WHY WE UNSCHOOL // The Philosophies of Interest-Led Learning
Вставка
- Опубліковано 7 сер 2024
- Hey friends! In today's video we're going to chat a bit about unschooling! I know many of you are interested in more content about home and unschooling, but in general, I just don't feel led or called to go in that direction on my channel. I DID want to give y'all a basic overview of the philosophies and beliefs about children and learning/education that have informed our educational choices.
And please remember that MY choices are not a judgment or indictment of YOUR choices!
Shop My Amazon Favorites!
www.amazon.com/shop/joyfulchaos
**Find me on...**
/ ashleighnicolewilson
If you love online shopping, sign up for Ebates!! Cashback on your purchases from participating retailers, no strings attached!
www.ebates.com/r/ASHLEI3098?e...
I do use affiliate links where possible. The small amount of commission (at no cost to you) helps to support my family.
BUSINESS INQUIRIES: joyfulchaosmama@gmail.com
Equipment:
Camera: amzn.to/2E4aTMt
Light: amzn.to/2E4wTqF
It’s interesting, for family vloggers with kids in public school, we aren’t even curious to hear children’s grades or what subjects or how they’re being taught. But, a homeschooling family is almost under a microscope. Are the same people (beyond the curiosity, I’m only talking about the scrutiny) holding that microscope to their own children’s teachers and administrators? 🥴
I love unschooling.
I’m an early childhood educator and a big believer in child led learning especially up to 8. I’m hoping I’ll be able to homeschool/ unschool until at least 8 as I don’t want my 4 year old sitting at a desk for 6 hours a day. Which is the age they can start school here in Aus especially because I see the benefits at my work of teaching through play, and nature
We recently moved from eclectic homeschooling to unschooling a few months ago and my kids have simply amazed me. It's me I struggle with 😂😂
Right?!? That is the TRUTH LOL
We did homeschooling and unschooling and my kids (22,21,18) loved it. As adults they all say they so grateful we did. The one thing I always told myself was my job was to show them how to learn and teach them to love to learn. Also I’m 100% against testing!
My 4 yr old is autistic and has self taught him lots of things. Like maths. He's never been to daycare, childcare, kindy etc. Yet he is able to do grade 1 and grade 2 maths 😂 because he's obsessed with numbers, patterns etc, so something like his favourite thing to do, Lego, he adds them up like units etc.
He's also very visual kid, and has an amazing memory.
Thank you for informing your audience on other options to"school" children. Many believe homeschooling looks or should replicate public school. Homeschooling should be an adventure of the beaten path.
I'm a Montessori teacher and it's all about child-led learning.
Oh how I needed this video! Thank you so much! This is exactly how I feel about homeschool and after 3 years of the traditional method and my kids are not enjoying their school day and I Really don’t enjoy having to sit for hours and teach. I think I finally realize that the methods of learning that killed my enthusiasm in school, I am using myself! I spend countless hours seeking knowledge for new things I want to learn and I learn them in the ways I want to, yet I’ve deprived my children that same opportunity to learn through different methods aside from sit down busywork. Thank you so much for making this video. Everything you said slowly unraveled my thinking and has helped me imagine a better way to do things
Much respect to you for schooling the way your children need! ☺️
I do very naturally led lifestyle. I choose to do that but I’m still amazed at the progress. I did baby led weaning. I let my child naturally wean. I let my child naturally potty train. And she has been naturally learning. She counts to 20. She knows her colors. She knows her letters. She knows all the typical animals. It’s really cool to see.
We are relaxed homeschoolers, but unschooling is my ultimate goal. Thanks for sharing this.
Yes, living life. They call that street smart. I learnt way more from LIFE than school ever did. And funnily enough I am obsessed with researching everything and anything. Lol
When I first start homeschooling I was trying to recreate the public school experience. (I didn’t know any better lol) and now five years later I unschool all my kids! Love organic learning! One question - do you have any recommendations for channels similar to yours? (Content wise)
Thank you so much for sharing this! I don’t have kids yet but am working on becoming a foster parent and one day adoptive parent and would love to homeschool my kids in some capacity. If anyone else told me about unschooling I would’ve thought it was crazy, but the way you explain it is so practical and loving. You are obviously instilling a love for learning and self-sufficiency in your children that I think so many could benefit from!
Thank you for this just found you today, I am a 57 yr old mom of a 5 an 15. Mother of one. Its a long story. But I have after 11 yrs of my 15 yr old with Autism being imprisoned in the ps, have decided this is the absolute best choice for us, to raise our 2 boys now. It has been great, and I can see a great change and they both are having fun learning. Thanks for the info and encouragement. God bless you and your Family.
I wish I could unschool my kids after the covid19. I've been trying to follow the school curriculum at home but it's just not working. So I'm following what I didn't realize was unschooling this past week and it went great. I let him lead the discussion and he loved it. We were laughing and having fun. He wasn't at the brink of tears like the weeks before. It's the best feeling when you see them get it. I told his teacher my approach and she said that it's the best way to learn. He'll get more out of it. So I'm using her curriculum as a guide. A module his teacher had listed was about pulley and levers. But I had no idea how to bring that up into every day life. Then the other day my son asked mom how come I can go so much faster on my hike then when I run? And I'm not tired when I bike. It was a great time to discuss the differences between Compound machines and simple machine (levers & pulleys) using the bike as our branch off. He was googling stuff and thought it so interesting.
I loved this video !!! So interesting to hear about unschooling... I’ve heard the term but honestly never knew what it was.... thank you so much 😊
I love how you respect your children's privacy. Thank you for this video I am stressing over the coming school year & was looking into changing my approach. Your right about not spending a ton of money on curriculum.
Yes! 🙌 We fit randomly somewhere in the middle maybe more towards the unschooling/autonomous side of things. But yes totally and utterly agree with everything you said xxxx
100% agree and love that you shared all of this. We unschool/homeschool and love it.
Ok I love these tips! Never in my life did I think I would "homeschool" but since my children aren't going back to school til fall, we are required to. It's hard to keep up, but just the idea of unschooling has my heart tugging a bit as much as I don't want to think about it. My two littles we adopted through foster care a year ago and man it's hard, they are very needy, but have also thrived so much. Thanks for this video.
If they decide to go to college, do you worry about them being behind their peers? Like will they know how to write an essay and things like that? We are planning on homeschooling our kids and are so excited!
nine in our nest while I do agree with what your saying, I will say - it takes most students yearrrss to master these skills such a writing a composed paper and test taking skills, even as an adult and college graduate I’m still learning so I do think that would be difficult.
My son (age 20 and in his second year of college) was homeschooled from the middle of 1st grade thru graduation. We did not do any formal English lessons after about 7th grade. In his senior year he expressed worry that maybe he hadn’t learned enough in that area. HE decided to take an on-line course. I found the course and paid for it, after that it was all on him. He worked through the course and learned how to work with an instructor that wasn’t mom. He aced the class with minimal effort. His first year of college he took English 101 and finished with a strong A in the class. I guess my point is that kids will learn when they are motivated to do so. We didn’t spend years drilling him with writing and grammar, when he felt he needed it, he learned it.
Like Ashleigh stated, kids figure it out when they need to know it. I've schooled 7 kids for the last 19 years and they learn it when they need to. My #'s 3 & 4 didn't write great until they took college classes junior year of high school. Teachers in institutionalized settings sometimes have different preferences anyways.
Thank you for your words about the importance of PLAY! As someone who has taught Grades K-2 for nearly ten years, I can say without hesitation that play is the essence of what and how children learn.
Thank you for saving me the time of coming up with the words! I'm going to save this video and share it with people as they question. Love!
Thank you for sharing your family perspective on this. Because when I first saw on schooling in the media they painted a picture of a child or teenager whose parents were uninvolved in their learning or who played video games most of the day instead of seeking out knowledge or being encouraged to learn their interest
And funnily enough, most of my son's therapy with speech and OT, is play therapy. Which retrains his brain pathways that he missed when he was little.. play is so important and they will learn much better that way! Even therapists say that!
So much yes! As a mother of 4, who practices intuitive parenting, unschooling has been one of the most natural feeling decisions we've made. I've seen my children explode with curiosity and work harder to learn than they ever did when they "had" to learn a subject or were on a schedule to learn.
Sperm hasn't even reached the egg yet but I already feel like this will be the way for me and my family.
🤣💕
Same, school was traumatic for me early on & I feel like this approach would have saved me the stress
That is me that you described also i just did not care in High School. Last year i completed my GED my dad use to have to make up songs to get stuff to stick....i have never heard of this before thank u so much for the information it makes so much sense
Wow, best education stuff I have ever heard. It would explain alot about my brother and I now that were in our 50's. This should be the way education is taught. Genius lady talking here.
Thank you. I really needed to hear this again.
Love love love this video and ypur philosophy! I worked as a TA for konder and middle school and have seen the struggle of not fitting in the one size fits all box of so many frustrated students including my own children. I'm a homeschool parent and love the concept of unschooling unfortunately I live in a state where that is not an option so we chose homeschooling. While we have state requirements we have to fulfill most of my childrens learning is done through living life and letting them explore their interests. I have received so many comments from complete strangers ( store clerks, Dr appointments, church) who have engaged in conversations with my children on how intelligent and well spoken they are etc etc and are shocked to find out we home school. Im not a genius by any means but have seen the positivity in my children growing in what their interests were....anyway awesome content as always! Ps random but my middle name is Ashleigh spelled the same way never " met" anyone else with the same spelling, so cool!
This is such a great video. I have been going back and forth with home schooling for 3 years. Now that I’m doing it because of school closures, it’s going great. Your video pointed out to me exactly what I was questioning...Thank you....🙂 by the way my son’s name is Riley too👍🏻🥰 such a great name!
I really needed this video. Thank you so much for sharing. I have been struggling with my 6 year old who we recently started homeschooling. We are getting frustrated together. I needed this so much
I think more and more people will start to realize these benefits of homeschooling/unschooling. Since the quarantine and closure of schools I have noticed a huge difference in my 6 year old. After she started school she always needed me to be her playmate and her imagination was low. But now, with no school, she plays independently for hours, she regulates her screen time on her own to a healthy level now, she is more creative and her imagination is back! I can only imagine how amazing it would be actually home school and not 'crisis school' like we are now.
Ah, home schooling intrigues me so much but I don’t know if I can do it and if it’s right for us. Even though everything makes such a good sense I still feel like - what if I mess it up?
So so good. Have you found that any of your children want to go to school? Also, do you plan for them to be accredited somehow or attend college?
I love unschooling. I was unschooled and plan to do the same but these are my questions. Love your videos!!! Blessings!!
Very well put. People are very passionate about this topic (homeschool in general) because, understandably, it deviates from what has been the norm for a while and we can't imagine how children can learn and grow to be competent adults in any other way :). My twins went to kindergarten in public school and very shortly into it I unfortunately saw the divide that came when one took off with reading while the other didn't. Yet the other one can talk circles around adults when it comes to animals, using terms that I sometimes have to google for myself LOL. I am so thankful to have started homeschooling them when it was time for 1st grade and giving them the freedom to go at their pace. While I really love the idea of unschooling, we are more in the CM category (gosh I hate labeling it....we aren't purists by any means) but I try to use all our books as a spine and leave room for plenty of rabbit holes to jump into as well as lots of time in the day for them to PLAY because our lessons are kept short. I have seen the ideas we get in our reading come to life in their play and it is the best feeling!
I love all of this! We are a Charlotte Mason homeschool, but I try to keep it very relaxed to really nurture that love of learning. I've taken the tests for homeschooling styles and I am pretty evenly split between CM and unschooling. So I do try to bridge the two where I can. 🙂
One of the things i admire most about my husband is that he managed to not lose his natural interest in learning throughout his schooling years. His general knowledge is beyond impressive and as soon as we talk about something he doesnt know he will look it up as soon as possible because he is just that curious. I really hope we can make that happen for our kids as well. We are contemplating lots of schooling options right now but not very seriously at that point since our son is only 17 months and our daughter is due next week so there is lots of time left to make a decision.
Thank you thank you for this Video I'm just now starting to look into homeschool/un school. Is there any books for a mom that you could recomend for un schooling my kids
I don't know what kind of record-keeping SC requires you to do, but I'd love to hear how tackle that to the State's satisfaction. OK doesn't require diddly from us, but we're in the military, so moving to a more restrictive state is always an option.
Just curious, is there a test or a specific curriculum or hours that need to be met by homeschoolers? Like do u have to prove u are teaching ur kids stuff?
Thanks for sharing this makes sense.🌼
How will unschooled kids apply for college? I’m currently homeschooling and thinking about going from strict curriculum to child lead
I was seriously considering home/unschooling my kiddos for their kindergarten years (still 1 and 2 years out), and then the pandemic lockdown hit...lol. But, I do love how you protect your kids’ schooling privacy.
UA-cam is a fun way to learn too.
I totally agree.👌🏼
Hi! So, I'm a recent subscriber and I have some questions about homeschooling/un-schooling. First, I want to let you know that I am in no way criticizing how you choose to educate your children. Rather, I'm just genuinely curious. Currently, I am not married nor do I have children. However, in the future, if I were to get married and have children, I would prefer to home school my children. I grew up in a public school system in the special-ed program, and it was terrible.
So, to circle back to my question, you mentioned acknowledging that God created us all with strengths and weaknesses. You mention how you lean on your child's strengths to help them learn. But what about their weaknesses? Do you in any way help your children to strengthen their weaknesses or is that child-led as well?
Again, this is not meant to be a criticism. I'm just wondering how you work through that bit of it, or, how that goes.
Thanks!
Valerie Linares Hi! If you don’t mind, I will answer your question for my family. We have been homeschooling for 10 years and doing a version of unschooling for several of those years. At least in my state, we have access to all the special education resources and team sports. So when my five year old struggled with her speech, which affected her ability to read, I started seeking out public school resources for her. She sees a speech therapist weekly and is improving greatly and can now read at six. Homeschooling isn’t necessarily about doing all the work yourself, but choosing for your own family how you will use outside resources. I hope that helps. 🙂
I also have a personal example! My ten year old loves loves reading but hates math, so we found Life of Fred math books which are hilarious stories that incorporate tons of math and BUILD concepts one upon another in such a subtle and effective way, he’s learning math and doesn’t even realize how strong he’s becoming in his “weakest” area! ❤️❤️❤️ so exciting for me and stress free for him
Do you have content anywhere on your favorite or most reliable resources you've found since you started this journey? I'd like to do something on the interest led spectrum in the long term with my children too but I'm at that stage 1 learning phase.
In the state I live I have to send my daughter to school because she has downs syndrome. I'm glad I have public school because she gets so many services I couldn't give her at home. I'm not a pt ot or speech therapist. I also loose patience with her quickly so having her at school during the day gives her purpose. (Well it did before this crazy pandemic)
Lovely video! Thank you for sharing! Would you mind me asking if there's anything special you do when teaching the Torah to your children. My husband and I have started the journey, for our family, as Torah Observant. As silly as it may sound, I'm unsure of how to teach Torah. I was always raised Christian and grew up in the pew every Sunday morning, but I'm learning Torah myself and, though it's incredibly rewarding, I'm unsure how to teach it to my children. Any advice would be appreciated! Thank you!
I hope you dont mind me jumping on here and throwing my 2 cents in I know nothing about homeschool/ unschool, here to learn more, but my family is torah observant, I have found bible pathway adventures to be AMAZING is is meant for kids 6 and up it says but they have wonderful coloring pages and things for younger kids too.
Shalom Amber!! We don't use any kind of curriculum. But we always start with prayer & the Torah Portion. Sometimes my kids read other times they listen. Then we discuss it & they copy a scripture verse that is related. I really believe it everyone's favorite part of the day. I know it is mine!
Does your state have homeschooling requirements? If so, how do you reconcile these with your efforts to unschool?
I would love to hear this answer too..We are thinking we need to move to a more free state to be able to unschool!
most states have categories to be studied within a school year. Most of which children will naturally explore. It's a parents job to observe when it happens and keep track if your state requires. Science, art, PE for example happens SO organically in play. Math and science happen organically in cooking.
Hi! I’m from the UK and was wondering if anyone in the comments could explain how un-schooling would work here past primary school, since the schooling requirements in countries are different. For example, most jobs require 5-9 GCSES, and you would need A Levels if you wanted to go to universities; so interest based learning doesn’t seem like it would work as you need educational qualifications for a lot of things nowadays. Do teenagers in the US sit educational qualifications in school or do they just kind of go to school for the sake of it? I didn’t mean for this to sound judgemental AT ALL i’m just genuinely curious if anybody knows how this concept would work in the UK. thanks
We have also realized that relationships are more important than academics. Remembering Jesus came for the heart and soul versus math, writing, history and sciences. Now, we still focus on the three R's but Jesus and relationships are more important.
I'm absolutely pro home/unschooling. I hated school but I love to learn. Just don't know how the majority of the world doesn't seam to understand that school is not fovorable for learning and development but rather the oppsite instead. My problem is that I'm living in Germany and yes, it is forbidden here, as Germans love to have dumb laws, but I surely will get the hell outta here, if I will have kids (and maybe without) because my children should never go through what I have suffered (including pedophile teacher). I'm happy for your kids that they have such great parents who have made the right choise!
I would love to teach my 10yro grandson. He has a few challenges. Learning disabilities that were not diagnosed until he was older. Also the challenge of living in his Mom's house and his Dad's house. Neither are interested in making learning fun and logical for him. Now we are using the school systems at home. I do not see that he is interested or retaining information. But apparently it is just me. Do you have any advice?
Yes🙌🏻
I was curious if you started out unschooling or if you were a traditional homeschooler to start and then moved in that direction? We are in our third year of homeschooling. Our facilitator says she sees this shift toward unschooling happen particularly within the first few years of homeschooling.
We started out traditional ☺️
i was hoping for this unschooling update :) would you also consider a video about overcoming your traumatic birth experience?
Hi Ashley, just wondering before the lockdown, did you unschool? If so then these times are not much different for you and your family! I wish sometimes we did unschooling
Yes, we’ve always been an unschooling/homeschooling family 💕 it’s not quite the same though, we miss being OUT!!
We don't unschool but we do homeschool. I will say and all other unschooling/homeschooling moms will agree I'm sure for unschooling and homeschooling families these times are very different as well for us. There are many things outside of the home that we participate in and all our friends that we are unable to see at this time. A lot of our schooling is done at home yes but there are so many things we do outside of the home as well that we are unable to do right now. So these times are very hard for us as well. There are a lot of misconceptions on unschooling/homeschooling and that we sit at home all day inside and are sheltered and that is not the case. The private/public schooling which are now quarantine schooling is very different then homeschooling and unschooling. You really can't even out them in the same category. This is a lifestyle we have made for our family. Which has been a blessing to us!
@@jaimep6865 hats off to you both I wish I can do it someday, your both amazing!!
Do you ever worry about intervention with thinks like speech impediments? Etc? Often times these things get addressed in public school and they have resources for the student to work on them. What is your approach to this if a child displays these issues?
Thanks for addressing this topic, I’ve always found it interesting.
Living within a school district entitles you to use their special education resources whether you're enrolled or not.
It's great. We have our autonomy and the access should we need it.
I'm not Ashleigh, of course, but we're unschoolers too and have had one of our children evaluated through our local school psychologist & special ed team.
Thank you for the info! That is good to know!
Do you ever suggest subjects or ideas for your kids to learn? Just say look at this.
We’ve incorporated unschooling in certain subjects through the years. We have mainly implemented it in Literature, History and Science.
Im not what I would call a unschooler but we definitely use child led for a lot of things like for reading using books that the child likes or in math we discovered multiplication tabkes wasnt how he learned. We actually submit his work to a company that just keeps an eye on what we teach but we have great frredom. My son loves astronomyso this year a lot of the science is around that
Great topic... I was a HOMESCHOOLER I mean I took main stream education and FORCE FED it to my kids... they learned because I MADE them... I would get so upset when they couldn't get the concept I was trying to teach... During my daily "cool down" with my husband (where we recap wins and losses before bed, our personal time) ... he pointed out to me that my son (who was 5 at the time) was GREAT at physics. I was so confused I certainly hadn't taught him that... turns out all the time I was spending TEACHING him basic counting he was LEARNING his math manipulative (often marbles) moved in certain ways based on angle and weight! it took me for ever to get him to count, but he could build airplanes and bridges using concepts my middle and high schoolers just couldn't get... NO TWO people learn exactly the same...
I don’t understand the qualification side to this, what happens if your kid decides early on they want to go to med school, do they still receive the qualifications to go on and do as they wish? (No judgement just wondering) 😊 I have heard people in the comments say it is what children want but as an adult we have the experience to know what’s best. I’m worried children who are “unschooled” are limited.
There are so many options, unschooling would not limit a child's ability to go to med school. If they decided they wanted it, the parent would support them as they dove into finding out what was needed and chasing what they want to learn.
So - how do you handle it when people ask about official graduation?? Will you have your kids write the grade 12 essential exams in order to “graduate “...?! We are also a family with 7 kiddos, who unschool...but the “graduation “ piece always throws me off a tad!!
I THRIVE on knowledge. And so does my boy!
I LOVE learning new things!! I love feeling knowledgeable...I just get burnt out of I try to stuff my brain too much too fast lol
@@ashleighnicolewilson I'm hearing ya!
Well said
Do you require them to learn the basics?
That’s the beauty of interest led learning. There’s no need to require learning when a child desires it naturally...they will seek it out!
Do you have any kids who enjoy workbooks or textbook learning? I have a child who loves to read textbooks.
There is a four digit number of homeschoolers/unschoolers in Germany despite is not being legal ;)
I 100% agree with everything you sad.
You and your sister homeschool differently. Does that sometimes cause problems of thoughts, views and opinion between you too?
I have never heard of un schooling of course I am 67
I feel like this would definitely be great for so many children. I wish that I would have had a parent that cared about my schooling.
my question is that.. if your child chooses to go to a college, do they have to do like SAT prep type things to get ready for those test?
I am terrible at test taking.
I don't know. You seem to have this attitude that all school is is memorizing content and I do not agree with that. It's also hard to know what you are interested in when you are only exposed to whatever your parents/church put in front of you.
The older you get the more limited your options are when the basic building blocks aren't there. You can have all the passion and desire in the world to be an astronomer but you have to sit down and do the tedious and boring work of learning calculus first. It'll be interesting to see how this is all going once your children are young adults.
And if a person wants to be an astronomer, and they have been given the tools to know HOW to learn, they can seek out the knowledge and building blocks they need.
This style of education certainly isn’t for everyone, but the evidence FOR homeschooling (and interest-led learning!) can’t be denied. It’s okay if it makes you feel uncomfortable, I’d encourage you to get curious about why that is!
How can I unschool my kids without getting harrassed by the government? We are in NYC.
You look so tan!
thank you so much for just.....giving me calm.....my child is almost five and can't read and I feel like everyone is telling me (his father, my mother in law) that this is awful and I've failed already. thank you.
YOU HAVE NOT FAILED. You have not failed and you are not failing. You are doing great, and your child IS NOT BEHIND.
My 8 year old has Apraxia so she doesn't read well. She does good with her sight words and can read little books though. My 7 year old loves math and science but struggles with reading. My hubby knows they will learn to read well but my mother in law always thinks they are behind. I am always having to tell her they are fine but it is a hassle. Ali Lewis