Guest Author - Meg Grooms

When I think of the word unschooling my mind drifts right to Dana Stewart, a very dear friend of mine. Dana is the homeschooling mother of Maya, a very curious pre-teen. Dana believes strongly in unschooling as the best method of education. Dana sent Maya to first grade for less than an entire year before she pulled her out to teach her in the way Dana knew in her heart was best.

Most unschoolers have heard the sentence "If I unschooled my kids would do nothing but play all day". I asked Dana how she felt about this belief and here is her reply.

"My daughter plays a lot. She is a child, but I take notice of her play. I educate myself on what to look for in her play. While she is unschooled, for the most part, I am not an uninvolved parent. I notice when she writes menus, for example, suddenly there are fractions in her menus. So, I pull out the math book, give her a page or two on fractions, I see she understands, we close the book.

"I am a great believer in the physical development of the brain preparing the path for cognition. If the brain hasn't developed a certain capacity or rational, you can't push knowledge in and have good results. It is the square peg dilemma. Before she is ready, I can teach and teach and she doesn't learn. When her brain is ready, I offer, she learns and shows me. Often, she isn't aware that she is having a learning 'growth spurt', but I am aware and on the inside I am hollering 'Yahoo'!

"As unschoolers, I believe in individual tailoring. I recommend offering everything and enforcing nothing.

"I have hundreds of materials available, in the form of books, puzzles, toys, cd programs, art supplies, tools, etc...I have taught her how to find answers to her own questions, whether it be from a dictionary, internet search, who and how to ask others. When I want to assess her, I ask her to get some work books. She chooses which books to work on, her favorite of late is her spelling booster. She brings the books, does a few pages, I see that she understands and offer help if she asks, and put it away. We may not do 'book work' for a week or two.

"She reads, we read together, she has lessons outside the home. I encourage letter writing, badge work for Cubs, collecting socks for homeless, food drive participation, and making homemade gifts to keep her mind on task, but is perceived as activity rather than education. I need to know how she is learning, all she needs to do is experience her life.

"As for unschooling until XX grade or XX age, I think I will follow the same path. I will see when Maya needs more or wants more structure. I plan to homeschool through high school and have her take an equivalency test at the end for her diploma. If she shows a strong desire for college, I will make sure she has what she needs, but we see her doing home study through college years, while volunteering, working part time and travel. When she is 21 years old, if she chooses, she may apply to University as a mature student, without a formal high school diploma. I want more than anything for her to know herself and her value as a member of the community and society, her place in history, as well as her power to effect change."

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