When I decided to home school one of my children a few years back, I researched everything I could get my hands on to assist me in giving my child the best learning experience I could find. I incorporated the concept of unschooling and it worked very well for me. Would it work well for anyone? Probably not, just as traditional school does not work well for everyone. Unschooling fit well with us because A) My daughter was cooperative and eager to do it. B) I like a flexible schedule (unschooling, by nature is not a rigid set up!) and C) My daughter really needed an emotional break and this proved a much better fit for her needs as a student who was falling behind. She had been nearly broken down by a teacher in 2nd grade, of which I had no knowledge. She really, really needed to be unschooled.

I had friends who were homeschooling, but with a method at the other end of the spectrum from what I was doing. They basically did schooling at home, with the exact books and curriculum that the public school used. It worked for them, but I couldn't see myself doing that. I also didn't think it would necessarily help my daughter, who was 2.5 years behind in reading. I decided to let her learn how to 'live' and that the academic process would naturally follow. I got a tutor from the Christian literacy council and we met once a week at the library. She assessed my daughter and had her reading a little past grade level in 9 months! Now that Jenna was relaxed, confident and able to find information on her own, through reading skills, he life was dramatically improved!

Jenna missed the social aspects of school and rejoined her school going peers the following year. That one year of unschooling was immeasurably helpful in getting us all on track. Jenna is more confident and gets very good grades in school, makes honor roll about half the time and continues to learn outside of school, every day.

Unschooling is wonderful, flexible and can be an excellent choice for a student who, for whatever reason, is not thriving in a traditional government school!

Learn more about this author, Yves St.OuiRain.
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