Project

Unschooling

Unschooling is a non-coercive, cooperative educational method that advocates learner-chosen activities as a primary means for learning. It is an extreme form of home education, often considered a subset of homeschooling, even though it is philosophically separate from it. While homeschooling has been subject to widespread public debate, little media attention has been given to unschooling in particular, which is less common and still  rare all over the world, in those countries where it is constitutionally allowed.
The term “unschooling” was coined in the 1970s and used by the educator John Holt, regarded as the “father” of this method, where the student’s education is not directed anyhow by a teacher. Even though there are no formal classes taken and the children teach themselves, unschooling does not mean that parents give up active participation in the education and development of their children. They act as“facilitators”, providing a range of resources, helping their children access and make sense of the world. Unschooling encourages the exploration of activities initiated by the children themselves, believing that the more personal learning is, the more meaningful, well-understood and useful it is to the child. Unschoolers therefore learn through their natural life experiences including play, household responsibilities, personal interests, work experience, travel, books, family, mentors, and social interaction.
According to this philosophy, education is a matter of curiosity and desire rather than academic achievement. From this point of view the standard school is an inefficient use of the children’s time, because it requires each child to learn specific subject matter in a particular manner, at a particular pace, and at a specific time regardless of that individual’s interests, predisposition or any pre-existing knowledge he or she might have about the topic. 
Proponents of unschooling assert that individualized, child-led learning is more efficient because it takes advantage of children interests, and allows a deeper exploration of subjects than what is possible in conventional education, while critics of unschooling are concerned about a possible lack of social skills, education, and motivation of unschooled children, who won’t be sufficiently equipped to handle the “real” world.