While attending school, knowledge is simply handed down from the teacher, usually read from a book, to the student. Contrarily, some benefits of unschooling are that a more effective teaching method is incorporated to help improve learning outcomes, and that the students are empowered to learn for themselves. When learning is self-motivated and personal, it tends to be better understood, more meaningful and more useful to the student, and it changes and grows as the student changes and grows.

Adults and children tend to retain more information when learning about topics that interest them, and since unschooling is self-directed, unschoolers are usually very self-motivated learners which leads to a more positive attitude about learning. This also means that they’re free to not learn the things that they have no interest in, but if there is a legitimate reason for, or a need to learn certain skills, unschooled students will even tackle subjects that they’re not fond of. It’s how entrepreneurs learn, and it helps to prepare students to become entrepreneurs instead of robots; this being another of the benefits of unschooling.

With unschooling, we get to learn with our kids, and unschooling parents tend to be more inclined to increase their engagement in their child’s interests. Being fortunate enough to experience and enjoy their childhood with them is as equally important as the educational aspects when on this journey, and is personally one of my favorite benefits of unschooling. Unschooling is the perfect opportunity for families to step away from predetermined methods and systems, to develop independent ideas out of their own experiences, and to do what works best for the growth and the development of their family and their children. It allows for a sense of freedom which can lead to a better sense of closeness and harmony for the entire family. With unschooling, the children as well as the parents show improvements in their psychological and social well-being.

Children are able to learn in an entirely different way than those in a compulsory school setting by emphasizing a natural process of learning, and by helping to integrate this process into the activities of their everyday lives. Being in a typical classroom setting also teaches children that they will be surrounded mostly by peers of their own age for most of their life, but, as we all know, this isn’t true. Not only does a great deal of learning happen when children interact with their communities and when they help around the house, but they also develop a sense of independence and comfortability when interacting with new people of all ages.

We are born with an innate curiosity, as well as the desire and the ability to learn. Furthermore, we stay proficient in the skills that we use everyday. The compulsory schooling model has been a hinderance to our children’s process of natural learning by attempting to regulate and to control how they learn. Schools want to see children pursuing knowledge, sure, mainly because they get a certain amount of money for each student enrolled, but that’s beyond the point. The schools only want the students to pursue the knowledge that they’re rationing out to them, and they want 14 years of your child’s life to do so.

Allowing curriculums, textbooks, and tests to be the defining factors in the education of a child is a hinderance to them at home as well as in school. Unschooled students aren’t solely taught to pass a test by memorizing random facts. Instead, they have a vested interest when learning skills and facts that pique their interest. For children in compulsory schooling that are labeled as struggling learners, unschooling can prove to be an ideal learning environment.

The written word is everywhere we go. If utilized correctly, you’re not held hostage by timelines, schedules, or curriculums. Unschooling provides more freedom than any other method of learning, in addition to better preparing children for an uncertain, ever changing future. What a lot of unschoolers love most is the freedom! You’re not tied to a set school schedule, and you don’t have to wait for school to end for playtime to begin, to take field trips, or to leave for vacation.

Check out our other posts on unschooling:

Unschooling Part 1 – What is Unschooling?

Unschooling Part 3 – Deschooling

Unschooling Part 4 – How to Unschool