Anna Brown joins me this week for a conversation with a twist: we’re not talking about the ins and outs of unschooling itself but about how it fits in the bigger picture. Hence the title of the episode, Unschooling in Context.
It’s a topic I’ve been wanting to do for a while, but I really needed to let a bunch of things percolate, like: the kinds of questions I get from people, how they relate to each other, the missing bits of information or connections behind the questions, the conversations I come across online about what unschooling is and how it fits in with other alternative education options etc. I needed time to for all that to bounce around in the back of my mind, making interesting connections, and eventually starting to come together into my version of the puzzle of defining unschooling.
Granted, after percolating for a few months, I needed to remind myself not to wait for “perfect!” My puzzle isn’t done. In fact, I’m sure I will continue to add to it for many years, as my understanding continues to grow. But, I think I got far enough along to participate in the conversation.
Discussion Points
1. One of the most fundamental and helpful shift for all parents to make is the realization that our children’s education is our CHOICE. Whether we make that paradigm shift before we have our own children or after they’ve started public school, when we understand that it’s our choice, our whole outlook changes, doesn’t it?
2. Let’s dive into some terminology, because often it’s helpful to choose different words to describe what we do depending on whether we’re inside or outside alternative education circles. For example, in social conversations with say, a neighbour or at the grocery store, when the school question came up, I very rarely used the word, “unschooling.” Did you?
3. Lately, the term “self-directed education” has been growing in use, as part of The Alliance for Self-Directed Education’s work. I’ve had some questions around this recently, and I put together a little Venn diagram visual, which I used on the episode image. One circle represents homeschooling and the other circle represents self-directed education. Where they overlap is unschooling. Unschooling is a style of homeschooling, in that it is home or family-based, rather than school-based. And it’s also a style of self-directed education, in that the child is free to choose what they want to do and learn, rather than having to follow a curriculum. Does that make sense?
4. In the last few years, the term “radical unschooling” has become more prevalent in conversations. What’s the difference between unschooling and radical unschooling?
5. “Child-led learning” is another term that sometimes gets used interchangeably with unschooling, but that can also lead to misunderstandings about how unschooling works, can’t it?
6. Over the years, I’ve often heard democratic schools, like those based on the Sudbury model, referred to as “unschooling schools.” There is commonality in that they both fit in the self-directed education circle, but they aren’t synonymous. They are two distinct learning environments and I think it’s helpful to understand the differences. What differences do you see?
Links to things mentioned in the show:
You can find The Alliance for Self-Directed Education here
Episode Transcript
Thank you so much for this discussion. It really helped encourage me to think more deeply about my priorities and how to articulate it better. The “language” is important. So, thank you!
You’re welcome, Ashley! I love knowing it got you thinking more deeply. 🙂
This had some great distinctions between Sudbury Valley Model and unschooling. We were an in school I go family in Venezuela and returned to the USA when our youngest was a teenager. The Venezuelan system is different in that school is 4 hours per day and then their children go to social clubs during the other hours. This gave our children a great deal of choice in their social learning environments.
So when we returned to the USA, our daughter looked at Sudbury Valley Model (homeschooling was still very restricted in our state at that time). We thought that we could be part of the community (I was even voted in as a staff member by the School Meeting). My role on staff was to serve as a liaison to the community for mentorships and internships. I found a therapeutic riding center for my daughter to challenge herself with service to the community. I would drive her to the riding center and then we would drive to the school. She put in a hundred hours. At the end of the year, she was told that she was “absent” from school for those hours. There was a subtle pressure to be on the school grounds rather than exploring the community.
And I agree that exploring a relationship with peers doesn’t end after the school day ends. Most of the really significant stuff was happening after school hours. A male student was brought up before the school meeting for using a slur with a female student. I knew what was happening outside of the school and knew what questions to ask him in the school meeting which completely changed the final decision regarding expelling him from the school.
My daughter was empowered by her right to choose and went to a boarding school the next year. She chose the extended hours for peer relationships over the self-directed learning piece. And that was the real learning…that she had the power to choose.
Great discussion!
I’m glad the distinctions made sense, Aleta! And thanks for taking the time to share your family’s experience. Choice is the key, isn’t it?