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Unschooling

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Unschooling (also sometimes referred to as "natural learning", "child-led learning", "discovery learning", "autodidactic learning", or "child-directed learning") is the term that means being responsible for your own education. Under unschooling education, parents may act as "facilitators" and may provide a wide-range of resources to their children.

Proponents of unschooling have a variety of reasons to support their position. A common belief underlying their reasoning is that curiosity is innate and that children want to learn what is necessary to become an adult. Some argue that institutionalizing a child in what they consider a factory model public school, or any form of compulsory schooling, is an inefficient use of a child's time. Proponents contend that such an education is made to be "one size fits all" and is oppressive for forcing a child to learn regardless of his or her interests. Proponents also claim that individualized, child-led learning is more efficient and respectful of a child's time, takes advantage of a child's interests, and allows learning and deeper exploration of subjects than what is possible in formalized education. The subject matter is less important than the child learning 'how' to learn. This ability to learn on one's own makes it more likely that later, when the child is an adult, he or she can return to any subject that they feel wasn't sufficiently covered and learn the material.

The term unschooling was coined by John Holt. An author of 10 books on education, John Holt founded the unschooling magazine Growing Without Schooling.

A model similar to unschooling, using the child-led learning approach, is sometimes used in schools, such as the Sudbury Valley School.

Prominent unschooling advocates

See also

References

External links

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