How does homeschooling work…

Question: How does homeschooling work when often the parents are not accredited or college educated?

Answer: It works because often, especially with unschooling, the parents are as eager to learn as the child. Learning together is different than teaching. Teaching is (in school) forcing information onto the child either before they are ready, or when they don’t want it. When a parent and child learn together, they share not only an emotional bond, but the parent can allow the child the space to learn or figure things out on their own, building joy and the feeling of accomplishment. It’s no secret, that when the experience is joyful, children often learn more about it.

I see our unschooling as an extension of our lives. There is no separate place set specifically for learning. Learning happens as a result of living. Since we force no learning in our home, there is no resistance to learning opportunities. The children are living real lives, in real time, with real people. They don’t have to wait until they are 18 (or older in some cases) to “live their life” or “find themselves”. They are living now and they know who they are. They are using their knowledge now, not later.

Who better to raise a child than his/her own parents? When a child goes to school, the loss of parental rights is deplorable. Children at a young age are spending more and more time away from their home and family. Through homeschooling the family unit is generally stronger. Where many children in school grow up to resent their parents and think their parents are inadequate, in homeschooling you find a greater amount of respect and trust within the family.

Unschooled children have a continuing sense of adventure and discovery. The learning isn’t constrained by walls, subjects, books, or time. It merely includes these things when necessary. In addition, when a parent isn’t constrained by their own education, the learning can go even further.

Children are allowed to develop at their own pace. Children in school are automatically entered into a rat race. Suddenly their level of self awareness is on overload and here begins the social/emotional problems you very often see in school. Many times these problems overshadow academics. My oldest son started to display some of these problems in only Kindergarten! Since we brought him home, the bulk of these of these problems we previously witnessed have now disappeared. The rest are normal childhood issues, that were previously exacerbated by the others.