Is Unschooling For Your Child? What Is Unschooling?

I find myself falling under this type of Homeschooling more and more. I think it's very important for my son to learn about the things that HE is interested in. I still have that urge to structure a curriculum based on what I think he should know at any given point, but I haven't done that yet since he is only 3 and have seen in the time he's been alive that he learns so much better when presented with something and allowed to explore it rather than trying to teach him

what I want him to know about it.

One reason why my 3 year old can count to 100, say abcs backward and forward, knows all basic colors and shapes, and knows all the planets (I'll explain Pluto later) and can even tell you who named Jupiter..... Is because he loves music. He loves to sing and dance, and knowing that he loves music, all I had to do was find songs that he enjoyed. The rest is history. Of course he doesn't like all the songs I find, so we just stick to the ones that he does like.

He learns all of these things because when he finds a song that he likes he wants to hear it a million times until he knows every word. When he became interested in the planets, my mom crocheted all the planets and stuffed them. He places them in order by himself and sings songs about them. I gave him planet flash cards to play with and he does the same with them. He even knows how to spell Sun now (among many other words he's learned to spell). What I'm saying is that if your child is interested in something I think it's great to provide them with whatever you can and let them explore it on their own as opposed to "teaching" them what you think they should know. It's important to find things that will expand his knowledge on the subject that he can discover for himself.

I've been doing this with my boy, and I just sit back and watch him light up and flourish.

That's not to say that I don't throw a few facts and things at him here and there to get that little wheel turning. It's just in my nature, but I'm not going to force information on him that he cares nothing about until there comes a time when he just SERIOUSLY needs to know something.

Here is a great explanation of Unschooling and I wanted to share it with everyone.

Thanks for reading! Have a Wonderful Day!