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Unschooling is nothing more than the removal of the school-style setting. That's all it means. Unschooling is the all-day absorption of life experience. It can also be called child-led or delight-driven learning. Some Christian homeschoolers call it God-led learning, which brings to mind an interesting picture of the Divine Being invisibly guiding a child through butterflies, tadpoles, reading time and stargazing. The best way to learn is to get on with life. This is the philosophy that governs our family life. As homeschoolers, we are constantly learning. As a non-standard school, we're constantly learning in unorthodox ways. It means life itself is unorthodox. But learning, led by life experience, tends to stick.

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The goal is to let life be the teacher. Not a schedule or a rote memory system, or a textbook that's geared for success at a certain set of tests which will never re-occur under natural circumstances. It doesn't mean we remove all textbook learning from our environment, but that we approach textbooks as tools rather than taskmasters. They are merely one of many paths to personal success.

It's amazing what parents learn when they become facilitators. Being the facilitator means the parent gets to learn alongside the child. Demonstrating how to acquire knowledge independently is a key part of unschooling. It means that, rather than being required to have all the answers, the parent is required not to have all the answers. The kids need to witness the search for information. This frees the parent to become a child again--to experience the wonder of discovering life, to engage in play and exploration alongside the kids. The parent's job is to role model how to think, not to enforce what to think. This focus transforms the family into a learning adventure led by life itself.

The burden is off the parent. With life-led learning, the weight of education is not on the parent's shoulders. As opposed to the implication of "child-led" learning, it's not on the child either. It's simply a natural byproduct of going through the day.

 It's not struggle-free, but what it does is leave the parent free to deal with the underlying issues that impede learning, such as fear of failure, adjusting for learning style, feeling rushed or pressured, or sibling rivalry.

The success of the day is not measured by 40-minute time segments or 3-page assignments, but by the state of each person's heart and mind. Including the parent's.

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It's amazing what kids learn without our notice. I had no idea there were so many species of birds so close to my home. But my son has fostered a love of ornithology, thanks to a bird-watching Grandma's enthusiastic example.

He constantly points out a huge variety of birds, including some uncommon sightings. Grandma has become resigned to the idea that if there's a bird identification conflict, he's probably going to turn out to be right.

It's amazing what kids learn when living in community. I sent the kids to my mother's for a sleepover, and they came back crocheting skilfully. I sent the kids to visit my sister-in-law, and they came back folding napkins in upscale, designer-restaurant styles. I sent my son out on a trucking run with my husband's cousin, and he came back with his multiplication tables memorized.

Removal of the school-style setting allows children to learn from example and mentorship, to build retention through vivid interpersonal memories.