my intro

[Lori]

Howdy!
For those of you who don't know me, here's my background relating to unschooling.

I have 3 daughters, 25, 21, and 11, and a son who just turned 9.
We were "unschooling" our first daughter before we ever heard the term, so I've been at this awhile!
She started reading at 3 1/2, and had finished most of the books in the children's section of our small local library by the time she was old enough to go to kindergarten.  Seemed silly to put her into school to learn the alphabet and study phonics by that point ;^)
She was a very independent learner - she'd do a workbook, check her answers, give herself an "A" and move on, all without much interference from me.
My second daughter, by contrast, didn't read independently until she was 8.  She's a bit dyslexic, and very cuddly, and wanted to do whatever she was doing while sitting on my lap.  She's a bit big for that now, but still pretty cuddly!
They were unschooled until 9th and 7th grades, when they started attending an alternative school for the arts.  They both have college degrees now - so I'd say that starting to read "early", or starting to read "late" doesn't really make much difference in the long run.
We currently have our 2 youngest at home - I hesitate to say we unschool them, because that makes it sound like we do something to them to get them educated, and that's not really it - they each educate themselves using their own preferred methods, and we are here to help as needed.
So, I'm not one to ask about curriculum, because I've never used one in a quarter century of homeschooling, but if anyone has questions or concerns about unschooling, I've been at it longer than most!  And I'm delighted to discuss any aspect - materials we use, outside activites, social concerns, how to relax and trust your kids..... fire away!!  The benefit of my experience is yours for the asking.
-Lori

[Veda]

Hi all,

 I really appreciate this thread!  I have been homeschooling for 7 years and have recently been reading more about "unschooling".  I did start out all gung-ho with a boxed curriculum when my oldest was 4, but it didn't take long to find out that children just don't learn according to a box LOL    I'm not a big fan of lines and walls anyway, so it wasn't long before we fell into our pace as "eclectic" sort of middle of the road homeschool family.

I always liked to call what we do "Independent education" and that is exactly the point eh?

I have observed, that the kids absorb more and learn more when the direct themselves.  It's fairly obvious.  So, while we are pretty relaxed already, I've been trying to gather more info about the "unschooling" philosophy and style. 

There are still a handful of academics that I feel pretty strongly about them learning, but even with those I'm willing find more tailored methods of teaching them

Anyhow....

Happy learning all!

[Lori]

My older daughters were much more workbook inclined than my younger two kids - but even with that I found that if I chose the workbooks, they would not get used, but if I took them to choose their own, they generally would get used.
The most important "academic" thing to learn, in my opinion, is to learn to read and enjoy reading.  This is just such an important basis for further independent learning!  All 4 of mine learned to read in different ways and at different ages.  Reading opens up a whole world of other things, and builds vocabulary and the basis (spelling, understanding sentence structure, etc.) for good writing skills.

I am currently going through the annual assessments with my son and daughter.  In WA  there is a required annual assessment - we send it in and a "certified teacher currently working in education" certifies it and sends it back.  One can also choose a standard test for assessment.
We do non-test assessments, and have been using a checklist by grade type - so for whatever grade level there will be a list of subjects, and a sub-list of things a kid at that level should know for that subject.
The kids check off the things they know for sure already, and then we spend a few days going over the rest together.

I get a big kick out of this, because we essentially end up covering an entire school year in about a week.  So anything we haven't covered ourselves, we cover while going through the assessment - yesterday, my 11 y.o. daughter and I got through the rise and fall of the Roman empire, prehistoric civilization, medieval history and ancient Egyptians....
The day before, we made it through doing math with fractions, which my daughter hates.  She does college level biology, but has been avoiding fractions!  But she enjoys "graduating" from one grade to another via the assessments, so she suffered through it, and we got it covered in about an hour.

My daughter wrote up a short essay explaining why she prefers learning independently to attach with the assessment --the gist is that she does not have to wait to begin her life; she knows what she wants to do and is free to pursue it instead of just preparing to pursue it at some future time.

And I so enjoy watching my kids choose their own lives and live them!
-Lori

[GoldieK]

We've also been unschooling for a long time- 29 years, 5 more to go with our youngest. Unschooling has worked well for our family. Our son is finishing up engineering grad school. Next child is getting her Classics BA- at University of Canterbury, in New Zealand! I too would say that the love of reading is THE most essentail life-long learner skill.

[Lori]

Always so nice to meet other longtime unschoolers!
My eldest just started her graduate schooling via a distance program - this allows her to keep her Portland (OR) apt., keep playing with her band, keep her job....  She's going into library sciences after studying music for 4 years, and really enjoying it.
My 2d daughter got her AA via the Running Start program in WA, which gives high school jrs/srs free college for 2 years.  She plans to get another 2 years in early childhood ed, but is too busy enjoying life just now to give it her attention.  She travels as much as possible, and has a job that gives her the flexibility to travel.  Her household hosts a lot of travelers, and this has built a network of places to stay around the country.
A lot of the stuff I end up reading is recommendations from my elder daughters - nice to have people to preview books and movies for me!!  Makes me extra happy we did so much reading when they were home ;^)
-LL

We've also been unschooling for a long time- 29 years, 5 more to go with our youngest. Unschooling has worked well for our family. Our son is finishing up engineering grad school. Next child is getting her Classics BA- at University of Canterbury, in New Zealand! I too would say that the love of reading is THE most essentail life-long learner skill.