What Effect Does Unschooling Have on Children, Families, and Communities?
Review of Literature
Intro
The unschooling movement in America is on the rise and gaining popularity amongst different types of families. I want to find out what the academic conversation is around this new way of educating children as well as explore what it can look like in different homes and what the effects are on families and children. “Unschooling is sort of letting go and fundamentally a life long voyage of learning–to trust that learning is a natural phenomenon of living, around us all the time(Woodford, 2020).” Unschooling by nature is very open in how families choose to do it, but there are certain things that unschoolers do not believe in or do not do. “Unschooling is not schooling. Unschooling parents do not send their children to school and they do not do at home the kinds of things that are done at school. More specifically, they do not establish a curriculum for their children, do not require their children to do particular assignments for the purpose of education, and do not test their children to measure progress. Instead, they allow their children freedom to pursue their own interests and to learn, in their own ways, what they need to know to follow those interests. They may, in various ways, provide an environmental context and environmental support for the child’s learning. In general, unschoolers see life and learning as one.(Woodford, 2020)”
What does unschooling look like?
While there are certain beliefs and practices that all unschoolers follow, it can look very different because unschooling leaves so much room for what works for the child and the family. Unschooling is now being done by people from many different backgrounds, demographics, rural or urban homes, and different countries. Parents have different motivations for choosing to unschool, and some choose to rely on technology while some like to have a bigger focus on nature and the outdoors.
Learning and Play as One Riley and Woodford appreciate how unschooling looks at learning, playing and living as one, rather than separate things that have to happen at different times. Riley carried out a case study on Karen Chow and her family who live in Hong Kong and made the decision to unschool, “Chow made the decision to homeschool her two daughters after her eldest had a bad experience in Kindergarten with an unkind teacher. Chow explains that she lets her daughter choose what activities they pursue throughout the day and their main way of learning right now is play. She explains that she and her husband rarely interrupt their children during play. They also only teach when their daughters ask a question and they are always sure not to “overteach” or overstep and only give them what they need. They also expose them or suggest some activities, but never force them to do something they don’t want to do. Chow has noticed that her eldest daughter in particular has thrived and learned a lot while she has been unschooled and she has learned a lot about the world and had the opportunity to pursue her many interests.”
Woodford has also observed a family that likes to incorporate how many Indigenous people educated their children, “Looking towards what education for Indigenous people was before modern school was introduced by Europeans, Cajete (1994) describes that:The living place, the learner’s extended family, the clan and the tribe provided both the context and the source for teaching. In this way, every situation provided a potential opportunity for learning, and basic education was not separated from the natural, social, or spiritual aspects of everyday life. Living and learning were fully integrated.”(Woodford, 2020) In her experience of unschooling her son, she likes to remember many of the ways that she can incorporate these ideals and values found in the way that Indigenous people raised and educated their children. She talks about letting her son be involved in everyday life like involving him in more of the decision making when it comes to exploring his interests. She allowed her son to plan a trip to visit a city in another country since traveling was an interest of his and she talks about her great experience of traveling with her son. She also appreciates living holistically and seeing learning as a part of everyday life instead of having a certain time in the day when you sit down to learn and seeing this as separate from the rest of the day(Woodford, 2020).
Children’s Choice Riley(2016), Woodford(2020), and Curtice(2014) found in their research that families love the aspect of unschooling that lets the children choose what they want to learn and how they want to learn as well as what trips they would like to take. In her research, Riley found that, “According to Chow, unschooling has allowed her daughter to thrive. It allows her daughter to focus on her passions and follow her intrinsic motivations as she goes about her day. Currently, Chow’s daughter is involved in English lessons, ballet, gymnastics, swimming, and private Mandarin lessons. Chow and her husband may suggest activities to her daughter, but she can decide whether she wants to pursue those activities or do something else.”
While many unschoolers like to emphasize nature, the majority rely on technology because of how prevalent it is in our culture, “In America, 100% of teens use the internet and over 90% of adults access the internet.(Curtice, 2014)”. Curtice also found that technology has made homeschooling and unschooling more accessible to different families. “For unschoolers, such technology offers the freedom to practice their educational philosophy anywhere. Children can pursue their interests in the car, outside, or at home with ease. Sites such as Wikipedia, YouTube, and Khan Academy provide specific answers within seconds to countless questions. Unschooling parents believe technology replaces rote memorization and believe it is more important that their children learn to think, to process data, rather than simply memorize it.(Curtice, 2014)” Curtice discusses how the internet has unlocked so many opportunities for families to have access to a wealth of information on any topic their child may be interested in. When children are young, with the help of parents, they can access the internet and find many great resources that are geared towards them and can help them find answers to all of the questions they have, and find specific websites that speak to their unique interests. Once children are older, they can use the internet on their own and continue going deeper into the subjects that fascinate them and have so many great sources at their fingertips. An issue of trust was also discussed in this source about children accessing the internet on their own. Parents admitted they knew there could be dangers on the internet, but that they had trained their children to come to them if they ever had any questions about something they saw or what they should do. Curtice and Woodford emphasized that unschooling inherently allows parents to trust their children more which helps their child become more mature and trustworthy.
Unschooling challenges and benefits
It is fundamental that the current research around unschooling looks at both the benefits and challenges of unschooling once we understand the basis of what it is and how it is done. There are certain places where unschooling is becoming more common, or at least more known, while there are certain cultures and countries where unschooling is almost never done or is virtually unknown.
Challenges Riley, Woodford, and Curtice all found that the biggest challenge faced by unschooling parents is a sense of alienation. “Unschooling in Hong Kong is extremely rare and is even looked down upon by many. In 2015, only 33 families homeschool in Hong Kong, and unschooling is even more rare(Riley, 2016).” Karen Chow says, “It is difficult to do something no-one else is doing, as well as doing something that goes against cultural and societal norms. It is also difficult if family and others around you don’t seem to understand or support what you are doing. Chow feels this non support immensely from family, friends, and the government (Karen Chow, personal communication, July 30, 2014).” Riley also carried out a study and found the statistical reports for parents who feel this way. She carried out a study of 232 unschooling families, the majority of whom reside in the U.S. The main challenge that the parents expressed in unschooling was criticism in deciding to unschool. The most frequently described challenge, noted by 101 (43.5%) of respondents, was that of overcoming Social Pressures. These respondents wrote about negative judgments or criticisms from others (from family, friends, relatives, and even strangers) and the perceived need to continuously justify the unschooling choice to others.(Riley, 2016)” With this sense of alienation, the sense of community is severely lacking and sometimes it can seem like everyone around you is criticizing the way you are educating your child. “Two of the greatest challenges unschooling families face is other people’s perceptions regarding unschooling as well as unschooling parent’s difficulty in overcoming their own preconceived notions regarding schooling and education (Gray & Riley, 2013).
There can also be challenges in logistics for unschooling your child and still having time to carry out your other duties. Many parents also expressed difficulty in that our society is not set up for parents to be with their children all day. This can mean that they sometimes felt like there was not enough time in the day for them to fulfill their other parenting or household duties, they didn’t have enough time to take care of themselves, or finding a way to support their family financially was difficult with the children under their care all the time. “They mentioned that a challenge of unschooling was the amount of time it took away from self, career, or the opportunity to provide additional income.(Riley, 2016)”
Benefits Despite all of the challenges that may come with unschooling, Riley, Curtice, and Woodford found that “the benefits, as perceived by our respondents, far outweighed the challenges.(Riley, 2016)” The main benefits that parents discussed were “They perceived their children as learning more efficiently and eagerly, and learning more life-relevant material, than they would if they were in school.(Riley, 2016)” They saw their children having more curiosity for the world around them and they felt that they were much happier about everyday life and the learning that inherently came with it. Respondents said “that their children were happier, less stressed, more self-confident, more agreeable, and/or more socially outgoing than they would be if they were in school or being schooled at home.” Many parents also feel that their family is much closer because they are able to spend so much more time together in unschooling and their flexibility and freedom in the schedule benefitted the entire family and gave more opportunities for spontaneous activities or taking an easy day, which in turn reduced stress in the household(Riley, 2016). Woodford adds on to this same point, “The reported benefits included, for the children, improved learning, improved attitudes about learning, and improved social and emotional wellbeing; and, for the whole family, greater closeness, harmony, and freedom(Woodford, 2020)”.
Many parents also discussed that even though a sense of alienation could come, Curtice found that many families found ways to combat this. He explained that the internet gives a way for unschooling parents to share their experiences with the world and has given knowledge to parents who may want to begin unschooling, but aren’t sure how. He found that many unschooling parents, mostly mothers, were able to share what worked well and also found ways to connect with other unschooling families(Curtice, 2014). This sense of community is important in the unschooling world because even though it is growing, it is still an uncommon way for parents to educate their children. If a parent wanted to unschool their child, but did not know of anyone else who did it, they might have a lot of hesitancy in making the decision to take their child out of school. The internet has provided a great way for parents to no longer feel like they are the only ones doing this, and they are also able to see what good has come for other parents who made the same decision(Curtice, 2014).
Unschooling and psychology
After looking more at what unschooling is and how it is done, we must look at how children’s brains think and how they learn, as well as some of the effects of being educated through unschooling.
Self-Directed Experiences Dr. Sherman in her research focused on the motivations of children in learning and the role of transformative experiences while Gray who is a psychology professor looked at the role of self directed education. Gray and Sherman have found that children learn both through transformative experiences and self directed learning. Both of these ideas place a big emphasis on children choosing what they want to learn, and letting them take the lead in exploring this. Dr.Sherman finds that, “Transformative experience provides an optimal learning environment where learners become intrinsically motivated and achieve mastery”(Sherman, 2017). Using this definition, a transformative experience may not happen in a traditional school setting, because children are forced to learn subjects that have nothing to do with their interests. Even when/if a child is introduced to a topic or idea that sparks their interest or speaks to them, they will only be able to go as deep as the curriculum goes, and then they will be moved on to the next topic. Transformative experiences are so meaningful because the brain will not soon forget them, unlike in school where many of the things that are taught are quickly forgotten by all of the children.
Adding on to the idea that the best learning may not happen in a traditional school setting, Gray adds in how children are naturally self directed in their learning. Gray observes that, from the very beginning, are “curious and playful and eagerly doing things? They’re exploring the world almost from the moment they’re born. They’re looking around — ‘What’s out there? What’s new? What can I learn about?’ Think of all of the things that children learn before they ever go to school. And this is not just some children that learn it, this is essentially all of the children. They learn their native language from scratch, they learn an enormous amount about the physical world around them and the social world around them.(Gray, 2018)” They are able to direct themselves and explore what they like and ask their parents all of their questions. He discusses how essentially, unschooling is continuing to let them do this. He concludes that sending them to school takes away this natural part of children, “and then we wonder why they’re no longer self-motivated, because we’ve taken away the basic motives for learning: curiosity, playfulness, sociability.(Gray, 2018)” Sherman further observes what happens when children are able to self direct themselves in their learning. He provides a story of a transformative experience that shows how meaningful they are, the child “initiated a study of geography and map-making that began with basic directional orientation, involved endless hours of building cities with blocks and other materials and resulted in the creation of about 200 maps of increasing complexity. During the first few weeks, the child moved from mapping out states and regions of the United States to other continents and eventually the solar system. Continuing for a few months, the child eventually learned not just geography but concepts regarding spatial and temporal relationships, astronomy, area, perimeter, population, and boundaries. Within the course of a year, the learner taught himself to calculate sums and compare values using adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing, all of which began with an atlas.(Sherman, 2017)” This transformative experience motivated the child to learn of these different ideas and amazing concepts and he never had to be forced or coerced into doing any of it.
Conclusion
Reviewing the literature leads back to the question: What Effect Does Unschooling Have on Children, Families, and Communities? Analyzing this method of schooling from different points of view and considering the effects is essential to furthering the conversation around what the best way for children to learn is. As the world around us continues to change, unschooling may become more and more common as parents will see the public school system is not the best way for their children to learn. Unschooling gives parents so much time and freedom to be there every step of the way as they witness their child grow, learn, and discover who they are. As we can see from the surrounding research and personal testimonies, “The unschooling movement is a beacon of hope for the evolution of teaching and learning.(Romero, 2018)”. Through unschooling, a love of learning is planted in children early on and they have the opportunity to explore interests and ideas alongside their family and community. They understand that learning is not confined simply to a desk or classroom, but that curiosity is always needed and learning never stops. As one of the most prominent American scholars John Dewey puts it, “Education is not preparation for life, education is life itself”.
References
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