Friday 27 January 2012

Confessions of a 20-something unschooler...

I went to school.

I didn't know there were other options.

As an adult, and a stay at home mum, I am finally in a place in my life where

a) I can choose what I want to read (no course texts or reading lists) and
b) I have time to read (when I was working I had freedom of choice, but no spare time)

I love it, and I'm learning new stuff all the time. I actually feel like I'm 'de-schooling' myself.

For example, I recently started reviewing books for Booksneeze.com, and the first book they sent me was 'The Promise of An Angel', from their 'Amish Romance' section. Now I'll admit Amish romance was a genre I'd never heard of before, but what a treat! I loved the book so much that my mother bought me an Amish romance 'Quintology' (I think I just made that word up. It's like a trilogy, but with five books) for Christmas.

As I read them it started me off on other journeys, looking up recipes that they talked about and discovering what mennonites and anabaptists were. Church history that I had never thought about now became a fascinating research point.

And suddenly I'm converted.

Unschooling really is the easiest and most fun way to learn!

So, although we have curriculum which we sometimes follow, I'm becoming more and more relaxed about letting my children (within reason) choose what they want to do. It's amazing how many questions and research points come up after watching an episode of Wonder pets...

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