Paige Fisher, a university professor at Vancouver Island University calls unschooling a curricula-free education. Yet unschoolers may self-design an unschooling curriculum, take classes, or use educational materials.
Charles Ungerleider, an education professor at the University of British Columbia believes that unschooling parents are motivated by the ideals of French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau who said children should be left to develop without any real direction. If so, what about John Holt, the former educator who coined the term "unschooling" in the first place?
Where Do Education Experts Get Their Information?
They get it from personal observation of one or two families or hearsay, perhaps, just like the rest of us. There are no big studies of unschoolers. Experts may occasionally see a video clip of unschoolers jumping on a trampoline, wrestling, or playing video games with captions and commentary about "no rules!" They might even know an unschooling family who they see around their community.
A Consensus Definition for Unschooling?
The unschooling community has yet to come to a consensus definition for unschooling, and probably never will, which may be for the best anyway. Lack of definition gives us flexibility and room to grow. We do, however, have somewhat of a foundation in John Holt's writings. His ideas are probably the most informed place to start for understanding the basic philosophy that has influenced many unschooling parents today.
Nonetheless, unschoolers do tend to have certain ideas in common. For example,
- We don't attempt to make our children learn. Instead, we help them learn what they want to learn, how they want to learn it, when they want to learn it.
- We are invested in our children's lives, but not toward an external, impersonal idea of success. We're invested in helping our children pursue their dreams and achieve their own idea of success.
- We're not opposed to curricula or educational materials. Instead, we're opposed to the coercion and manipulation that often accompany these instruments of schooling. Why? Because we want our children to succeed and we see these bullying practices and tools as obstacles toward personal success.
What does unschooling really mean? By definition, it means not-schooling. The rest is up to you and your children.
You might also enjoy: The Unschooling Collection
Sources:
McGrath, Sara. Unschooling 101: Top 10 Questions About Learning Without School. UnschoolingLifestyle.com. Retrieved June 5, 2011.
Boesveld, Sarah. "The Politics of Unschooling." NationalPost.com, May 28, 2011.
Sara McGrath - Sara is a veteran homeschool mom of three, Usborne consultant, and the author of Unschooling: A Lifestyle of Learning.
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