- Mar 19, 2018

What, How, When Do Unschoolers Learn?

I think, sometimes, families seeking an Unschooled/Freeschoolin' education haven't fully let go of the concept of a neat and consistent pattern of learning.

It matters because when we look at how Unschoolers naturally learn, it's messy, focused and all over the place, all at the same time. If we look through schooled eyes, this process will be overwhelming to try and sort out and make sense of in terms of education. This is why there is so much talk about De-Schooling. Letting go of the schoolhouse mindset and re-learning how to learn. The joy of discovery. Not just for the kids, but Parents too. As we talked about last week, Unschooling Parents aren't teachers. They are facilitators. They're examples. Guides. Support. Inspiration.

What Do We Learn? Everything. There's not a week that goes by that we don't touch every basic school subject in the process of learning through Unschooling/Freeschoolin'. Reading, writing and typing, art and creating, computers, retail math, community activities, physical education, critical thinking, physics, emotional intelligence skills, pattern recognition, problem solving, respecting self and others, nutrition, social connections, animal husbandry, home health care, body science, mechanics, decision making and more. All of these subjects, just this week, while living life. All organic learning experiences. (Not coerced in anyway.)

How Do We Learn?

A better question, how don't we learn? Because truly, we are #NeverNotLearning! We were really sick this week. Sicker than we had ever experienced before as a family. (9 years.) But the learning didn't stop. No siree, Hope learned all about nutrition, the stomach and how it ejects and the body and what it does when illness strikes. She had never vomited for hours before. At the end of it all, when she was feeling up to talking, she actually said, "I know how to throw up now."

She learned the beginnings of how to care for herself and others which came in handy when Freeschoolin' Daddy and I fell ill 2 days later. Hope knew to get buckets and clean up towels and kept busy with YouTube, roleplaying many intricate stories and cuddles while we rested and watched animated movies together. So even being sick, the learning never stops. Amid all the ill days we also made it to a playplace, a new store to pick out a gift, a mall with motorized animal rides and family grocery shopping. We learn from conversations at home, caring for our animals, meeting with friends, video games, movies and shows, online interactions, walks together, playing at the park, YouTube videos, waterplay, pretend stories, colouring pages, friends, cleaning, cooking, each other and so much more.

When Do We Learn? We are always learning. All times of the day and/or night. 3 am has shown us some lovely things. Never seen the moon so bright. Fireflies on a summer's eve. The coyotes howling. The fire crackling. The seasons are great teachers with new lessons every year. Even illness leaves us more educated if we let it. And we do. The key is to look for the lesson. Because there always is one. #LifeIsMySchool

Our Week in Pictures

Latest video from The Freeschoolin' Homestead

If you haven't heard, we released the Freeschoolin' Journal on Amazon! Over 80 Pages for journaling home education achievements, adventures and Unschooling learning. New, adorable illustrations on every page are sure to inspire and encourage a home education journey. A great keepsake and tool for the Life Learning Family. Visit our Bookstore to check out the journal and view our children's book, "Freeschoolin': Life Is My School!"