<p>Unschooling generally indicates learners taking responsibility for their learning. Better (although more obnoxious sounding) terms are self-learners and autodidacts.</p>
<p>Research on child development has always shown that the human brain is wired to learn. The brain relies on the body and the senses to accumulate new knowledge and practice skills for mastery. Unschooling merely allows for the natural learning process to take place. Here is a real life example: my son, at 7, took swimming lessons at the Y but after completing the session, still couldn't swim. That summer, we spent some time at a pool where he stood in the shallow end, splashing around. By playing and practicing in the water and watching real people swim, he taught himself to swim by the end of the summer. He needed to experience the water and try (and fail) the skills involved in swimming before he could master it. Now, at 9, he is a good swimmer. An unschooled swimmer! The lessons at the Y involved too much standing on the edge of the pool, too much watching the instructors break down swimming into tiny seemingly unrelated skills.</p>
<p>Alot. My D is not homeschooled but I am very interested in it. There is a huge homeschooling community where I live in upstate SC. Most homeschoolers that I know here follow a "plan" - whether it is a homemade curriculum or a commercial one. Unschoolers don't have a specific plan to follow. </p>
<p>I have one friend who unschools in Boston area. She has no plan from day to day and her kids really direct their own learning and she "facilitates" their experience. So, for example they may want to learn about George Washington (they are under 10) and through the process get as far as Continental Congress and want to learn about Philadelphia and so they study things that happened in Philadelphia including where it is and who the major settlers were and then maybe learn that there were some Irish or Italian immigrants to Philadelphia and so now they start to study Irish culture and that leads to studying about........ this is how my friend explained it to me. Also she talked about how unschooling focuses more on 'experiences' than on learning facts. Not sure if that is correct but that is how I understand it </p>
<p>Homeschooling can range from following a strict curriculum or online program to a very loose plan. Unschooling is a subtype of homeschooling. </p>
<p>Feel free to correct any misrepresentations I have made.</p>
<p>I find this fascinating--even as a parent who would never in a million years homeschool (it's too late now!) Okay, so to me it sounds like there is a broad spectrum of homeschooling that runs the gamut from unschooling to the creation of something akin to a cluster formed when groups of parents w/similar goals/values combine energies and share teaching responsibilities, stopping just short of a charter school. If you are unschooling, how do you avoid isolation when you have a kid going off in a very independent direction? Do you think that most kids who are unschooled have in a sense chosen it for themselves by demonstrating that they learn better that way? Does everyone who homeschools/unschools have to file a lesson plan or meet certain requirements?</p>
<p>I'm curious too if any of you have some numbers. How many homeschoolers are there in the country? What percentage of those who are self-identified as homeschoolers who have chosen to withdraw from the mainstream because of Christian fundamentalist values? Do they outnumber secular homeschoolers?</p>
<p>Approximately 1,096,000 children aged 5 -17 being homeschooled.</p>
<p>Approximately 31% homeschool to avoid unsafe school environment drugs, guns, negative peer pressure</p>
<p>Approximatly 30% homeschool for religious/moral reasons</p>
<p>Approximately 16% homeschool because they are dissatisfied with academics</p>
<p>These are the top 3 reasons parents have chosen to homeschool. The rest homeschool for a variety of reasons. </p>
<p>Hope that helps.</p>
<p>I think that the requirements for homeschooling varies state to state. Some states require extensive record keeping and standards while other states have very minimal requirements.</p>
<p>Magsmom numbers certainly fit with my experience.</p>
<p>Regarding isolation - unschoolers are often less isolated than some of the other homeschoolers. Since they are allowed to choose what they want to do, they often choose to get involved in group and community activities.</p>
<p>Unschooling doesn't necessarily indicate learning all alone in isolation. Yes, it is a self-directed type of learning, but that learning can take place in groups. For example, recently my kids decided that they hadn't done much science work recently. I suggested having a science fair. They each chose an experiment or project and worked on it. We invited other unschooling families, who brought their projects. </p>
<p>Other recent examples: teenaged girls put together a monthly book club; boys play Magic the Gathering; field trip to local historical site; ice skating lessons at indoor rink.</p>
<p>The difference between these kind of group activities and lessons and those in schools are that the children decide what they are interested in create opportunities. </p>
<p>The other thing to remember is that most homeschoolers live among many people who go to school, and socialize with them regularly. My 13 year old son has loads of traditionally schooled friends. Our neighborhood is teeming with children to play with in the afternoons.</p>
<p>Homeschooling is just an educational choice, like sending a child to parochial or prep school.</p>