Unschooling?

I believe I'm shaping up to be a sort of non-traditional mom. I always thought I'd be highly authoritarian and quite strict, but now that it's come down to it I'm viewing things differently. I'm breastfeeding (which is traditional but not the norm these days), I've dabbled with cloth diapers, Tori and I co-sleep (how much longer is the question), and I've considered home-schooling my daughter.

Recently I've heard about unschooling. What in the world is unschooling?

Apparently unschooling is an education technique whereby your child leads his or her own learning by his or her interests. You don't go to a school building and read text books and participate in all-day classes with your peers. Instead, you teach lessons using normal, everyday situations - and that is your child's education. Go to the park and learn about the different types of trees there. Go to the grocery store and get a lesson in accounting, math, and organizational skills.

I admit, even as a more non-traditional mom, I'm a little put-off by this method. Why?

I was unschooled. (GASP!) That's right - an 80s child was unschooled. But that was *in addition* to going to school as well!

I believe that all children should be unschooled all the time, but I believe they need structure in their lesson plans as well. At school I learned the more technical skills like advanced math and sciences. At home I learned about life skills. I don't believe that education should stop when a child walks in the door to his home after school. It should continue until he goes to bed, then pick up when he wakes up for school the next day.

The last time I checked it didn't need a special name, either - it was simply known as PARENTING.