Deschooling, Unschooling, and Homeschooling- What do they mean, and why should we consider them? Part ONE.

 

Deschooling- You’re already here!

Unschooling- Click here

Homeschooling- Click here

 

I wanted to talk about the 3 types of ‘schooling’ found in home education. Some of you may be familiar with them, while some of these concepts may be extremely new! I am going to discuss what they are, and why you should consider each of them in your home education. This first post is all about deschooling. As I make the other posts, they will be linked above and at the bottom of this post.

 

Deschooling, and what it means for the child AND for the parent

Deschooling… what in the world does that mean??

To DE-school means to rid yourself of the traditional schooling mindset. Whether your kids were in traditional school before, or whether you feel that there is an “overwhelming, but right way to do things,” OR whether you feel stressed about the idea of home educating, and want to change your mindset.

 

Let’s start at the beginning. What does deschooling mean for the parent?

Deschooling is mainly credited to Ivan Illich, who felt that the traditional schooling children received needed to be reconstructed.^[10] He believed that schools contained a “hidden curriculum” that caused learning to align with grades and accreditation rather than important skills.^[11] Illich believed that the modern school is grounded on a foundation that is focused on growing schools as an industrialized system.^[10] Illich communicated that the school system has formed a toxic industry that specializes in what families should be capable of forming themselves, namely education. According to Illich, schools align success on paper with academic excellence. He presumed that schools, grades, and diplomas gave false assumptions that the students have become knowledgeable in a certain educational concept.

So in essence, to deschool means for the parents to allow the children to recover from the “always structured learning” and to allow them to find themselves, what they like, and what they are good at. This can take a lot of time… So it is the parent’s job to maintain a realistic timeline (weeks, instead of months perhaps) and to keep their stresses at bay. One way parents may find to do this, is to keep an unstructured learning journal during this deschooling period.

Journal entries can look like this, “William noticed a bird outside and asked what kind it was, so we looked it up.” or “Today, Samuel played video games all day. He is a really quick reader and has great reflexes.” So the possibilities are endless. I encourage you to look deep into your days, and try and find at least ONE thing per kid learned without structured learning.

Another thing for parents is to read. Read books about learning, the atmosphere of your home, and homeschooling. Determine what you want to implement… and write it down!!

Here are some of my FAVORITE books. You can borrow them from your library, find them at a thrift store, or purchase on amazon.

 

Now, let’s talk about deschooling for the kids!

What does deschooling mean for the kids? Well, that depends on if they were in public school before- or if they are needing a break from an already home based education.

Deschooling when your child is coming from public school:

1. Allow them time to decompress from the stress and responsibility of waking up early, being out the door at a specific time, and schooling all day long.
2. Contingency plan for social time (parks, events, co-ops)- they may not miss it at first, but it could slowly creep up and cause resentment.
3. Let them have a less strict schedule, and don’t try and implement a routine right away. Have one in mind, and allow the kids to help with the routine when they are finally “bored.”
4. Discuss with them the types of schooling they’d like to try. Maybe talk a little about what you’re reading!

 

The kids won’t want to be routineless forever, trust me. Eventually they will begin asking to do SOMETHING because they’re sooo boooored. So, have your plans in place- but be prepared to change them!!

 

Do you have any tips or ideas for deschooling? Leave a comment!