UNSCHOOLING EXPLAINED : Adventuring Family of 11

Timecode of topics: 3:00 Our homeschooling journey - how we got to unschooling 8:50 How to find a homeschool style that works for you 13:10 Our first year unschooling 14:46 The book that got Mike on board with homeschooling 16:18 What Unschooling means to us 17:28 Determining your homeschooling goals 19:00 Our daily homeschool routine 20:57 What if my child doesn't want to learn anything? 24:22 How will they learn MATH??? 30:43 What about college? 32:47 How public school discourages learning and creativity 34:54 Meeting legal requirements for homeschooling 35:56 Do you use ANY curriculum? 37:42 How to plan your day 37:42 SAT? ACT? 49:57 How do they learn to do things they don't want to do? 51:40 THE most important factor in unschooling

“Everyone you meet always asks if you have a career, are you married, etc., as if that’s all that is important in life. But no one ever asks if you’re happy. . . “

Public school makes FAILING a bad thing. In life a person needs to learn how to effectively fail and learn from it. Failing in real life should not be negative. It should promote problem solving skills. Failing should be a stepping stone to greater things. Loved home schooling my kids and my biggest regret is that I let others dissuade me.

"You go to college when it's a good investment for your goals." Gosh, if even 1/2 of people in the US grasped that concept it'd be a whole different education system. Thank you for sharing your hearts on this WHOLE topic.

Great discussion! Homeschooled/Unschooled four kids for 19.5 years. All have gone to college, all receiving scholarships, deans list scholars, etc. Bravo!

I love how your husbands looks at you when your talking. He has a big grin and just looks at you like he is so proud of you and how smart and intelligent you are, like he is the luckiest man in the world.....so sweet!!!

“How long does it take them to do homeschool?” “They never stop.” I know this video is a year or so old but I’m commenting because it nearly brought me to tears, tears of relief! I LOVE LOVE LOVE this point of view and your video was exactly what I needed to see in this very chaotic time in my life. Thank you!!!

"We don't need to memorize dates and figures anymore. We have all of that at our finger tips" This was an ah ha statement for me. I've enjoyed learning more about this topic. Thank you!

I’m homeschooled and I love it. When I was in a private school I was being bullied day by day and that resulted in me faking being sick. I wanted to go to school but I was scared to go. In first grade they taught us the first 3 times tables then immediately started division and I was so confused. My mom brought me to get tested and it showed that I was on a kindergarten level by the time I was in 2nd grade. My mom decided to see if homeschooling was better so my spring break she got a 2 week curriculum and then had me tested again after. I had advanced to a first grade/near 2nd grade in just 2 weeks. My mom has been homeschooling me ever since (nearly 6 yrs) and now I’m about to be a junior in January of 2020. I’m only 14! 💟💟💟

We have a list of three things we want our child to learn too: 1) We want her to understand and respect diversity (basically we want her to be a loving and caring individual), 2) we want her to be able to survive without us (in whatever world exists at that point), and 3) we want her to be mentally and physically healthy. Everything else she learns is just an added bonus for us.

As a third generation teacher I can tell you I am 100% in favor of homeschooling. My husband is also a teacher and our son went to school where his dad was. We also paid for a number of private lessons and learning experiences outside of school. It was odd to me that he was often the only one in his class doing things outside of the dictates of the district. He more or less tolerated school so he could participate in school musicals etc. His teachers learned quickly that they were accountable to us and not the other way around. As a teacher, my experience is that far too many parents drop their responsibilities off along with their kids. That does not work.

Interesting. My mom pulled me out at the start of high school and bought me the Alpha Omega Lifepacs, but was overwhelmed with a kindergartener and 6th grader that she never really checked up on me. She'd hand me the teacher's guide and tell me to check my own work. Sooooo, beyond 9th grade..... I didn't do anything in those books. I flipped through the workbooks and read the lessons that were interesting and that was about the size of it. Outside that, I spent most my time on the internet during high school. I know I've spent hundreds of hours lost in wikipedia. There was one game I LOVED playing, which was going on google earth and finding some random country or islands in the middle of the pacific and reading everything I could find on it. I went on to college, was invited and accepted to the honors program first semester (despite being put down in remedial math....), graduated with honors, went to grad school with grants... Really, not doing high school did not hurt me at all. I never stopped to think that what I did was 'unschooling.' I thought I had just deceived my mother and pretended I did my schoolwork while being a nerd on the internet. 😂

Some people in life have resting jerk face.... but there's this guy [husband] has resting happy face. And [wife], you're just plain beautiful. Super fun video to watch in every way. I thought it might get a bit long, but I enjoyed every minute and appreciated your wisdom and unity.

I love your unschooling. After teaching for 25 years in the public school system, I totally agree with this philosophy. Many times I told parents that children learn in spite of going to school. Good for you and your kids!

My mind is blown right now… I’ve been feeling a real urge to start homeschooling. So I’ve been watching other YouTube videos of parents who have been homeschooling and it’s been so enlightening! And now after watching your video, I feel like I can really do this and basically I won’t screw them up lol. Unschooling feels so right for our family. Thank you!

I needed this. I just started homeschooling my three girls, and have been feeling like a failure already because I have no desire to use curriculum or tests or grades. I love the approach you guys take, and you honestly have given me a peace regarding my own approach to this unschooling journey. 😊

I swear I watch this at least twice a month 😅 I need to hear these words often.

I'm an elementary teacher and love reading and following homeschoolers, as it always gives me so many ideas and reminds me to be flexible about students' learning. A part of me is always jealous about the freedom homeschooling kids get, but I know that homeschooling is not really an option for most of my students. I'm at least happy to say that as a child I attended school in a progressive district and I had a lot of freedom to learn and grow and direct my learning. I also think many schools and curriculums now give students more real-life learning experiences, though not all teachers take advantage of them! Thanks so much for this video, probably the longest youtube video I've ever watched!!

I cannot express how much I love this video. On my first day of elementary school, I was a new student in the class. My parents had taught me how to read and my teacher didn’t believe that I could read the book that she put in front of me. I told her I had the book at home and had read it. She told me not to lie. I insisted I had read it and she then forced me - a shy little girl on her first day - to get up in front of the class and read the book out loud. I did read the book. The teacher didn’t appreciate me showing her up. I entered the school system a curious, eager-to-learn, eager-to-please child and I left the school system at 17 having learned nothing in school. Whenever there was something I couldn’t discover on my own, my parents helped me. At the age of 17 to realize that I had wasted about 12 years of my life was the cause of an existential crisis. I didn’t go to university, which I now regret. If I could go back and do it all again I would absolutely have chosen unschooling. As it turns out, I developed a most wonderful and satisfying career in graphic design, some of which was self taught, and supplemented by course work. You and your family are such a wonderful example of how this absolutely works. It’s not for everybody, but neither is public school. Your children are such an amazing example of how this works; they are all very individual but you can see their confidence growing and they seem like fine people. You are to be congratulated. Especially for putting together such a well thought-out and eloquent video.

Many of us don't know our options. We don't question things and just do what we think is expected.