Our Journey to Unschooling / Lifeschooling
We have been a home educating family from the beginning. An eager beaver, I started homeschooling my first-born when he was just shy of 3 years old! I now shake my head and chuckle at the memory of me converting our family room into a little preschool, all the word labels taped to objects throughout our home and endless hours spent on lesson planning, not to mention the wasting of precious ink on all those printables … for a barely 3 year old.
Homeschool Beginnings
If only my current self could travel back in time to smack my then-self upside the head …
We ended up enrolling that same first-born in preschool the year he turned 5, because at that point, I was burnt out, had a high-maintenance 3 year old, and was preggo with our third child.
Best. Decision. Ever.
So we decided to do the same for the other two spawn. It was a great way for each child to have some play time outside of the home, and – let’s be honest – it was a way for me to be down one kid for a few hours, three times a week!
When they each finished out their one year of preschool, I then took the reigns on each of the kids’ education.
Our Homeschool Philosophy
We never really stuck to any one philosophy or method; I would say we are eclectic homeschoolers, pulling what we value from all the different educational approaches. And even though we weren’t technically what you would consider unschoolers (yet), we definitely prioritized real life and organic, natural learning experiences over our bookwork.
Up until a few years ago, had always used some sort of boxed curriculum … and even then, very loosely; Before Five in a Row, Winter Promise, Sonlight, and My Father’s World have all been part of our family’s repertoire. We’ve also been part of the local homeschool co-op and the local alternative learning program. All have served us well, but I always felt like there must be a better way for our family.
I was always drawn to the idea of unschooling, or at least interest-led learning.
But being a planner and organizer at heart, I was too hesitant to let the kids go completely “willy nilly”, afraid they wouldn’t be learning “all the things”. And though I already factored in plenty of time for free play and passion pursuits, I still needed to feel in control of what my kids were digesting, how they were digesting it, and when they were digesting it.
Over time, the wonder and appetite for learning that was present when my kids were very young started to wane. I finally knew something had to change.
The Transition to the Unschooling Life
Last year, I began loosening my grip on force-feeding them information. It was very slow and incremental, but I eventually scaled back from my formal lesson plans to offering “bites to taste”. If they liked it, we’d dive further into a topic. If not, we’d let it go and pursue something else. I learned to let go of sticking to the plan for the sake of sticking to the plan, and instead learned to let my kids pursue knowledge how they desired.
You know what I noticed?
Children (well, at least mine) really do take ownership of their learning … as long as they are given the opportunity, environment, and support to do so. I began to see for myself that as I stepped out of the way so that my children can lead their own educational journey, the excitement for learning crept back in. The approach changed from “having to do schoolwork” to “what do we get to learn about?” each day.
At the beginning of this calendar year, we fully shifted our family away from how we had been homeschooling and began unschooling.
I pulled the kids out of the local alternative program (an exceptional program, but no longer aligned with our family’s objectives) and boxed up our boxed curriculum. We started going to the library more, increased our read-aloud selections, and added outdoor exploration at least once a week.
We are still using a program called Math-U-See for math, because: 1) I’m still not comfortable with throwing that out the window, and 2) my kids actually love their Math-U-See program, so why throw it out the window? I am learning that unschooling doesn’t mean no curriculum at all; the beauty of an unschooling life means if my kids desire a math curriculum, then that is what we’ll do!
We are just finishing up our first few months of a more organic daily rhythm and this change for our family has been amazing! (This is coming from someone who time blocks her day.) Each unschooling day is different, but every day they are loving what they are learning, because they get to dive into worlds that they want to dive into.
Field Excursions as Part of Our Unschooling Life
Another priority for our homeschool is getting out into nature and the world (usually by road tripping with our RV)!
Travel has always been a part of our homeschool rhythm, but with a more relaxed approach to learning (where we aren’t hindered by schedules with lists to check off), we can pretty much sneak off whenever we want.
In fact, our studies usually revolve around or have some relationship to upcoming trips, and vice versa – after studying things that interest us, we will follow up with a trip (road trip or day trip) of some kind to supplement that learning.
I fully believe that field excursions – whether it’s a big road trip in our RV, or a day visit to a museum, or simply getting out for a nature walk along our river – not only brings subject matters to life, but helps foster the love and desire for learning more about the world all around us.
Each unschooling day is different, but every day is also full of wonder. For our family, there is no better way to learn than by diving deep into subject matters that excite and inspire us, as well as interacting with our fascinating world in tangible ways.
UPDATE: Since I first wrote this post, I documented a couple “day in the life” snapshots for what unschooling / interest-led learning looks like for our family! Check them out below.
Unschooling with Kids Ages 7, 10, and 12
Interest-Led Homeschooling with Kids Ages 8, 11, and 13