Unschooling Is It Creating Uneducated Children

I saw a report, on the evening news, about Unschooling. Unschooling, is a form of Homeschooling, where basically the child picks the Curriculum based on their current interests. Of course both sides had an opinion, both for and against Unschooling. The major concer being, that Unschooling is actually teaching uneducated children, but people who use Unschooling say their children are independant, free thinkers.

I do not actually know anyone who Unschools their children, so I am kind of curious. One of the issues I had with public school, was that almost everything was traditional learning, and elective clases such as Art, was never really Art class, Music class consisted of just listening to music, and not much more. I was really disappointed with both of these things. I do follow a traditional form of learning, in my home. We do make our own Curriculum, but I used a basic quide, to what each child should learn in that grade. I also do arts and crafts, and a music class. Now I am not a music teacher, so I purchased an I can play piano, and software, that teaches them to play piano. Unschooling is interesting, in that the child decides what they want to learn. So say for examply the child has an interest in Drums, their whole day is spent learning to play the drums, or at least that is my understanding of how it works. So I have just a couple of thoughts. How does the child learn Grammar, History, Math or other basic learning skills. I really dont know many children that would say boy I really want to learn about nouns and verbs today. Or oh boy, I really want to learn how to multiply today. While I can see how Unschooling would be wonderful, for creative and critical learning, I dont quite understand how the children learn basic educational skills, that they may need later in life. Or am I misunderstanding, and the basics are taught, but somehow creatively mixed in with the main interest at hand. For example I could see, how spelling could be taught by spelling words that have to do with music, and drum playing. Reading, by reading books, on playing the drums, or music related. Math by creating clever math sheets that use the main interest as the topic. Writing, and Grammar, by writing stories related to music and drum playing, and using correct Grammar to do it. So I could definately see how they could comingle together. Do you Unschool, do you know anyone who does, how does it work? I look forward to hearing, from some of you who do Unschool.

How Much Time Do You Spend Homeschooling?

Dont forget to take my poll, on the side bar. Just a quick contest update for my other blog. If you havent read the contest, you could win a ss blue topaz ring. Just give me a good dog cake recipe. Go to http://www.melissasjewelryandgemstoneblog.blogspot.com for all the details. I have 4 entries so far.

How long is your homeschooling day? What time do you start? What time do you end? For us we start at 8:30 AM, and stop at 2:00 PM. The one thing I like about homeschooling, is that can be flexible. If you work during the day, you can homeschool in the evening. You can even homeschool, just on weekends, as long as you cover your material. We do PE twice a week, for 30 min each, and of course recess every day for 30 min. Dont forget lunch, that is 30 min. These are things that can take away from book time, but are necessary for your children.

Of course that does not end a homeschooling moms schedule. For me I grade the work, make the log, make the curriculum, and do all the research. So I spend a great deal of time working on homeschooling. I do most of it over the summer, so that by the start of school, I just have to do lesson planning each week.

So how about you, and your homeschool day?