How To Do Free Range Learning

We spent a lovely midday at the local beach today. Unfortunately the kids expected to get in the water (in April, in the Pacific Northwest *shiver*) and the beach was closed. Still, lovely. And quiet since school is still in session. This experience got me thinking about unschooling/living without school and how much I LOVE it! But, I don't love the name. Unschooling emphasizes the not.

It's not schooling.

It's not testing.

It's not using a curriculum.

It's not controlling.

Unschooling doesn't tell anyone what it is. I prefer to think of it as "Free Range Learning". Free Range Learning is...

- going to the library so frequently you know the librarians by name.

- telling your child how to spell "Minecraft Witherstorm No Mods" one letter at a time as they s-l-o-w-l-y type it into Google search.

- listening to your kids questions...even as you try to leave their room at night to spend time with your husband because sometimes their "one last question" is "Who discovered electricity?" And how much of it is there in the world?"

- saying "sure, try that" when the kids want to try something new like...mixing syrups to create new flavors in IHOP, or mixing vinegar and torn bits of paper and some paper clips together to see what happens or taking off socks and shoes at the sandpit in the public park after a rain and the sand is wet and sticky...because if the world is their classroom they need to take full advantage of its resources!

- valuing each child's uniqueness.

- learning together how to navigate everyone's needs/wants and personal boundaries together.

- still wondering if you're doing it right and if by the time they leave home they'll have what they need...because cause no homeschooling or parenting method gets you out of that.

WHY FREE RANGE LEARNING?

Why continue to read and drive and research and answer so many questions during a 90 min movie that it becomes a 3 hour marathon? Because I know this works. I know my kids are learning SO MUCH from this life. From following their interests, pursuing their questions and absorbing knowledge that is relevant and useful to them right now instead of in the distant (read: irrelevant) someday.