romans asked about unschooling. She says she’s a little worried about unschoolers and how they get educated without an educational plan in place. I have a few answers to that, but first I must confess that we are not unschoolers. One reason is that our state’s laws are prohibitive towards true unschooling. However, I’ve watched a few successful unschooling families and one very unsuccessful unschooling family so I’ll share some of my insights from those experiences. The Unschooling Philosophy Explored The … Continue reading →

Eclectic Schooling, Unschooling, and Deschooling – New Age or Long Overdue?

In my last few blogs I have discussed many options for you and your homeschoolers regarding curriculum. There are a few more that I would like to mention that seem to be growing in popularity and that you may want to consider. The first one is Eclectic Schooling. This means that homeschooling families use parts of preplanned curriculum along with supplemental workbooks purchased from local educational vendors. This also means using educational games on the internet, maybe using a virtual school or a co-op for more supplemental classes. It could also mean that you may use Alpha Omega for English … Continue reading →

Homeschool Glossary (Books Parents Should Read) Th

As I mentioned in the introduction, new homeschooling parents should learn as much about homeschooling as possible by reading many different sources. Here continues my Homeschool Glossary of books parents should read. The Heart of Homeschooling: Teaching & Living What Really Matters by Christopher J. Klicka (Paperback – Jul 2002) The premise of this book is, have your family in order, and your child’s education will automatically fall in order. The true heart of homeschooling, so to speak, is in the heart of the family. While some may want a meatier how-to-homeschool type book, what a reader should understand is … Continue reading →

Mixed-up Methods

With all my talk about Charlotte Mason recently, readers are surely thinking, “Wow, she’s a confirmed Charlotte Mason-ite. Clearly, that’s her method. She sure loves Charlotte. Yessirree, no doubt about it. That Karen is a CM-er.” Well, yes. No. Maybe. Well, part of the time. But, then there’s our classical side. And our unschooling days. And sometimes, now and then, a workbook-y type of thing going on. And there you have our homeschool in a nutshell. I’m a pendulum, swinging back and forth between various methods and ideas. I try a bit of this, throw in a little of that. … Continue reading →

What kind of homeschooler are you?

The questions I’m most frequently asked by new homeschoolers, or by people who are considering homeschooling, are: “How do you know your style? There are so many resources and methods available. How do I decide what kind of homeschooler I am?” I’m afraid there are no easy answers to those questions. So much depends on your personal philosophy of education, your style of teaching (or what you predict your style will be), your children’s learning styles, and your state’s laws. Some of us don’t know what kind of homeschooler we’ll be until we’ve been doing it awhile. But, there are … Continue reading →