Unschooling: living, learning, loving it!

This is a re-blog from something I wrote on October 3, 2008 to help family and friends better understand our choice to unschool. Even though this was written over 3 years ago and our daughters are now 13, 11, and 7 the sentiments are the same and our children are thriving, thinking, teaching, trusting, discovering, unschooling humans. I hope you enjoy and learn a little more about the way we learn.


"how is it going with home schooling?" was asked by a woman to a group of moms that were standing around waiting. my wife was in the mix and as always listened, observed, and then once it seemed to be the right time, shared her thoughts. just to clarify for all who read this. we do not "home school" we practice "unschooling". the two are very different in philosophy and practice. under the umbrella of home schooling, the parent is the teacher. whereas, with unschooling life is the teacher and the parents are facilitating what life their children are exposed too and observe their discovery of self and learning. when my wife shared with me the social interaction with the other women, she encouraged me to blog my thought about our children's discovery of learning through life. 


if you have ever had the privilege of being around my daughters for a spell you know that each of them is extraordinary in their own beautiful way. my oldest daughter just turned 10. she is our morning girl. every morning she wakes up and finds whatever book she is reading and dives in to a world of new discoveries. some of you may be thinking this seems normal, but just a couple years ago her desire to read was squelched with frustration by the demands of a charter school instructor and the mark the state of california places as a standard where a child of 8 should be. because our daughter was forced to be like other children and fit a general standard, she found her love for books and discovery by this means drained and invested in physical learning through dance and gymnastics instead. it broke my heart to watch a child who has such a brilliance for imagining other worlds be stifled in her process of learning by a bogus standard that is racial, gender, and socio-economically bias to begin with. so when i see her cozy on our couch in the wee hours of morning, reading beneath the morning light of soft golden hues, i am amazed. she found her way. she learned how to read. not because she must, but because she wants to. i love learning. sometimes i wonder what i would have learned if people stopped telling me what to learn and just let the childlike instinct to discover lead me to find my way. do not get me wrong, my wife and i choose to be there and help with the process, but our girls absorb life richly and we do our best to let life be their teacher. amongst many christian home schooling circles unschooling is considered liberal, left field, and completely outside the realm of "christian" structured upbringing. i do not spin in those circles. i am too busy living in god's incredible creation, and yes it is liberal by definition. i think it would be wise for those who have strong views on unschooling to stop and watch and see what they might discovery from life. who knows, they just might learn a little and be liberated. anyone can think what they want about the educational route we have decided to take for our children, as long as they are thinking and not conforming. all i know is that  my 1st daughter is a discovering watercolors, ballet, and reading about Nellie Bly in the morning. our 2nd daughter is playing the drums, discovering her body motion through tumbling, and exploring the use of pastels as a medium. the 3rd daughter is on the verge of 4 and loves verbal conversations, dialogues about the happenings of her day, loves taking care of her "meow" cat, and is exceptional at drawing people. they are extraordinary. truly they are. i am biased and i should be. i am learning a lot from them. i am learning a lot from life. i guess you could say, i am unschooling.