Is Unschooling a legitimate homeschooling approach for Christians?

According to Wikipedia,

"Unschooling is a range of educational philosophies and practices centered on allowing children to learn through their natural life experiences, including child directed play, game play, household responsibilities, work experience, and social interaction, rather than through a more traditional school curriculum."

As a homeschool mom who believes that the traditional desk-in-a-classroom method of education is the quickest way to kill a child's creativity and natural love of learning, I have been enthralled with the idea of Unschooling since I first heard about it. After some consideration, though, I decided that it did not fit in with the principle of Due Diligence which I have heard used to describe a homeschooler's duty to, in good faith, attempt to give her students an education equivalent to that of the public school system as required by the state. I was thinking of Unschooling as simply doing nothing educationally, allowing my children to do as they pleased all day rather than directing their education. That doesn't sound like the way a Christian should fulfill her duty to educate her children under the law of the land , so I scrapped the idea.

After a few more years' thought, though, I think that Unschooling IS a ligitimate educational approach for Christian homeschoolers, if done keeping good stewardship of time and resources in mind, so we are going to try it at our house. For the 2011-2012 school year, we will be Unschooling!

So, how DOES a Christian Unschool? Please join me as I begin my journey to figure that out...

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Summer Vacation

My children like to complain about the fact that they don't get a full 3 month hiatus from studies during the summer like their public school friends do, but I never hear them complain about all those days that we are out having fun while their friends are IN school!  No, I don't give them the Summers off.  We do a lighter load, but keep moving slowly forward in the core subjects (the 3 R's) with an emphasis on anything that seems to need special attention.  But what will THIS Summer look like, our first one as official Unschoolers?

Should I give them a Summer off just this once, before we officially begin our Lifestyle of Learning as Unschoolers?  I think I will.  I'll tell them as soon as they finish the ACE Paces they're working on!

This summer will be spent getting comfortable with the idea that every day is for learning, and no day is a school day.  I will work on cementing good habits of obedience, a good attitude and diligence in the tasks they are assigned around the house so that our education-filled days will run more smoothly later on.  I'll research options for filling our days with learning in a fun and enjoyable way while still meeting the requirements of the state for what they need to know.  I'll discuss with my older children their interests and how we can develop them and use them to teach them what they need to know.  And I'll keep YOU updated so you can benefit from our findings, too!

Enjoy your summer!
Posted by at

2 comments:

  1. JamieMay 15, 2011 at 4:19 PM

    Blessings in your new endeavor! I see you like Teaching Textbooks. I got that for Brandon for 6th grade next year, how did your boys like it?

    ReplyDelete
  2. My Little CornerMay 17, 2011 at 1:23 PM

    Looking forward to following your journey of unschooling.
    We are on our summer break (3 week break)before we start up in June. So far, my children have read quite a few books, arts and crafts, helped in meal preparations, computer time, garden project, etc. Most of the things that I have listed were their ideas...the garden project is one I started with them.
    Whether you take a few weeks or 3 months off for summer vacation...your children will always be learning and doing new things...
    Many Blessings...

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)