You don’t want to unschool…
What you really want is interest-based learning, and I’m here to tell you why.
G-R-E-E-C-E
I remember typing the letters into the search bar of my library’s computer.
It was so quiet in there.
Between the thick carpet, stacks of books, and lack of school-aged children, the atmosphere was still and tranquil—a perfect place for discovery-based learning through books.
As the little circle danced around the loading screen, my anticipation grew. I was so antsy to get my hands on some Grecian books it was killing me. Finally, the page loaded and I could see the plethora of books filling it up.
Greek Diet? No.
Greek language? Interesting, but not what I was looking for.
Ancient Greece? YES! That was it!
I had seen a picture of the Parthenon on the cover with ancient vases crowding around it and became immediately entranced. Looking quickly through the books info, I found where it was.
It was here!
I quickly memorized the Dewey decimal number and was off. Literally running between the shelves of books, I finally found it. A whole section of Ancient Greek masterpieces.
This discovery would spark months worth of reading, researching, writing, as well as an interest in cartography, geography, and archeology.
Sounds like an unschooler’s success story, right?
Unschooling sounds like a magical learning experience. Who wouldn’t want to give their kids the gift of constant free play, imagination, creativity, the ability to do whatever their heart desires, and the agency to choose. All this sounds amazing…
…but it’s not data-driven. Your child will probably not be 28 years old, writing an opinion piece on how amazing radical unschooling is. They may, however, have grown up to be a lifelong learner and entrepreneur through interest-based learning.
Unschooling vs. Interest-based Learning
Let’s define some terms before we jump in.
I really love this definition of unschooling from Healthline.
“Unschooling is an educational method that lets children learn through their own curiosity and experiences, without formal teaching or testing.”
Note the terms “without formal teaching or testing.”
This is the highly debated part in my opinion. Pretty much all educators (even the villainized public school teachers) want children to learn through “their own curiosity and experiences.” The nuance comes in when you take away formal teaching and testing.
Now, here’s a definition for interest-based learning:
“Interest-based child learning opportunities include activities where child preferences, things a child likes to do, and things that make a child smile and laugh are the building blocks for learning new skills and abilities.”
If these 2 styles of homeschooling seem similar, that’s because they are.
Let me break down the similarities and differences:
SIMILARITIES
✔️ child-led
✔️ gives space for creativity
✔️ goes at the child’s pace
✔️ follows the child’s natural interests
✔️ uses the child’s natural learning styles
DIFFERENCES
no curriculum vs. curriculum
indirect guidance vs. direct teaching
child initiates learning vs. educator initiates learning
skills are discovered by the child vs. skills are taught through interests
NOTE: I realize that my definitions/interpretations are my own. Many unschoolers have different methods of teaching that I would consider more closely aligned to interest-based learning. Much of this research came from an unschooler study that you can also read. For the sake of discussion, I will only compare using the definitions cited above.
UNSCHOOLING BENEFITS
There’s a reason unschooling is trending. With public schools creating a sterile, uninspired school environment, families are flocking to non-traditional education.
If you’ve been interested in unschooling, these benefits are probably some of the reasons!
Child-led Learning
Kids learn better when they drive the learning experience. Whether it’s deep-diving in ancient greek culture through books, learning the 7x tables from watching NFL, or learning basic botany by playing outside, children will retain the information that they are intrinsically motivated to learn. A former unschooling parent said this:
“For us, unschooling is self-directed, interest-driven, freedom-based learning all the time. We do not use curriculum, nor do we have certain days or hours where we schedule learning. We are learning as we live.”
2. Time Freedom
Kids in traditional educational settings spend A LOT of time at school. My educational experience was not like that at all. I remember a homeschooled childhood full of slow mornings, quiet reading for hours, playing in the creek until dinner, and just being with my family.
If unschooling were to choose its best defense, I would say it’s the amount of time it gives back to kids in childhood.
3. Focus on Life Skills
How many of us have complained about not learning something—maybe taxes, sewing, or homesteading?
Unschooling emphasizes real world experiences, which inevitably leads to real world skill building.
“At the other end of the spectrum are ‘radical unschoolers’ for whom educational activities are relatively indistinguishable from everyday life. Their children fully direct their own learning, and nothing is considered a “must teach” subject. Radical unschoolers are confident that children will acquire the skills they need when they need them through natural processes.”
Again, I love the concept of this. But do kids actually learn through “natural processes” and “everyday life” alone? Can they learn basic academic skills they need for a career and happy living through everyday experiences?
UNSCHOOLING CHALLENGES
Reading is a core skill for the rest of learning. If a child can read, they can learn on their own.
But many unschoolers don’t formally teach their children to read because they believe it is a natural process, like speaking or walking.
“One theory is that reading is a natural process, like learning to speak. If teachers and parents surround children with good books, this theory goes, kids will pick up reading on their own.”
If kids could learn to write by just existing in the world, than I would unschool my kids.
If children learned their multiplication tables up to 10 by playing in the woods, I would unschool my kids.
If kids could learn to read just by opening a book, I would unschool my kids.
But the research says otherwise.
The article goes on to say,
“But research has shown that reading is not a natural process, and it’s not a guessing game. Written language is a code.”
Have you ever played an escape room before? They’re really fun, life-size puzzles. You and your teammates are placed inside a room. The door is shut and locked and the only way to get out is to solve a series of puzzles. However, you don’t always know right away what the puzzles are. Once you move around some furniture, open a few doors, and peer behind a couple curtains, you’ll find the pieces to the puzzle and can start working to solve your way out of the room.
Reading and unschooling is a bit like that.
Encouraging a child to explore with no direction is like placing them in an escape room. They’ll have an exciting time running around finding the puzzles—letting their curiosity drive them—but once they have the puzzle in hand, they won’t be able to solve it. That’s because reading is methodical skill. It’s a code we must teach so that our children can unlock the metaphorical doors around them.
The reasoning develops further,
“If learning to read were natural, there would not exist the substantial number of cultures that have yet to develop a written language, despite having a rich oral language. And, if learning to read unfolds naturally, why does our literate society have so many youngsters and adults who are illiterate?”
INTEREST-BASED LEARNING
Let’s break down the homeschooling story I told you above. Is it an unschooling success or an interest-based learning one?
I’ll be showing the 5 main factors that make up this learning experience. Next to each, I’ll right whether it was directly (interest-based learning) or indirectly (unschooling) taught.
INTEREST IN ANCIENT GREECE: directly taught. I had been reading an abridged version of The Odyssey as a part of my homeschool curriculum.
FREE LEARNING TIME: indirectly taught. My mom set up times for us to wander around the library without anything to “do.” This is a great example of an unschooling moment.
ABILITY TO READ: directly taught. My mom had homeschool lessons teaching me how to read phonetically since I was little.
ABILITY TO USE DEWEY DECIMAL SYSTEM: directly taught. This was introduced by my mom and reinforced by our very patient librarians.
LOVE FOR READING: indirectly taught. Because I realized I could read quickly and also learn so much, I fell in love with reading. No one can teach that, but you can teach your child the skill of reading that unlocks the beautiful gift of loving it.
Overall, this story could not have happened with radical unschooling.
My mom sat down and taught me how to read. She taught me how to write and recognize numbers. She taught me how to add and subtract. She did all of this in a way that I enjoyed and even loved.
And you know what?
I kept learning after that, building on the skills I had already learned.
Only after I had those foundational skills was I able to be a lifelong learner, something unschoolers are hoping to achieve.
That’s why I think interest-based learning is what you’re thinking when you say you want to unschool.
Interest-based learning focuses on what kids naturally want to learn about and how they naturally want to learn, but still teaches them a set of academics and life skills that they will need for the rest of their life.
This can be through unit studies, art projects, hands-on experiences, science experiments, games, puzzles, and field trips.
Kids know what they’re interested in now; you know what they need to learn in the future. Combining these two aspects gets you interest-based learning—not unschooling.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Unschooling has many benefits, some of which include autonomy, freedom, and creativity in learning.
However, interest-based learning combines these benefits while still teaching children directly the academic skills that cannot be acquired through natural processes.
I hope you found this opinion piece helpful!
Comment your thoughts below.
I’d love to know your personal experience with unschooling!
Anything else in the world of education and homeschooling you’d like me to talk about?
