Styles of Home Education: Unschooling Method

The information in these posts are taken for my sister-in-law Rhonda's notes.  Rhonda is a veteran home educator of over 20 years.  You can visit her blog here.

Unschooling Method

John Holt and the Moores made this style of learning famous.  Here, the child is given the resources and environment for learning and then allowed to choose what he or she wants to learn based upon their interests.  A child is not forced to learn certain subjects in certain grades and later schooling is emphasized.  John Holt argued that a child will teach himself as ha becomes interested in various subjects with a minimal amount of help from the teacher.  Many great men down through the ages were self-taught.

Advantages:

• A very relaxing style of learning, takes pressure off of performance.
• A child will think it to be heaven, of course!
• The student is basically unaware that schooling is taking place.

Disadvantages:

• Gaps in learning might frustrate child and teacher.
• Undesirable subject matter may be chosen.
• Child may lack self-discipline and motivation.

Lori's 2 cents:  Evidently, I am have failed to set my home up as a learning environment such as this because if I let my kids choose that would watch TV and play video games all day long.  Despite the fact that I LOVE to read, it has failed to rub off on my children.  I suspect that the great men who self-educated were those with strong personalities and natural God-given motivation.  I pray to have a child like this one day!  :)