I believe that people are born with an innate desire to learn. Look at a baby eager to move, reach, bat a toy, roll over, sit up, babble, crawl, walk, talk etc… They are curious about their world and want to navigate it.

Unschooling isn’t just an educational philosophy, it’s a way of life, it’s living and learning naturally. It’s imperative to  be our children’s partner in life.

I believe that children learn what they need when they need it.

We need to BE with our children, unschooling with young kids is very hands on. As they grow and become more independent they will look up answers themselves. As parents we provide the environment and facilitate as needed. We watch for cues on when to step in and when to step back.

It’s important to build a solid foundation when they are young. We need to connect with our kids and be open to question everything we were raised with. When we know better we do better. Try to say yes more, it can be a knee jerk reaction to just say no.

As our children grow and develop and reach new stages in their life we are right there with them. I have learned so much from observing my children.

When you’re unschooling the early years, kids learn through play… They want to PLAY, PLAY, PLAY, that’s what kids do, that’s how kids learn, they imagine, create, explore, build, research, draw, ask, tell, act, be, do, live, laugh, love, PLAY, did I say PLAY…

When people truly learn, they remember, it has a purpose,  that is why they learned it in the first place. There has to be a want, need and desire to learn, it needs to be intrinsically motivated, external motivation produces short term results but it’s not authentic learning.

Learning is as natural as breathing when one hasn’t been stifled by schooling. It’s especially important for children to be able to learn without force, coercion, scopes, sequences, tests and grades.

Our kids have always followed their own interests and learned in their own way and time. I do not believe that every child can or should learn the same thing at the same age.

Take reading for example, two of our kids read at age five, one at nine and one at ten. I did not teach them how to read, I provided the environment for learning.

Unschooling young children requires you to be available to them, provide resources and materials and answer countless questions.

Play games: board games, cards, video games, computer games, imaginary games. Read books, newspapers, magazines, cook, build, play with toys, explore inside and outside, dress up, create art, watch TV, collect things.

Whatever the child is interested in, allow them to explore it, help them as needed and be amazed at all they learn.

Trust in the learning process, trust your child and trust yourself. They know how to learn, they know how to think. We are here as mentors, facilitators and guides. Talk to them, listen to them, kids are so insightful.

Have fun, laugh a lot and live the best you can. Learning happens, you can’t stop it. Kids are born to learn.

Written by Stephanie Waldron

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I went grocery shopping and bought some snacks for my family; chocolate cookies, sour cream & onion potato chips, rainbow sherbet, grapes and baby carrots. My 12 year old unschooler came into the kitchen and I showed her the snacks I bought. Her immediate response? “Ooooooo – grapes!!!!”.

Out of all those snacks, the grapes were the first to be finished.

What was last? The cookies.

Now I’m not saying this happens all the time…sometimes the cookies go first. And that’s okay! The point is, she chooses healthy foods on her own, without any bribery or coercion.

This was not meant to be a long post, just a little snippet of our day that i wanted to share. Here is another post I wrote about letting go of control.

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The Unprocessed Child is a work of nonfiction about a child raised with no coercion and no curriculum. Laurie Chancey spent her childhood immersing herself in topics of her own choosing. She was never forced to learn something simply because tradition and/or society said it was necessary. No one was looking over her shoulder to make sure she was learning the “proper” subjects.

Having never seen a textbook or taken a test, never used workbooks or any type of teaching techniques, Laurie scored in the top 10% of the state of Louisiana on her college entrance exam. She enrolled in college when she was eighteen, and graduated summa cum laude three and a half years later. Laurie is a bright adult, but her IQ is not why she did so well. She spent her life learning to learn and it’s something that now comes easily to her.

The Unprocessed Child was written by her mother Valerie Fitzenreiter, and is full of examples of raising a child with respect and dignity. It is the first book written about a radically unschooled child who has now reached adulthood and is a responsible member of society.

Questions about the radical unschooling lifestyle are answered on topics ranging from socialization, parental responsibility, self-discipline, chores, bedtimes and much more. The book shows that it is not only possible to befriend your child, but that it is highly preferable to the struggles that so many parents go through with their children. It proves that school is not necessary for learning, socializing or motivation.

Click to purchase

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