Chapter 10: Home Schooling in Hindsight: The Strengths and Shortcomings of Unschooling

For the record, I am not the world’s most structured, organized mother. I despise routine and monotony. I like to live by my gut and emotions—deciding how to respond to each moment based on what “feels right.” Yes. I am that mom.

When my bookish, creative three-year-old daughter fell out of love with preschool within the first month, prompting my research into home schooling, my biggest question was, Will I have to conduct “classes” every day to homeschool “properly?” If that was the only way to succeed, failure was imminent.

The day I learned about unschooling and interest-led learning was the day I knew, for sure, that home schooling would be a good fit for my family. According to John Holt and Pat Farenga (2003), unschooling is home schooling without allegiance to a structured curriculum or schedule. Unschooling is individualized learning propelled by the child’s and family’s interests, and occurs organically, using any available resources—from books to museums, radio programs to video games, interviews to hands-on exploration.