Christian Unschooling
by Teri Brown, with Elissa Wahl
Christian Unschooling is just exactly what I needed to read when I first received a copy of it. As a Christian who is committed to homeschooling, (although not totally for religious reasons) yet struggling with the idea of allowing unschooling to become our method of learning, this book was, well.... a Godsend.
The book is divided into two main sections, with an excellent resource guide at the end included. Part One covers the whys and hows of unschooling, while Part Two is a collection of essays from unschooling families around the country.
Brown and Wahl begin with a loose collection of "definitions" of unschooling, especially in a Christian home, and also what unschooling is not. For those of you unfamiliar with the concept of unschooling, I'll give you my own brief definition here: Unschooling is allowing your child's interests and particular methods of learning to determine what and how they will learn. It is often called "child-led learning". The methods and types of unschooling are probably as varied as the methods of traditional homeschoolers, and I won't try to list them all here. It is not allowing your child to play dictator with his schooling, or allowing them to do nothing but play and watch TV all day, but rather it is the parents taking the cues of the child and letting them set the tone for what should be learned and in what way.
In the second chapter, Brown and Wahl look at why they believe in unschooling and why they believe it is okay for Christians to allow unschooling to take the place of traditional, scheduled homeschooling. They make the assertion that many Christian homeschoolers and support groups look down at unschoolers as being "ungodly" in their approach to school — that it is not "orderly " (and God is a God of order, after all) or that a child's "sin nature" means that they will never want to learn because they are naturally sinful and lazy. A brief argument against these points is provided, as well as other food for thought in the debate of whether Christians can be unschoolers. I found myself hungering for a little more meat in this chapter, however. While some scriptures are provided, and a general look at the life and attitude of Jesus teaching the apostles, this chapter doesn't provide a very solid argument for someone who is truly struggling with the idea of unschooling while being a Christian, nor does it offer much for those who want to unschool (or already are) but are facing battles from friends and family.
The remaining chapters of Part One deal with the basics of how to unschool. Beginning with Getting Started, the authors take you from some very basic ideas of how to transition from standard schooling methods to unschooling, then present varied ideas for methods of learning such as unit studies, the Charlotte Mason Method, setting examples and more. First, children must be shown and yes, taught how to make choices and how to make good choices. As Christians, our first concern as parents is to teach our children faith and values — and those almost MUST be taught by unschooling — in other words, by our living example!
From there, Brown and Wahl give some easy ideas for incorporating learning each of the major subjects into daily life, and how to further pursue interests. If you've read any "how to homeschool" books before, you've probably read all of these ideas and more. Reading literature, doing science experiments, practicing consumer math at the store and other things are all part of what many homeschoolers do in addition to their regular, structured learning practices. The only difference is, unschoolers learn mostly by taking advantage of these teaching opportunities without the use of a standardized curriculum. The authors remind us that we don't always have to "teach" to get our children to learn, but that we must be willing and able to facilitate the learning process, always guiding and making sure that life is teaching them what they need to know.
Brown and Wahl finish up Part One with a small chapter reminding us Christians to always lean on the Lord in everything that we do, especially concerning our children and their education, both religious and secular. It's not always easy to turn to God about something that seems so secular, especially when academic education isn't even addressed in Scripture, but if we want to turn our whole lives and hearts over to Him, then we must. Finally, the authors address the issue of records and record-keeping, reminding home educators to check with local laws regarding records, then providing one example of how one family maintains records. More than one example would have been nice — since laws vary from state to state, every family will be faced with different ways that they must account for their child's education. Additional resources for records-keeping ideas are provided, however.
Part Two of Christian Unschooling is the part that will really speak to those who want more peer-to-peer reassurance of how well unschooling works for their families. Part Two is a collection of essays from families around the country about how they came to unschool, what they do to ensure their children learn, what resources they use for educational experience, and more. These could easily serve as comfort words if you are an unschooler — or seriously considering it — as you travel what can be a lonely road among traditional homeschoolers. I can see myself in the coming months and maybe even years, reading and re-reading these essays by parents who have already been there and persevered. I would have liked to have seen more essays from parents who have raised children to adulthood while unschooling, but I suppose those may have been hard to find, considering how few unschoolers there are.
Following the large collection of essays is a short chapter about how to make use of support groups, and the book ends with an excellent resource guide with recommendations of both printed books and online websites that provide further information and guidance for anyone who wants to unschool. Although it's easy enough to find online information, it's nice to have the best of the best laid out for you by people who have already been involved for some time. The problem with this section, is of course, the fact that that this book was written in 2001 and probably many of the online resources are outdated and unavailable. However, this at least gives you an idea of where to start Googling for information — some of the resources may still be available, just under a different Web address.
I found Christian Unschooling to be an excellent introduction to the concept of unschooling. Although I have not yet run into the attitudes about unschooling while being a Christian that led the authors to write this book, I'm quite sure they exist, and am grateful for some ideas about how to answer the arguments. Christian Unschooling is little more than an introduction, however, and it left me wanting more. I sincerely hope the authors decide to expand this book in the future. More in-depth Scripture studies and more practical ideas for facilitating every day learning would be much appreciated. Would I recommend this book? For reading, yes, in a heartbeat. I don't know that I would have dropped $13.95 (suggested cover price) on a book that is mostly family essays if a friend had not offered it to me, but I am thankful to have it, and certainly believe it to be of value for families who want to grow their children in God's care while taking charge of their education at home.
