People often want to know how unschooling works.  That is, what does it actually look like in action?  It looks like a lot of things, depending on the family, the child, and the day, but I’d like to tell you about our Fourth of July evening by way of example.

Fireworks

We have, currently, a 14-year-old, a 10-year-old, an 8-year-old, and a 3-year-old.  (And an 18-year-old, but she’s not only “done with school”; she’s away for the summer.)  We all went outside yesterday evening — my husband, all four of these younger kids, and I — to sit in the street and watch the fireworks being set off by surrounding neighbors.  (We’re off to the side, not sitting in traffic, for those who might have been concerned.)

As we watched fireworks explode around us, I pointed out to the younger kids that the fireworks are representative of the bombs that were part of the wars that secured our freedom.  This led to a brief impromptu conversation among the three oldest of us about the War of 1812, Fort McHenry, and the writing of the Star-Spangled Banner.  (History & Civics)

There was also some conversation about fog, and how the heavy moisture in the air prevented the smoke from the fireworks from dissipating quickly. (Science)

Keep in mind, so far in all of this, the only thing that’s been “intentional” on the part of us parents is my telling the youngest children why we set off fireworks for Independence Day.  Everything else has been part of the natural flow of conversation.

Stars

As we made our way back up to the house afterward, the kids started looking up at the sky, which had begun to clear, and were looking for Orion (the constellation).  Michael (my husband) pulled out his phone and used a starfinder app to determine that Orion is currently on the wrong side of the earth from us.  The app also showed the sun, which the 3-year-old commented on, and the explanation that the sun is on the other side of the earth, too, confused her.

So we headed inside and grabbed the globe.  We used the globe to show her how the earth turns, making it daylight when the sun is on our side and nighttime when the sun is on the other side.  (More science)

This led to further discussion with the older kids about time zones, summer & winter, the tilt of the earth, and how Alaska has very long periods of daylight or very short periods of daylight at different times of year.  (More science) 

With the globe still out to grab their attention, one of the kids then asked why Australia is both a continent and a country, so we answered that question, too.  (Geography)

The total time span of all of this was probably only about an hour or so.  The total time directly involved in these discussions was likely closer to 15 minutes.  And every bit of the conversation (apart from, as noted, the comment about fireworks & the Fourth) flowed naturally out of what we were doing, or the conversation that preceded it.  Children of very different ages were involved in the same overall discussions, but the questions they wanted answered varied by their individual levels of maturity and knowledge.

Unschooling: Life with Curiosity

At this point, some readers may be thinking, “but I’m not an unschooler and that happens at my house, too.”

That’s the whole idea.

Unschooling is not some special process; unschooling is nothing more than living life with a healthy sense of curiosity.

Moments like this happen all the time — sometimes with lengthy chains of questions like this, other times with just a simple one that’s quickly answered before moving on to other things.  Unschoolers are merely mindful of this and “trust the process.”