Unschool

This weekend I read through Cathy Duffy's 100 Top Picks For Homeschool Curriculum. I'm not really in a position to be ordering a bunch of new books for this homeschooling venture, but there was a nice big section in the beginning that asked me to evaluate and determine my homeschooling philosophy. There was even this handy little checklist (oh how I love a good checklist!) that helped determine which of the popular methodologies I fit into. I wasn't terribly surprised to score high in the "Eclectic" category, but I was a little surprised to score so high in the "Unschooling" category. Of course, I didn't fit perfectly into any one methodology, but there seems something so radical about declaring "unschooling" to be an area I identify with strongly.

Really, I believe that all children have different educatioal needs. Public schooling, private schooling, homeschooling, sailing around the world, there are as many paths as there are kids. The Kid is generally a highly motivated learner. As I type this he is flipping between making music on Garage Band and learning skateboarding tricks on YouTube. Today he has also read for well over an hour, learned some of the political/geographical changes around our planet in the last 20 years, and learned about Least Common Denominator. He still has some writing and Spanish to do, but I know he'll get to it.

The hardest part of homeschooling, for me, is learning to let go of the reins a little bit. I made the decision to homeschool based, among other things, on a gut feeling that The Kid would benefit greatly from more freedom to learn and discover. I have to balance that with what I know about 11 year old boys. Yesterday was the first day of me stepping back and letting him get through his to-do list on his own. I needed to step in and help him look at time management a bit, but he got through it. We both did.

As with most challenges facing me, I have put a bunch of books by John Holt and other unschooling advocates on hold. I don't really think we'll ever become completely unschooling in our approach, but it is nice to see the different ways it can happen.