Homeschool or Unschool?

     I grew up as a homeschooler when being homeschooled was decidedly "uncool". As an elder millenial (apparently?) my homeschool journey began around 1989, and as you can see, we were the outliers. And, yes if you're wondering, my parents were religious, though not in the traditional sense. We were the outliers there as well. In fact, in terms of fitting in, I never did (anywhere). The church kids were too cult-ish and the public school kids were too bizarre. Welcome to homeschool in the 90's! Thankfully, the availability of resources and curricula today is much more diverse and readily available. The stigma around homeschooling seems to be diminishing as well. Growing up, my mother was questioned relentlessly about why we weren't in school and just what in the world she was doing with us in the grocery store at 10am on a Wednesday. The audacity! She handled it well though, and always told them we were in economics class. Thankfully, I never get those questions while toting my kids around. I remember a handful of times being asked this when my oldest two, now 12 and 14, were tiny. But the question didn't hold near as much disdain as it did in the 90's. People seem to be more genuinely curious than suspicious of homeschoolers in 2024. Maybe, part in thanks to the circus of Covid restrictions? Did the introverts finally realize that being alone was an option? "Wait, we don't actually have to leave the house?" But I digress (anyone remember Richie from Boston?)

    As for me, I favor the unschooling method. My mother was a drill sergeant and made homeschool look as much like public school as she could. Due to no fault of her own, I feel, it was the only background she had. My parents bought us the full A-Beka curriculum, and we took each and every subject seriously. The upside was that we weren't constrained by arbitrary class periods, lunches, and breaks and finished all our work within a few hours, at most. Still, I know for a fact that the curriculum and the method is what made me hate mathematics until I went to college. I see no reason in forcing children to learn things that their minds aren't ready to accept. It served me no good to sit at the kitchen table for hours in tears over subtraction, when I learned it easily when I wanted to. I fully believe that people learn best when driven by something more than "because this teacher told me to". I picked up pharmacy calculations with no problem when I wanted to be a pharmacy technician, and I had no issues passing math, economics, and chemistry when I wanted my degree in Political Science. All things which I thought I hated, only because of the method of schooling I was subjected to. I just wanted to read fiction at 8. And I should have been allowed to. 

  

 For this reason, I unschool my kids. I have 6 of them ranging from 14 years down to 18 months old.  My first 2 were reading by age 4, my 3rd is almost 8 and still not reading. And I'm not in the least bit worried about it. She will pick it up when she is ready to pick it up. She is just now asking me to teach her to read and taking an interest in books. I'm thrilled, because reading and writing are my passions. Each child is so unique, and unschooling allows them the freedom to thrive in exactly their own individual way. 

    That said, I wanted to take this post as an opportunity to share some of my personal favorite homeschool resources. As an unschooler, I don't use any particular curriculum. I have strongly considered using the Ron Paul curriculum, and if my younger kids end up needing more structure as they grow, I will do just that. There are no textbooks to purchase (score!) but the program does cost $250 for a yearly membership and $50 per course. For some families, this is not much. For other families, it's still too much for the budget. This blog post is really for those families! Why pay for schooling when you don't have to? I am right there with you. If you want to unschool, you need to start looking at life as your school. My kids learn fractions with me in the kitchen while cooking and baking. Just as my mom used to joke, a shopping trip can be a lesson in economics. My older kids use their talents regularly to make and sell products; they learn about supply and demand, opportunity costs, profits and losses. We read together, write together, watch documentaries together, play together. Don't forget for the littles, play is their best tool to learn! Puzzles, Legos, Minecraft, board games. You can and will learn from these activities. Most often my print materials come from the internet, Pinterest is chock full of great homeschool inspiration and printables! For the older kids, the Von Mises Institute library offers free access to a wide collection of literature on history, politics, economics, etc.  I also highly recommend getting a Kindle Unlimited subscription if you have any bookworms (and Kindles) in your family. We never run out of reading materials! We also use You Tube, a lot. I have a love hate relationship with the internet in general, and You Tube is no different. But it's definitely our go-to when it comes to science experiments and ideas for hands on activities. 

I just want more people to realize how capable they are, and how easy it really is to homeschool your kids. Regardless of your budget, regardless of your education level. You can learn right along with them! If you have no money to invest into your efforts at all, head over to your local library! You can read, play hands on with the kids, and immerse yourself in a mentally stimulating environment for free. Chances are, they will have some materials your kids can take home for free, and mine always has retired books for .5 cents. I'm sure this varies from place to place, but don't sleep on your local library guys! And if unschooling scares you, for what it's worth, my two oldest kids are completely unschooled. When I say completely unschooled, I mean it. I do occasional buy Brain Quest or Spectrum workbooks (for fun) but I never force my kids to use them. In our state we are required to register and test at grades 3, 5, 8, and 10. My kids have always passed their state tests well above the baseline. Do not worry, they will learn! If you're looking for resources about how to homeschool legally in your state, you can go here. Feel free to leave a comment if you have any homeschool recommendations of your own. Happy learning!