Contrary to myth, unschooling is not a form of lax parenting where you let your kids run feral. Instead it's a way of raising your children that respects their autonomy to choose when, how, and what they learn. But you are always there as a facilitator and supportive guide. Homeschooling as an unschooler is a collaborative relationship between parent and child.
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QUOTABLES
Julie: "We still have to be parents, and we're still responsible for teaching them character, and morals, and good life habits, and plus we're supposed to be the ones with wisdom. We need to still exercise parental authority and parental responsibility, even as we give them educational freedom."
Julie: "Where are they going to get ideas from and how are they going to figure out what they're interested in if we don't expose them to things? We have to be really hands-on and interactive. So, to [unschool] well means that you have to be sparkly. It's a borrowed term, but you have to be a little bit sparkly to help them to be excited about learning new things and bringing things in.
DeeDee: "You have really convinced me that unschooling is not just throwing caution to the wind. I can see that we have had some unschooling moments in our homeschool, and those are definitely been the funner moments."
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TIMESTAMPS
05:43 Julie tells how she started as a homeschooler.
13:50 Julie defines unschooling.
14:51 The difference between delight-directed learning and unschooling.
15:30 Julie's long-term goal informs her day-to-day homeschool decisions.
18:05 How to handle math as a unschooler.
28:08 A typical day for an unschooler, including what Julie's high schooler is doing.
31:33 Making sure the day has some structure so kids aren't reading too many fantasy novels or playing too many video games.
33:55 How to redirect kids when you feel they are spending too much time on a certain thing.
34:36 Rules for unschooling. Know the difference between entertainment and education.
37:04 An unschooling parent will probably have to invest in research to inspire her kids.
38:03 How to be sparkly.
41:04 Advice for the younger you: Trust yourself.
Connect with Julie at Julie Naturally.
SPECIAL SEGMENTS
