Unschooling

I am not going to send my babies to school outside the home. In no way do I condemn parents that choose to do so, but I believe it is Craig and my job as parents to lead our children to learn whatever it is that will make them successful in the life God has chosen for them. Most people would say I plan to homeschool my children. I use the word too, whenever I want a quick answer to the question of how I plan to get my babies educated. But what I want to do is so much more, and less, complicated than homeschooling (doing school at home). I plan to unschool my children.

You may have heard the word. Recently the unschooling movement has gotten pretty popular, especially with modern day hippies trying to stick-it-to-the-man. There are varying degrees of unschooling. On one side there are people who are basically homeschooling, just without a set curriculum, and on the other end there are parents who let their kids do whatever they want all day. I am somewhere in the middle.
It has always perplexed me why we tell our children they are special and unique and then expect them to get the very same education all the other children are getting. I reject that way of thinking. I know God has made my children unique, with their own set of interests and gifts. It is my job as a parent to lead my children in the pursuit of those interests and gifts.
In the preschool years its easy, just keep the tv off and plenty of craft supplies, books, play dough, and blocks nearby, oh, and spend a great deal of time outdoors. As they reach "school age" my job becomes a little harder. Starting off I will need to coax my babies into learning. After all what six year old little boy would rather practice writing the alphabet than play outside?

As the years go on my hope is that I will have exposed my children to such a large range of subjects that by their teens they have a pretty good understanding of the world around them and how they fit into it. By then, Lord willing, they will also be self educating and grow into adults that continue to learn throughout the rest of their lives.