What is un schooling?

Unschooling is a method of homeschooling where children are allowed to be in charge of their own education. There are no set schedules or curriculum unless the child asks for it. Instead education is taken from life around us. For instance math could be going to the store, building a bird house, painting a room, etc... It is not illegal anywhere that homeschooling is allowed, though some states have strick homeschooling laws that require creative ways to get through unschooling. Those who do unschooling say that it is a wonderful way to live. You can read more about it here: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/118375/unschooling_what_is_it_and_is_it_right.html

I had never heard of this until reading your discussion so did some research it actually looks rather interesting. I got this definition from this site http://www.unschooling.com/library/faq/index.shtml What is unschooling? Have you ever described 'red' to a person who is color blind? Sometimes, trying to define unschooling is like trying to define red. Ask 30 unschoolers to define the word and you'll get thirty shades of red. They'll all be red, but they'll all be different. Generally, unschoolers are concerned with learning or becoming educated, not with 'doing school.' The focus is upon the choices made by each individual learner, and those choices can vary according to learning style and personality type. There is no one way to unschool. There is a lot more information on the site.

Are you considering unschooling? I have been home schooling my children for almost 9 years. Last year we became unschoolers. Since then, a whole new world has opened up to us. My kids are eager to learn new things, and know that they can come to me with any thought or idea, and I will help them find the answers. Rarely do I just give them to them. My focus is on helping them learn how to expand their understanding of things that are important to them. My oldest loves animals. She carries her Animal Kingdom Encyclopedia around with her (she doesn't even need to use the index anymore), and watches about 9 hours of Animal Planet a week. I take her to the grocery store with me because she adds up our total faster than I can on a calculator, and she keeps our running total in her head. She also balances my check book. My second has the heart for caring for children, so she helps me when I babysit, and helps care for her younger sister and brother. She is also developing lesson plans for the preschool class I teach on Thursdays and leads two out of four of our learning blocks. She loves to fix things, so Dad has been working with her. She knows the names of and what to use each tool in the tool drawer for. And has fixed our kitchen drawers, little brother's bike, and many other things. Did I tell you? These two are 8 & 7.