What is unschooling?

Unschooling is an alternative to traditional school education; the education is given by parents in their daily relationship with their children. It is about directing and supporting -with well-founded arguments and explanations “on demand”- the free search of children which are always fascinated by a thousand of new topics.

Unschooling philosophy

This teaching philosophy shuns the schools  that are based on the authority of teachers and on having to do things that do not interest the child at all. It stimulates the autonomy of the child, ensures that he is not led to be a performer but a real researcher, strengthens self-motivation and free enterprise, from an early age. It is a percolating practice, as Leo Babauta, a real pioneer of unschooling and the father of a discrete group of children, declares without fear.

The parent must have plenty of time to spend with the children and must have a great ability to listen and identify the best tools to encourage and channel the interests of the children. We need a totally positive and trusting approach to the child’s ability to discover and, perhaps more difficult for parents who are always attentive to grades, there is no need to fear failure. Failure is not really contemplated. Mistakes and falls are part of the scientific method and have a lot to teach, even if they do not lead us to the peaks that we would like to reach with our experiment.

In unschooling the child decides on his own what he needs to deepen and lead independently, but also knows how to collaborate with others and his own training path. Building something, implementing a project, having fun creating something, are all unschooling activities we can do with our children, even if they go to school.

Providing a child with everything he needs to learn to manage on his own his own projects and passions without having gaps in reading, writing or math is not easy.

It is not easy to inspire without forcing! But you can try 🙂

The risk of the traditional school is to be just a parking lot, a place to pass the time. When a class only waits for the bell to ring, there is a risk that it will be a bit counter-productive!

Children not only learn in school, they always learn 🙂

They learn when they ask questions that seem like mental experiments, they learn when they build improbable paper robots that launch flames, they learn when they walk in a forest collecting seeds. They certainly believe in ongoing education.

What do you think about unschooling?

Do you have experience with it? Write to us!

Below you can find volunteering programs and opportunities that are related to Unschooling.

Also, see the homeschooling or world-schooling sections

UNSCHOOLING VOLUNTEER PROGRAMS

This section is new! If you know of new unschooling projects, don’t hesitate to let us know. If you are an unschooling/homeschooling family or host, feel free to add your listing! ✍️ 📝