Many homeschoolers are attracted to the idea of unschooling (also known as “child-led learning”), at least in some parts of their children’s education. You may sometimes hear homeschoolers say something like “we unschool history, but not math.”
According to Pat Ferenga, who worked with and continues to run the company started by the late unschooling advocate John Holt, “People find different ways and means to get comfortable with John Holt’s ideas about children and learning and no one style of unschooling or parenting defines unschooling…”
But in the past decade or so, a movement known as Radical Unschooling has taken that philosophy a step farther. Like many homeschoolers, they believe there’s no distinction between learning and life. So Radical Unschoolers don’t just give kids freedom in what to study; they also refrain from setting limits in any area of life. For them unschooling is not just a style of homeschooling — it’s an all-or-nothing endeavor.
Radical Unschooling parents let kids spend as much time as they want watching TV or playing videogames. They don’t create rules about what to eat or when to go to bed. Children are trusted to know what they want and when they have had enough. The result, proponents like Sandra Dodd say, is less arguing and a happier family.
Many Radical Unschoolers argue that a line should be drawn between unschooling and homeschooling. But not all parents who consider themselves unschoolers agree. They point out that families often “migrate across the line” through the years, or use different approaches with different children.
And the Radical Unschooling approach to parenting gives some non-radicals pause. Many would agree with Pat Ferenga that, “Unschooling is not unparenting; freedom to learn is not license to do whatever you want.”
However, even some of those who find Radical Unschooling too extreme as a lifestyle find aspects to admire. Many homeschoolers, whether they follow an unschooling philosophy or not, have made Dodd’s advice to “say yes” to their children a goal to apply whenever possible.
