It’s true, homeschooling laws vary by state or province. The best way to learn how unschoolers comply with their particular laws is to find an unschooling group or list specifically for your state. Here’s one where you can meet some Missouri unschoolers and ask what they’re doing:

http://familyrun.ning.com/group/missouriunschoolers

I know they are doing it! Here are a few ideas on how you might document learning:

- keep a scrapbook;
- have a box to keep any papers of your child’s stories and art, flyers and brochures from places you visit, photos from activities and/or of creations that aren’t permanent etc.
- write a blog full of pics and stories of what you guys are up to;
- or less publicly, keep a diary of what you’re up to etc.

I took a peek at your blog and, for example, you have lots of fun details and pictures from your recent Florida vacation! It’s a matter of you translating the tons of learning that I’m sure happened into any “educationalese” documentation that your state requires – without letting it interfere with your day-to-day living. You can be the buffer, understanding that your child is learning tons through living life, and translating that to meet your state’s documentation requirement. You may want to write daily, or keep a calendar where you jot down activities to keep a record and then document them, however more fully required, on a weekly, monthly, or quarterly basis.

Have fun with it!

It can take a while to begin to understand unschooling, keep trying! Read about it, contemplate what you know about real learning, watch your son in action when he’s engrossed in a favourite activity.

Looking at your questions, here’s an idea. Instead of thinking directly about multiplication or grammar, think about what those skills are useful *for*. As your son is busy living and pursuing his interests, he will bump into these skills and pick them up along the way. Not in a “Mom, I want to write well, can you show me what grammar’s all about?” way, but in the middle of an activity. He’ll read others’ writing in books, or online, depending on his bent. He’ll read well-written stuff, and some not so much. He’ll see the difference. At some point he’ll probably want to communicate with others in writing: online message boards, email, facebook, birthday cards. “Mom, should I be using ‘your’ or ‘you’re’ here?” “‘You’re’ because you mean ‘you are’ and that’s a short way to write it.” And he moves on to accomplish his real goal. Grammar isn’t the goal, the writing is.

The question of “if these things do no occur naturally in our home”, is likely more about how you’re looking for them. If you’re looking for “grammar” and “multiplication” you probably won’t see your son asking about them. But as I outlined above, expand how you’re looking for them, look for activities that *use* those skills, and I’m pretty sure you’ll find them.

I’ve written a couple articles that touch quite a bit on the idea of seeing the learning in every day activities:

http://livingjoyfully.ca/unschooling/articles/articles

Namely, Whose Goal is It, Anyway? and Unschooling Passions.

Also, if you’re interested, I have just published a book, Free to Learn that goes more deeply into my journey of learning about unschooling and discusses the kinds of questions you’re posing – I certainly asked them myself! You can get more info about it here:

http://livingjoyfully.ca/books/

Keep learning and asking questions, it’s worth it!

Question 4: The TRUE beauty, to me, is how my children’s real-life learning goes well beyond any knowledge or experience *I* hold/had held… that right there shows me that there is no way one person can “teach” another what they *might* need or *test* another’s knowledge. Human beings get what they need/desire for that which has meaning in their real lives. It’s a beautiful thing, and testing is not only a ridiculous concept, it’s quite insulting to the perfection that real learning IS.