09-07-2025
'Unschooling' Is the Twist on Homeschooling That Lets Kids Take the Lead
Unschooling is an educational trend that allows kids to choose the topics they'd like to learn, and their own method of learning, whether its through art, outdoor play, or other activities
For homeschoolers, unschooling is an intriguing twist on education that gives kids independence and agency
However, education experts warn that there might be downsides to this trend—and that its not a good fit for every familyOn the list of things as long as CVS receipts that parents have to worry about, their child's education is probably near the top. Most parents want their children to grow up to have common sense, the ability to think critically, to read and write, at the very minimum. But traditional schooling doesn't always fit every families' lifestyle or values, especially those that feel their child is being forced into a curriculum or school environment that supports or even understands their needs as a student.
Sometimes parents may even feel that in-person schooling, or even the rigors and demands of homeschooling, don't fit their children's learning style, either. So some of them have turned to unschooling.
So what exactly does it mean to unschool your child? And can it be accomplished responsibly? More importantly, can children actually derive an education that sets them up for success without a curriculum? Parents spoke to experts so you can determine if unschooling is right for you.
Unschooling is defined by the Alliance for Self-Directed Education as an educational method focused on self-chosen activities and life experiences of the learner, rather than a structured school day.
Children choose the topic that most interests them for the day. Some days, they may do a deep dive on biology, or another, painting or drawing. Other days, a child might elect not to learn anything at all in favor of playing outside.
Children wake up, take breaks, and engage in educational activities whenever it suits them. Unschooling allows kids to learn when and how they want to, with as much parental oversight as guidance as the specific family using this technique deems necessary, instead of providing a schedule or structure.
Julie Bogart, homeschooling advocate and author of The Brave Learner, says the method de-emphasizes the importance of curriculum.
Unschooling 'is the belief that children learn best in the context of their own lives and experiences, and can learn anything through their natural curiosity and relationship with parents and other people,' she explains.
Unschooling is accomplished at home, without testing or benchmarks, but with intensive parental involvement, says Curby Alexander, PhD, Professor of Professional Practice at Texas Christian University.
'A phrase you will hear unschooling parents and children use is: 'Life is learning, learning is life.' This means time is not divided into school, play, recreation, and work. Rather, learning is natural, incidental, meaningful, ubiquitous, and personal,' he says—meaning learning can happen incidentally throughout the regular course the day, and happening everywhere to kids all the time, whether they are at the grocery store with their parents or looking at the trees and flowers on family hike.
The National Center for Education Statistics estimates that 3.4% of children K-12 were homeschooled in the 2022-2023 school year. Of that number, the School Library Journal reports between 10-20% are unschooled.
While unschooling is a subset of homeschooling, it is also very different from the regimented, curriculum-based methodology of homeschooling.
'Homeschooling can be as linear and curriculum driven as traditional school. Unschooling in its purest form is education led by the child, supported by the parent, with no structure of evaluation or traditional school curriculum,' explains Bogart.
Dr. Alexander agrees, noting that homeschooling typically has a set schedule—like a normal school day, children go to classes and have lunch break and recess.
'Unschooling, on the other hand, is typically unstructured, guided by the child's interests and preferences, and does not involve anything associated with schooling. No curriculum, no assignments or tests, no schedule,' he elaborates.
With so much flexibility, parents may wonder: Would unschooling work for our family? We've rounded up both the upsides—and downsides—of this nontraditional education approach.
One of the major benefits of unschooling is removing your child from the stressful environment and structure of the school building and all systems that go with it. All parents know how anxiety inducing it can be to get a bad grade on a test, and the kind of peer pressure kids go through during difficult classes and social situations.
Unschooling takes the pressure off by dropping the grading system altogether—and it also motivates to engage with topics that inspire or excite them, rather than being incentivized to learn through the threat of a bad grade.
'Unschooling allows parents the freedom to go at the pace of their child's abilities and to tailor the environment of the home to the child's development and curiosity,' Bogart adds.
Kids who don't experience the grade incentive inherent to traditional schooling may actually enjoy their education more because the pressure of attaining a perfect A is no longer hanging over their head; plus they get to dive as deep as they want into the subjects that really light up their brain, rather than being forced to veer off in another direction once a certain lesson plan has been completed.
'Parents of unschooled children have told me this removes the negative aspects of traditional schooling (e.g., bad grades, missed assignments, test anxiety, etc.) and makes the learning process much more enjoyable and personally rewarding,' says Dr. Alexander.
Everyone knows how boring classes can be when they aren't tailored exactly to your talents or interests—but sometimes studying the same thing as everyone else, whether you're enjoying it or not, is just part of life, thanks to strict laws around curriculum at many public schools.
Except that's not the case with unschooling. Unschooling allows kids to choose what they want to learn and when, so learning never feels like a chore. Kids are actually initiating the learning process on their own.
'Rather than following a curriculum designed by someone else, unschooled kids can take a deep dive into learning and follow their own interests,' Dr. Alexander explains.
A child can study science as deeply as they want, but eventually they'll need math to get even further in that topic. As a matter of course, they'll double back to study math until their aptitude lines up with their study of science. The hope is, kids will learn even the most difficult subject matter as they dig into other areas of study.
Bogart unschooled her four school-aged children for a year, and says that part of what she loved was how each child had a choice in what they wanted to learn.
'I loved what I learned from unschooling: the profound respect for learning because you want to, the opportunity to "go rogue" and learn what interests you rather than forcing yourself to learn because someone else tells you to, and the gift of supporting my kids rather than dragging them through textbooks and worksheets,' she says.
Both children and parents enjoy the amount of quality time at home they have. Because unschooling is a kind of homeschooling, children are at home more often than those in traditional schooling.
'Parents also get to participate in a way that facilitates a child's passions, interests, and aptitudes,' says Bogart.
Unschooling can teach parents so much about their children—the kinds of things they care about and prioritize, especially in learning. Then, they can have fun learning together.
'I have heard parents tell me they enjoy all the time they get to spend with their kids. Since their kids are not required to follow a set schedule, they can prepare and eat meals together, do fun activities during the day, and help with chores around the house,' says Dr. Alexander.
Unschooling can be a difficult balancing act. On the one hand, parents don't want to stifle their child's natural unfolding of their child's learning style, but on the other, they don't want to end up enforcing the rigid curriculum they set out to abandon in the first place—and they definitely don't want to set up a system where kids feel like all household rules have disappeared and its okay to ride their bike outside all day without once picking up a book.
'One of the biggest challenges I see is that sometimes parents are afraid to guide their children's learning (fearing they will be disqualified from being seen as unschoolers),' Bogart says.
Children can become 'nomadic' in the home as they search for stimulation, she explains, and parents can panic and back off so they don't infringe upon their child's learning development.
That's why its important for parents to make it clear that unschooling gives their kids more autonomy over their educations, but it doesn't that the parents are no longer in control of their upbringing—even if means reigning them when they become unfocused or disinterested in learning.
Potentially the largest risk of unschooling is falling into a trap of educational negligence. Because children choose their own schedule and topics, parents might get the impression that their learning is no longer a shared responsibility, Bogart says.
'The biggest drawback to unschooling is the idle, uninvolved parent—that's the parent who neglects the child and doesn't participate in supporting their child's growth and development through intentional interactions and deliberately strewing [this is the practice of casually placing educational tools or activities in a child's environment to encourage self-directed learning] materials and opportunities,' she continues.
But parents of unschoolers need to continue to be involved, modeling interest in learning and the stamina to follow through with support when children come up against new skill sets that might need extra help mastering—there are also opportunities for parents and students to collaborate on science and art projects, games, and other activities that would benefit from teamwork.
At the end of her first unschooling year, Bogart took a step back from her kids to assess their progress. Two of her children loved unschooling, but two were very uncomfortable; the freedom felt less like fun and more like abandonment.
'I also learned that for some kids, that level of "freedom" [in unschooling] felt a bit like neglect. We of course corrected the next year and I was able to give them what they needed and wanted—guidance and accountability,' she explains.
Dr. Alexander says that when he leads his class on unschooling, the most lively discussion of the year breaks out among future educators: Can children really be given the responsibility of their own learning, when basic skills like reading and early math are so important—but also so challenging to pick up?
'Because my students were all future educators, they had strong opinions about children only learning what interests them. They would argue that there is a lot of knowledge and skills a child needs to know in order to function in society, including basic reading, writing, and math proficiency and social skills,' he says.
The structure of traditional schooling allows kids to hit all those educational milestones through a set schedule of classes—Bogart agrees that a challenge aspect of unschooling is that level of structure exist in this education model.
'Another possible negative consequence of unschooling is that sometimes in an attempt to support a child's interests, the fundamental skills are not practiced enough,' she explains.
Unschooled children who need to pick up difficult-to-learn skills need to be taught stamina and commitment by their parents, rather than focusing on their happiness or satisfaction in the short term.
That means encouraging them to return challenging subjects, even if they weren't their favorite, in order to reinforce the subject matter lest the skills they accumulated be lost while they are putting too much focus on another subject they enjoy more.
Teenagers sleep in, little kids go to bed early and take long naps. Children of all ages can find sitting still and reading for long periods of time a serious challenge. And all kids want to play computer games.
And they don't always have the discipline to dedicate themselves to necessary tasks that don't seem to matter in the moment (like practicing their vocabulary and literary skills over and over)—even though learning them now might have serious consequences later.
But because unschooling doesn't typically feature a set schedule, there isn't necessarily guarantee that your kid is going to carve out the time to revisit certain lessons or skills. And then the flexibility that initially seemed like a positive can swiftly become a hindrance.
Dr. Alexander's students 'would question whether or not the child was being set up for success in a society that clearly has expectations around punctuality, schedules, policies, and yes, doing things you don't want to do (paying taxes and buying car insurance come to mind).'
When you're a kid, not following a set schedule seems like a boon—but making the bus or getting to class on time have real-world consequences. They teach children how to manage their time effectively, setting them up for future the end, your child's educational path needs to fit their learning style, and your family's lifestyle, and unschooling has become one way for parents to cope with that reality. Unschooling can work for families who desire flexibility and freedom from a traditional schooling structure, all while allowing kids to explore topics like science and literacy at their own pace—without the stress of set class times and grades.
And while unschooling may come with certain challenges, it can be a gratifying, freeing experience that allows children to take the reins in their own education—but it is imperative for parents to stay engaged and interested in their child's education if it's going to the original article on Parents
