We’ve been homeschooling for over 16 years. We have 3 young adults (26, 24, and 21) and 3 younger kids (13, 11, and 6). When we first pulled our 2 oldest girls out of school years ago, we used CHC mainly for grammar, spelling, and religion. It was more comfortable for them, just coming out of school, to have something more “tangible.” As time went on though, we picked and chose what worked best for each child. We also made good use of unit studies…that can be a great happy medium between traditional schooling and unschooling. We are now pretty radical unschoolers (we’ve kind of had to as I have chronic health issues), but remember that unschooling doesn’t mean not learning and a life of chaos. I think the key is really knowing how each child learns best, know their temperament, and go from there. For instance, my 21 yo son was the kind of kid that NEEDED structure and very tangible things, especially as he got older, so for him, he liked the traditional workbooks/textbooks type of learning. For one of my other kids, that kind of regimented structure would’ve made her crazy. She is very much self-taught and she likes to learn as she goes. Both of these examples demonstrate unschooling…but in different ways. The other key here is to trust that your child WILL learn…and that can be hard…the trusting part. But know that your child was created for greatness and they were given special gifts and talents. The idea is to recognize what those are and find ways to help them nourish those gifts…lots of strewing. Let God handle the rest.
