Concern regarding schools in the media usually has nothing or little to do with academics but something to do with it being a bad environment for students and teachers. There are two thoughts that should spring from that observation.

The first is why are people so concerned about “socialization” issues when it comes to the home educated? Do they know that they are saying every child should be exposed to a self-esteem destroying, violent social environment? Do children really need to be subject to abuse, bullying and jungle warfare to develop normally?

The second observation is that curricular concerns are rarely mentioned outside of the push to normalize deviant beliefs and behaviours. Perplexingly, no one has connected the deviance to the violence now found in many schools.

One of the main reasons parents choose to home educate or unschool is their concern about their children’s exposure to bad social issues at school. However, most do not tie the bad social behaviours to the bad ideologies being advanced to normalize what God has not sanctioned. In fact, we are now judging the authenticity of the Bible against our desire to do as we wish. Should any part of the Bible condemn our deviant behaviour, it is deemed as hate speech, soon to be banned from the public square. God help us as we slide down that dark path to perdition.

Also understand that a standardized program does not meet the individual needs of each child, nor does it take gifting into consideration. As a consequence, school is more likely to homogenize students to the lowest common denominator of mediocrity. Unschoolers encourage children to be the best they can be in keeping with the innate gifts and talents bestowed upon them by God.

The important question then becomes: how dedicated are we to ensuring children receive a good education based on the supremacy of God rather than the claimed authority of man? We need to understand unschooling for what it is: Taking control of the education of our children, moving them away from a Godless system – including Christianized versions of a secular system, and restoring them to the family to which they were born. Let us be “homing” our children as directed by our Creator and let us avoid the “unhoming” tendencies of schools.

Unschooling or “homing” is what we do here at Education Unlimited. In fact, it is our very heartbeat. Have a good summer.

Now that we have reviewed what unschooling is and isn’t, I would like to challenge you to think in a different way.

Tell me what to do! This is what we have been trained to ask. We naturally avoid taking risks so it is easy to default to having someone or something direct our thinking and actions. The big question is: what is all this based on? What worldview premise are we establishing our thoughts and actions on? There really are only two options available as far as the Bible goes: We are either for Him or against Him. This is not to say people are cognizant of this choice, but in the end, either things are based on faith in God, complete with all that brings, or we find ourselves on the other side of street, whether we have made a conscience effort to be there or not. In fact, I would be willing to bet that most people have no idea they are on the wrong side, including professing Christians.

To understand what this wrong side of the street is, let us consider a few self-evident truths. Only a mom and dad can create children. The environment in which they are to be raised is called family. Family has been around infinitely longer than compulsory schools. So what should be considered normal, a family at home or students in school?

Having said that, should we not be considering that it is school that is undoing the home God created as the safe and caring environment in which to raise, train, teach and educate children? Families in homes were here first. When considering the directive of Mathew 19:5-6 where we are told not to separate families, it makes sense to see compulsory government schooling as “unhoming.” Instead we refer to escaping the secular school system, whether public, separate, charter, alternative, private or home schooling as “unschooling”. Does it not make more sense to see relatively new “schooling” as an affront to age old “homing”?

Hopefully you see what I mean. If family is foundational, should we be unschooling or should we simply consider ourselves to be homing? The term unschooling actually establishes school as foundational, normal, even authoritative. Unschoolers inadvertently agree with government having an authority in education and we have determined to rebel by not doing as expected, hence the term unschooling. We determine to “un” what is in fact an imposition over what God has directed.

Why should unschoolers be the weird ones? Should families at home not be the standard? If so, we should see ourselves as rightfully homing our children and schools as engaging in “unhoming.” Just a thought.

Life can and does throw us lots of curve balls to tempt us off the straight and narrow. One of the big temptations is doubt, and it is the reason why the fourth set of fears and concerns descends upon us. We mastered the first set at the beginning, got past the fears and concerns set at puberty and finally made peace with our post-secondary issues. Then it happens, especially with the first or “experimental” child.

Having proven your love beyond what the world expects; having trained and taught them; unschooled them through all the stages of youth and growth; successfully brought them to their post-secondary options, convinced that they are fully and rightfully prepared to tackle obstacles in their way; and seen them mature to be faithful and responsible citizens of this world and God’s Kingdom, they show their appreciation for all that you have done and leave home, eventually for good.

Then panic sets in! You will start to question if you have done a good job. Did you properly prepare? Did you fail at something? Did you handicap somehow? This doubt is most likely to occur with the firstborn and you will likely be much more confident with the younger siblings. After all, you were likely stricter and more “schooly” with the first child and increasingly more comfortable with unschooling with the next. This is natural. It happens within every loving family.

Know this: You have done the best you could. You chose unschooling and that was the best choice. Guaranteed you did not do a perfect job, but know that it was much better than what would have transpired in school. Rest easy with the knowledge that since you’ve been successful with your first child, you will also be with the rest. Keep in mind that each unschooling program will take on a character befitting each child.

Now that you have experienced the fourth set of fears and concerns, you are not likely to have to go through them again. Unschooling is no longer mysterious. Go forth with the rest of the children with confidence!

You made it! Congratulations!

Although few people give the future of a newborn child much thought, as they grow and mature there is a greater temptation to want to assure that future. Worth repeating is that parents are not responsible for the children’s future other than to prepare them in a general way so as not to limit their possibilities. This is where unschooling has an enormous advantage over any kind of school.

Understanding the homogenizing nature of school allows you to see how unschooling is so much better at preparing students for the future: we develop each child in keeping with who they are as compared to what schools do which is to move them toward what they “should” be. There is a very big difference between these two objectives.

Considering that there is no faith involved in school-based approaches to education, it is easy to see that their aim is to develop children toward what man desires rather than what God has ordained. This is why the biggest outcome of a twelve-year school education is likely to be generally confusion. Not so with the unschooled who have been loved as they are, encouraged to learn what interests them, and entrusted with the responsibility for their lives. Making children comfortable with who they are and confident in themselves and their faith is the aim and purpose of unschooling.

So why would any loving parent willingly sabotage their children’s well being by sending them to school or forcing them to post-secondary training? Truth is no loving parent would do that, but misinformed and misdirected parents could. The world has wholeheartedly adopted a government-knows-best attitude that is not boding well for the future. Most people have internalized this mindset, even going so far as to Christianize it in private schools. When the world is on this trajectory, it is extremely difficult to avoid falling into the vortex of unquestioning obedience to government fiat. Add peer pressure to that and you have a formula for delaying children’s God-given futures.

Twenty years ago, an article I wrote for the provincial home education association was rejected by the board when I boldly stated that Christian home education boils down to a question of faith. Repeating what Joshua had asked of the Israelites, “Choose this day whom you will serve,” the article was deemed offensive and was never published. Twenty years later, I am more convinced than ever that the success of Christian unschooling is directly proportional to the level of faith involved. Those who love and trust God intrinsically know He has their children’s best interest at heart. After all, He picked mom and dad to be His vessels in preparing His children for their futures, something He happens to know about! This is Christian home education.

Fears and concerns part three involves post-secondary training. After having negotiated parts one and two, this set of fears is largely based on monsters created by both parents and students regarding which post-secondary options exist and how they can be attained. These fears are rooted in the false assumption that parents must find the child’s place in the world. Not so, and to do so is likely going to set the child up for a life of misery. Have you ever been with a teacher, doctor, dentist, lawyer or other professional who obviously hates their job? This is usually due to parents pushing children to pursue higher education without regard for who the child is and what they are interested in.

The world desires success which it measures by wealth, beauty and status. The school capitalizes on that by making itself the only avenue to worldly success. If this kind of success is your desire, your unschooling program is on shaky ground. What we should be desiring for our children is that they be happy with themselves and what they are doing. This can only be accomplished if our children are doing what is in keeping with the gifts, talents and interests placed in them by God. To try to make a musician of someone who has no musical ability is both hard on the child and on parents’ ears! Your job has never been to develop something of your children but to present opportunities for them to develop what God has given them. This allows children to be comfortable in their own skins and able to find their place. Remember, this may take several steps and some time, but I believe everyone eventually finds their place in this world. Unschooling minimizes the need for a child to first find themselves, as is common with public school graduates.

Regarding post-secondary options, please know that everyone eventually transitions to post-secondary, which is anything beyond the secondary level of education. Unschoolers often transition in their early teens by finding part-time work and growing from there. Many are working before they’re old enough to have a driver’s license.

Some post-secondary careers require attendance at a post-secondary institution. Parents should be warned that most of these places have become bastions of wickedness we do not want our children exposed to. Wait until children are mature enough to withstand the onslaught of secularism before allowing them to go, and definitely don’t let them go before they are fully cognizant of their end goal and are solid in their faith. In other words, send young adults to college only if they have to go and only when they are fully ready. And remember, it has to be their choice. That is what unschooling is about.

In the past, I have addressed what I call the four sets of fears and concerns in home education. The first set of fears is understandably in the beginning of the home education program, as it is new and filled with uncertainties.

Once past this stage, home educators are generally on cruise control until the little boy or little girl starts to show signs of puberty. Suddenly, many parents start to question their ability to prepare their offspring for the real world. I imagine this is because parents no longer see children, but young adults, before them and for some reason, they confuse parenting with being God! By this I mean parents who have taken their responsibilities to educate their children seriously assume they are also responsible for placing their children in their futures. This is an error. While parents need to provide opportunities for academic development, where children end up is between them and God. Once parents have put this faith in God, the second set of fears and concerns are diminished.

Regarding teaching the student high school (advanced) programming, please know that you are not the one who needs to learn this material. If you have properly raised your children to take responsibility for their education, which is a mainstay of unschooling, your job becomes easier than when you were instilling the basic skills. All you have to do is find appropriate material in keeping with your children’s gifts and interests and get out of the way. Let your children learn the material themselves and encourage them to teach you what they have learned. Both parent and child greatly benefit from this. It is really a form of testing, assuring the parents that things are going just fine, but understand that it is near impossible to predict exactly how this will end up, except that the entire exercise is toward fulfilling God’s will for the child.

Do you remember the most important attitude necessary to successfully unschool? Reflect on that rule… relax! This is especially important at the post-puberty level of development. If you have your doubts about your ability to unschool well at this stage, your child will pick up on it and start to negotiate a return to school. This is likely to satisfy a curiosity about what they have not experienced, however understand that unschooling at this stage has not changed. Same parents. Same children. Same or greater concern regarding the failures of schools. And same requirement for faith in God and believing He has things under control.

Unschooling is an exercise in faith in God rather than fear of man.

Nothing scares home educators and unschoolers more than the possibility of ruining their children’s potential prospects for post-secondary advancement. The idea that government sets the standards for education and calls the shots regarding post-secondary admissions is so ingrained in the minds of the masses that it causes parents to capitulate to public programming far too often. It is not uncommon to see very successful unschoolers fully lose their resolve and faith once students reach high school age. I personally see this as having the student go backward in order to advance.

Many parents will start questioning their ability to teach their children once they pass puberty and enter the senior levels. This is indicative of a major misunderstanding regarding learning and education. Perhaps the best way to explain this statement would be to share the secret to my public high school teaching success with you. Are you ready? I did not teach the students. I invited them to teach themselves. I provided help when needed, while constantly reminding my students that it was not me that had to learn the material in order to succeed. I understood that since the dawn of time, learning has always had two ubiquitous characteristics: everybody learns and it is individual. I believe everything we have learned is as a consequence of our having taught ourselves. Even when doing school, students may demonstrate they are intelligent and love their parents and/or teachers enough to temporarily memorize information in order to succeed on the test, but then they forever forget what they “learned”. If, on the other hand, what is presented is of interest, students will take the opportunity to teach themselves and the material will not be forgotten.

Let me give you an example. Suppose I take a class of biology students on a field trip with the objective of learning the different trees that grow in Alberta. After showing the students the trees and informing them of the ecological characteristics and their scientific names, I give them an exam. How many students will pass the test? Most. If I surprise them with the same exam a week after having reviewed the test (so everyone knows the correct answers), what do you think will happen? You guessed it. There will be a major drop in scores. Now imagine a student took an interest in the trees of Alberta and taught him/herself to identify them along with their scientific names. Years, decades later, this student will still know this information. The difference? The student taught him/herself. This is how unschooling works.

Let’s focus on what to expect at the primary level. If we describe the primary level as starting when the child is ready to read, that could be anywhere from age four to puberty. Bearing in mind that dyslexics are late bloomers, they can actually start reading post-puberty, but do not worry. They usually learn to read and very quickly surpass age-appropriate expectations.

Also to be considered is an elusive thing called readiness. Obviously, as a child grows older there is a greater capacity for learning, but let’s not get in a rush. There is plenty of time to learn the foundational skills of communication and mathematics. It has been shown that these skills take around 100 hours to learn, ONCE THE CHILD IS READY! Why does it take 6-9 years in school you may ask? The answer is related to daycare provisions for working parents. Also, consider that the modern junior high level is actually repeating the basics, perhaps at a higher level, but it is largely a repetition of skills in preparation for the next stage of learning. I am of the opinion that if students completely skipped junior high and entered directly into high school, they would do just fine. Once again, school needs to fill in time as they also function as “daycares”. Unschoolers need not spin their wheels in this way.

So, what should be done regarding book work during the early primary years? NOTHING. Let your children play. As they demonstrate readiness, go ahead and provide them opportunities to learn but avoid the needless boring repetition found in most school-based curriculums. Have them learn concepts and move on. There is no need to make students relearn what they already know, unless of course you want to play school at home which is most certainly not recommended.

As students reach puberty, most will start to demonstrate a readiness for higher learning. This may be more so for girls who generally reach puberty before boys. Boys, on the other hand, may initially demonstrate a readiness for two main subjects – eating and sleeping – until they have completed most of their physical growth, at which time they will quickly catch up and maybe even surpass their age-related female counterparts.

The first and foremost rule for the primary education of children is RELAX. Have faith. God does not make mistakes and everyone is equipped to learn what they need to learn when ready. That is what unschooling is about.

Have you ever noticed the levels of learning the world has invented?

Someone or something, somewhere at some time determined there is a perfect time to incarcerate children in an institution for learning. Unfortunately, the age is getting younger, as the true nature of the school system becomes evident. It doubles as a daycare system.

We now have some kind of play-school, pre-school or pre-kindergarten leading to full-fledged kindergarten; then elementary grades merge into junior high school, followed by senior high school. The perplexing thing is senior high school precedes the next level which is post-secondary. If we consider that higher training is regarded as post-secondary, shouldn’t there be a secondary to post? And should there not be a primary before we can talk about a secondary?

If this all sounds confusing to you, it is. I am old enough to remember that education was once divided into three levels: primary, secondary and post-secondary. I cannot say I am fully aware of how this came to be, but let’s assume the primary grades were intended to instill basic skills. In the old days those were referred to as the three Rs, namely reading, (w)riting and (a)rithmetic. Perhaps a bad spelling example but effective in advancing the necessary skills to function in the world.

The secondary level eventually morphed into junior and senior high. Back in the day, when the primary level included both today’s elementary and junior high levels, students were considered to have completed the primary levels by grade 9. I am certainly dating myself, but I am in possession of a junior high diploma issued by the province of Alberta at the end of my grade 9. Many students considered their formal education to be complete and quit going to school at that time. The academically inclined continued to the senior high level, ending with a high school diploma, and a few went on to learn at some post-secondary institution.

Regardless of how the world has divided learning into varying levels, there really are only three stages of learning: the primary level where basic skills are learned before puberty; the secondary level where the basic skills learned at the primary level are applied to higher learning; and finally the post-secondary level where students specialize in some skill.

Unschooling should follow the three steps just outlined. Primary is time for play. Once the children reach puberty, expect a more mature approach to learning and then leave the post-secondary up to God and the student. This is faith expressed as unschooling.

Once children have reached “school age,” most parents simply do as expected and send their children to school. This often comes with resistance and tears. Why? Children know they are safe at home. They know school will not be a place where they will be coddled and loved like they are at home. A question worth asking is what part of tears do parents not understand? Keep your children safe at home while remembering that learning needs to be age appropriate and ability based. Not every five year old is ready for the “rigours” of school programming.

On another note, some people say school is necessary to enable children to exercise independence from their parents. Others say children become witnesses of their faith. Still others say children need to hone up socialization skills. All very poor excuses. Let children mature to adulthood before expecting adult independence.

Should you decide to keep your children at home, you may be conflicted about what program to follow. Why? Programs are part of the problem with schooling. Besides, have the children stopped learning at home? What has been going on up till this time? They have been playing and, in the process, they have been learning and gaining enormous amounts of information about the world and themselves. Don’t stop that. Let them play. If they are ready to learn academically, they will let you know in their own way and in their own time.

Why did God make humans take so long to reach sexual maturity? Could it be because he wanted children to learn through play? He most certainly did not instruct parents to engage in programming. That’s what you do with computers, not children.

You may ask, “Don’t children need to learn certain things by this age?” What age? Who has standardized children in such a way as to have universal expectations of them? I have seen a child seriously reading at age three and half and I have seen dyslexics learn to read as late as eighteen. One thing for sure, every home educated child learns to read, eventually. This cannot be said of schools. Schools often expose children to learning what they are not ready for, resulting in poor skills and a bad attitude. Teach them when they are ready. At this point, no program will be necessary. I am not discouraging the use of programs as much as encouraging you with the knowledge that learning requires readiness, opportunity and encouragement more than programming. Let it happen naturally. That is unschooling.