Don't Make Unschooling A Band-Aid For Frustration With Homeschooling

Parental Frustration can cause knee-jerk reaction to Curriculum and Methods for Homeschooling

As a homeschooling and working coach, I have heard it a million times, "My child just isn't cooperating, doesn't want to learn to read, write or do math - I am just going to 'unschool' them."

The truth of the matter, if all parents could push off the learning, curriculum planning, teaching to someone else - even their child, we would.

Supporting a child in traditional school with helping with homework, frustrated teachers and more is difficult - but being the one and only one in charge of teaching a child who may have many challenges in focus, learning or motivation can be daunting.

WHAT IS UNSCHOOLING?

Child interest led learning that is initiated by the child's curiosity and the parent provides the resources to support their interest. There are several types of unschooling, some extreme, others that work as a hybrid where the child's parents still teach core subjects like reading, math, and or writing - but when the child desires to learn them. Some families the child initiates everything and what some would consider play like video games, watching movies, playing outside, the homeschooling parent categorizes the activity into what subjects the child is executing and tuning while they go about their regular play.

BEFORE YOU DECIDE ON UNSCHOOLING - KNOW THESE FIRST

• Have you 'deschooled' your child and yourself
• Evaluated Your Child's Learning Style
• Made sure their frustrations with learning isn't normal child expressions of disobedience
• Ask them how they would like to learn or be presented with the information
• Have you made learning fun or are you bringing home traditional school methods that didn't work for your child
• Is there a parental and child personality mis-match and should you have someone else teach them the subject
• What is your child's attention span

YOU CAN DO IT WITHOUT JUMPING TO UNSCHOOLING (right away)

My post on 'The Curriculum Recipe' is a good place to start before considering unschooling. The method of unschooling is a great option for homeschoolers and after-schooling. However, make sure it is a good fit for your family. You can do unschooling for a short period of time, or infuse different methods of instruction within an unschooling framework for the school year. Deciding on a method to homeschool should always be done with the child's learning style, communication methods, love language, personality type and the parents ability to meet them in consideration.

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