What does the Catholic Church teach about unschooling? Would it be sinful for Catholic parents to unschool their children?

[Contarini]

Unschooling is an educational method and philosophy that advocates learner-chosen activities as a primary means for learning. In other words, unschooling is where children are not taught anything in a traditional standard setting, but rather learn what they want to learn from their curiosity.

Therefore, unschooled children are not even homeschooled. For the most part, they stay home and are not encouraged to read or learn any type of curriculum. Parents allow their unschooled children to do whatever they want.

My opinion is that unschooling is not education at all. Anyone who thinks otherwise shows a great sign of ignorance. Unschooling seems lazy and irresponsible on the parents part. Children need guidance and structure form the parents for their education.

What does the Catholic Church teach about unschooling? Would it be sinful for Catholic parents to unschool their children?

First of all, “unschooling” is a fairly broad philosophy and you are rather caricaturing it. The basic premise is that, as you say, children have natural curiosity and that proper education consists of giving them favorable conditions for exploring the world rather than spoon-feeding them a preset curriculum that you have decided is good for them.

How radically one takes that philosophy varies widely. Most unschooling authors I’ve read speak favorably of what they call “strewing”–i.e., leaving books, games, and other educational materials around and allowing children to use them as they wish. Some unschooling parents really do seem to think that any attempt by the parent to highlight some things as better than others is coercive and harmful. I clearly disagree with those folks, and I don’t think their position is compatible with any form of traditional, orthodox Christianity (or any of the classical traditions of virtue ethics, whether Western or, say, Confucian).

However, the basic principle of following the child’s natural interests is a very healthy one, in my opinion, and I try to follow it with my daughters. In the eyes of a true, ideological unschooler, I’m a “relaxed homeschooler” rather than a real unschooler. And that’s fine by me. But I do think that the unschoolers have a lot of profound insights into how children learn.

The work of John Holt, who came to his convictions after extensive experience in education, is the basis for most unschooling philosophy. John Taylor Gatto is a more recent figure whose ideas also fit well with unschooling. Ivan Illich, a maverick Catholic priest, is also an important figure. (Most folks on this forum would probably consider him a heretic, so that might be a place to start in looking for differences between “orthodox” Cahtolicism and unschooling philosophy.)

Edwin

 

[Contarini]

I suppose I’m an idiot because it was very difficult for me to sit still and pay attention. I had to force myself, from a young age, to concentrate. I didn’t realize everyone else didn’t have to force themselves. So, not having years of sitting at a desk learning to force myself to focus, would have lead me to not be able to do that in hs or college. But keep laughing.

But the question is whether, in fact, sitting still and taking notes is how you best learn and best use your gifts to the glory of God and the good of your neighbor.

Edwin

 

[Contarini]

I was kinda thinking the same thing this morning. It’s funny to me that many people pay thousands of dollars in my area for preschool and kindergarten Montessori programs, then balk at continuing that type of educational approach once they hit first grade. At that point it’s shut up, buckle down and just do what you’re told. Then they get into the work place and I am stuck untraining people from the mentality that I’m going to hold their hand and walk them through every step until they have it memorized.

My daughter loved preschool, and when she got to kindergarten she expected it to be like preschool. She discovered to her dismay that it was quite different (far more like “school” than kindergarten used to be, from what I’ve heard–I was homeschooled all the way myself so don’t know from personal experience) and demanded to go back to preschool!

Edwin

 

[Contarini]

It’s just some things you NEED to learn even if you don’t love it. You NEED to learn math even if you don’t like it or appreciate the skill involved, especially counting back change. Computers fail and the cashier needs to know how much to give back. OR if you give money, you need to know how much you should get back. It isn’t interesting, though.

The argument of unschooling advocates is that you learn what you need to learn when you need to learn it. At that point you will have an incentive.

I’m not sure that’s entirely convincing with regard to things like math. My daughter is being taught math (by my father, currently, not by me) in a fairly formal, structured way. So I’m a compromiser and not a pure unschooler.

Another major exception, maybe even a bigger one, is music. Any art or sport, in fact, needs steady discipline at times when you don’t feel like doing it. And actually unschoolers would agree, I think–they would just say that children should choose whether or not they want to acquire those skills.

With regard to general “humanities and social studies” education, and even the physical sciences, I think the unschooling case is much stronger. A lot of things I tried to teach my daughter a year or two ago, and she wasn’t interested, suddenly become fascinating to her, often in unpredictable ways.

Edwin

 

[Contarini]

Wow, not sure where the thought that unschooling means doing nothing comes from. I always love when people complain about something they apparently have not actually researched.

One of the principle concepts in unschooling is to teach kids that learning can happen at anytime in anyplace. It is meant to set them up to see education as a natural part of life. Unschooling is an attempt to break down the concept that education only happens Monday - Friday from 9am - 3pm at a desk in a special building.

Unschooling being about only learning things you want is patently false. Students direct things by their interest, but it is up to the parents to integrate that interest into the delivery mechanism for their education. For example if a kid is interested in dinosaurs then you practice reading and writing stories about dinosaurs (English class). You do counting and sorting exercises using plastic dinosaurs (math). You might look at where different types of dinosaurs lived close to you using maps (geography). In essence you take the child’s interest and integrate their lessons using that interest as the delivery vehicle. Yes, you don’t sit down and say we are going to 23 minutes of math, followed by 42 minutes of science, etc. everyday. You might be doing math, geography, and English all at the same time. The next day you might be doing math all day if they are really interested in it that day.

Instead of a schedule you have educational goals for the month or semester and simply adjust the approach based on the students interest. That does not mean you simply ignore subject they don’t want to do. The whole philosophy is to instill learning as something that just happens, not as something that is forced on you against your will. Think about most jobs. Are you given task and left to figure out how to do it or are you told to do step one for 5 minutes, step 2 for 8 minutes, etc. ad nauseum?

One of the reasons that many parents home school is the flexibility to individualize the instruction to the student. Teachers with a class of 30 do not have that luxury. Some kids simply do not thrive in a rigid classroom environment so an unschooling approach is the best way for them to learn. Some of my kids learn better using workbooks other learn better through daily inquiry. None of them are uneducated though and if you tell my wife, a homeschooling mother of 6, that she is lazy? The first thing she will ask you is how much of your day is spend educating your children or how involved are you in their learning. She does it all day, everyday. No sick days; no vacation; no off the clock time. She teaches them continuously. I dare you to tell her she is lazy for using unschooling philosophies.

What you are describing isn’t really “unschooling” according to the more ideological advocates. But I think it’s a very healthy incorporation of the valid insights of unschooling into a somewhat more structured and directed approach than “pure” unschoolers would advocate.

Edwin

 

[Contarini]

Such a tempest in a teapot about my long-division example LOL!

Truly, I wasnt accusing anyone or insulting anyone. I just said I was the type of kid who wouldn’t have done the boring stuff without being made to.

I still hate the boring stuff of life and only do it for the greater good or because I don’t want to face the consequences of not doing it.

But anyhow–now I’m REALLY confused about what unschooling means–first one poster says it’s totally directed by a child who chooses everything they want and not a single thing that doesn’t appeal to them. Then another poster comes along and says “oh no, the parents find ways to make the learning fun so the kid will be interested”.

If it’s the second, then it’s homeschooling, no? Admittedly a different type of curriculum, but homeschooling nonetheless.

And, no, I don’t know any unschooled kids. How would I? This is a very new and obscure philosophy. But, if I do meet any, I’ll get back to you with my findings.

There’s no “unschooling magisterium.” A lot of us (apparently including Usige) are fascinated by unschooling ideas but are willing to do a bit more direction than some might consider compatible with “real” unschooling.

It’s typically the more radical folks who make the news.

But the basic principle, as Usige says, is that learning can happen all the time, and that traditional forms of learning actually often stifle curiosity by teaching kids that learning happens only in school and at certain set times.

Probably my most educational interactions with my daughter come when I’m driving her somewhere and we get into long conversations in the car. Or at the breakfast table. She reads all the time and has lots of questions about what she reads. At the same time, I do teach her piano in a structured way, my mother teaches her French, my father teaches her math, and my wife teaches her spelling.

Edwin

 

[Contarini]

But you would also have to do a lot of testing or questioning, to find out what your kids had actually learned and retained.

I’m very skeptical about the value of formal testing.

You know what kids learn and retain because it pops up in conversation, sometimes at the most unexpected times and places.

Edwin

 

[KendraDZ1902]

But the question is whether, in fact, sitting still and taking notes is how you best learn and best use your gifts to the glory of God and the good of your neighbor.

Edwin

With my ADHD medication, I learned 33 chapters in 2 weeks. I read, listened, and took notes. I passed with a 98. I think it works for me.

 

[Selah_KY]

With my ADHD medication, I learned 33 chapters in 2 weeks. I read, listened, and took notes. I passed with a 98. I think it works for me.

I say this in all charity as a person with pretty severe ADHD… you would have discovered how to learn that information, likely without medication, if you had been unschooled. Speaking from my own experience and that of my children.

 

[KendraDZ1902]

I say this in all charity as a person with pretty severe ADHD… you would have discovered how to learn that information, likely without medication, if you had been unschooled. Speaking from my own experience and that of my children.

I wasn’t diagnosed until about a month ago. So I learned my whole life with no medication. It is just easier now. Much easier.

 

[Gordon_Sims]

I’d imagine that in a small percentage of situations with the right parents and the right children, this could possibly be an adequate teaching method. We have a neighbor who followed this approach with their kid. Their main motivation was so that they wouldn’t have to mess with no durn schoolin’ and they could keep him home to do chores all day. If you questioned them about it without provoking a fist fight, they didn’t refer to it as unschooling, but they would tell you that they were letting Junior set his own course and he’d learn what he needed when he needed it. For several years he was the neighborhood menace. He was also an illiterate, ignorant buffoon (for the record, their claim that their education choices were done for religious reasons prevented children’s services from doing anything about it). That’s just one example, but it does leave me very dubious about the unschooling approach.

Now, I do have to admit that things didn’t turn out for the worst for Junior. After getting the tar beat out him on several occasions and being ridiculed for his apparent stupidity by many of the other neighborhood kids, he took it upon himself to improve both his behavior and his lack of education. He’s now a very well-mannered, respectful, semi-literate young man. It’s a shame, really, because he has the potential to break free from the cycle of un/under-employment and public assistance that his parents have adopted, but thanks to them he doesn’t have the tools to do so.

 

[Selah_KY]

I wasn’t diagnosed until about a month ago. So I learned my whole life with no medication. It is just easier now. Much easier.

You learned your whole life to fit into a system that wasn’t necessarily the best for your learning style.

Yes, you eventually ended up in a good place. But your only experience has been with the traditional system. Sadly, many, many ADHD kids don’t end up in a good place and are broken by the system. Just because you succeeded in the system doesn’t mean everyone will and just because you succeeded in the system doesn’t mean unschooling doesn’t work. I guess it’s one of my pet peeves when people try to say, “that wouldn’t have worked for me”. You don’t know whether it would have worked for you or not, since you are basing your conclusion on a lifetime in the system. It’s actually harder for traditionally schooled parents to adjust to unschooling than it is for our children to adjust.

 

[Contarini]

I’d imagine that in a small percentage of situations with the right parents and the right children, this could possibly be an adequate teaching method. We have a neighbor who followed this approach with their kid. Their main motivation was so that they wouldn’t have to mess with no durn schoolin’ and they could keep him home to do chores all day. If you questioned them about it without provoking a fist fight, they didn’t refer to it as unschooling, but they would tell you that they were letting Junior set his own course and he’d learn what he needed when he needed it. For several years he was the neighborhood menace. He was also an illiterate, ignorant buffoon (for the record, their claim that their education choices were done for religious reasons prevented children’s services from doing anything about it). That’s just one example, but it does leave me very dubious about the unschooling approach.

Now, I do have to admit that things didn’t turn out for the worst for Junior. After getting the tar beat out him on several occasions and being ridiculed for his apparent stupidity by many of the other neighborhood kids, he took it upon himself to improve both his behavior and his lack of education. He’s now a very well-mannered, respectful, semi-literate young man. It’s a shame, really, because he has the potential to break free from the cycle of un/under-employment and public assistance that his parents have adopted, but thanks to them he doesn’t have the tools to do so.

Well, he clearly contrasts favorably with a lot of young men from similar backgrounds who were forced to go to school, bullied others, became drug addicts, and wound up dead or in prison. . . . .

But of course anecdotes prove very little.

Of course, as you yourself say, your neighbors did not see themselves as unschoolers. You think that what they were doing is the same as unschooling. But they clearly didn’t claim this, and unschoolers don’t claim this. So it’s really just your knee-jerk reaction.

Edwin

 

[Usige]

What you are describing isn’t really “unschooling” according to the more ideological advocates. But I think it’s a very healthy incorporation of the valid insights of unschooling into a somewhat more structured and directed approach than “pure” unschoolers would advocate.

Edwin

Oh, I would agree. I would more call our approach relaxed homeschooling rather than unschooling. I think my wife once referred to it as parent guided but student directed learning. They chose a direction and then we nudge them towards educational opportunities as they arise. If they resist or aren’t ready to accept the challenge then we back it off until they are more receptive. Really it’s more about not learning on a schedule.

 

[slh3016]

We homeschool and while I don’t use an unschooling method, I find it highly insulting for someone to question the morality of a parent who is choosing the course of education for their children that they see fits their family/child the best.

There is also a whole lot of ignorance displayed on this thread as to what unschooling is and is not. For MOST homeschool parents who unschool, they are deeply invested in their children’s educations and their children will be perfectly FINE when they graduate high school. Just because YOU or I may not agree with it doesn’t make them “wrong.”

The goal of any education method or system should be to make children/adults life-long learners. Every person has gaps and weaknesses in their education no matter how you are educated, but guess what? You compensate and problem solve. If/when you need to know the information or process, you take it upon yourself to figure it out. That really is what unschoolers do with their children. While they may not provide their children with a curriculum per se, they provide them with rich educational opportunities and experiences that get the cogs of their brains turning. They’ll ask (or should be asking) thought provoking questions along the way in which, if the child hasn’t learned the info yet, he/she will usually “figure it out.” As for long division, try dividing 5 cookies among 6 kids and see how long they’ll take to figure it out

My goal in homeschooling my children is NOT to fill them with a bunch of facts, figures, and dates before they graduate high school. My goal is to teach them how to THINK and how to PROBLEM SOLVE as well as honesty, character, and integrity. Those qualities will take them much further in life than any amount of “book knowledge.”

Homeschooling, especially unschooling, is about piquing a child’s natural curiosity for how the world works around them and letting them explore and discover truths for themselves, not about trying to fit them into some societal “norm”.

Ok, rant over

 

[Matthew_Light]

We decided to homeschool because we did not agree with the values of our culture (greed, consumerism and excessive TV consumption) and because we did not want our children to have their love for learning destroyed by an industrial education process.

We started out more traditionally, but over time gradually fell into an unschooling approach based on reading about the philosophy of unschooling and seeing what worked with our kids.

Our son is finishing up his sophomore year in college, he is a math and physics double major who is on track to graduate summa cum laude in a couple years and is the pride of his departments.

Our daughter will be attending college this fall, most likely as a physics and computer science major. She was admitted to every college she applied to, including the most rigorous and competitive public college in our state system, considered one of the public ivies.

Both of our kids are intensely curious, take full ownership of their beliefs, treat others with respect and kindness, have admirable work ethics, and are becoming wonderful young adults, and I think unschooling has a lot to do with this.

 

[slh3016]

Define education. Just because something doesn’t fit your criteria of what an education should look like doesn’t mean it’s not an education.

Again, there is much misunderstanding on this thread about what unschooling really is and what it is not.

 

[Brianmcg321]

JMHO, you have no idea what unschooling is and apparently failed to read the thread.

 

[Hoosier_Daddy]

Feel free to read the thread and the links provided to understand what the term “unschooling” means.

 

[slh3016]

Certainly, you are entitled to your opinion but your blanket statement and criticism of a homeschooling method based solely on opinion was unwarranted.

Unschooling works for a LOT of families. It fits their homeschooling philosophy, their children’s personalities, their family life, etc. Maybe the family already has a strong foundation in educational pursuits, albeit unstructured. Maybe the family already promotes a strong curiosity for how the world works around them and the children are naturally inclined to discover, explore, etc. I don’t think Albert Einstein or Thomas Edison changed the world simply be what they learned in a formal classroom setting, did they?

OTOH, there ARE some homeschooling families that do use unschooling as a crutch for lazy parenting and homeschooling. I won’t deny that, but to make a blanket statement about unschooling as being the problem versus the parenting/facilitating (rather, the lack of those things) is rather absurd.