Tuesday, November 1, 2016

Lifeschooling, Homeschooling, Unschooling



Start children off on the way they should go,
and even when they are old they will not turn from it.
-Proverbs 22:6 (NIV)

There are three different main terms people use when teaching their kids from home instead of sending them off to public school. You may find yourself a little confused about what the difference is between Lifeschooling, Homeschooling and Unschooling. What exactly is Lifeschooling and Unschooling? Aren't they the same thing as homeschooling?

First, I'm going to start with Lifeschooling.
In the Faithwire article "Why Kirk Cameron Isn't Sending His Kids to Public School", Kirk Cameron prefers the term Lifeschooling. You can read the article here: http://www.faithwire.com/2016/10/27/why-kirk-cameron-isnt-sending-his-kids-to-public-school/

Lifeschooling is homeschooling but, Lifeschooling works with your family life. You discover your child's God given gifts and talents. We teach our children through real-life experiences. We can teach our kids about the 4 seasons while on a nature walk. We can teach them how to change the oil in a car, change the tires, and windshield wipers. We can also teach our kids how to cook, clean, take care of  their health along with taking them to a train depot to learn about trains and transportation. With Lifeshooling the possibilities are endless and every day is a field trip. The great thing about Lifeschooling is that you can teach your children at any time of day, not on a set schedule, not always from a text book, not always from a curriculum. Sure you can follow a curriculum but with Lifeschooling you can step away from the everyday curriculum and textbooks and teach your children through life experiences. With Lifeschooling nothing dictates the way you teach your children. 
Not everyone is able to Lifeschool the way they want though. You will want to check with your state to see if they require a curriculum, a set amount of hours with preset subjects they must learn, or any other type of restrictions. However, you may still be able to Lifeschool but with some restrictions.

For those who are a little newer to the homeschool world I will go over what homeschooling is.
Instead of placing your child in public school you may be considering homeschooling. Homeschooling gives you a chance to spend more time with your child(ren), teach them the way you want them to be taught, and teach them on your schedule. With homeschooling you get to choose the curriculum you want to use and adjust it according to the way you want to teach your child. With homeschooling you can take your child(ren) on as many fieldtrips as you want, whenever you would like. 
You will want to check with your state about homeschooling laws. You can easily do this at hslda.org. 

Unschooling has a couple different terms. 
One term is that a child can learn whatever they want, whenever they want. You teach them by their interests, talents, and hobbies. Much like Lifeschooling you don't teach from a particular curriculum or textbooks. 
Another term is that life and learning are the same thing. Just as the saying goes: "You learn something new everyday!" and how true is that?! In life no matter what we are doing, we are constantly learning. On the other hand while we are learning, we are living life!

Lifeschooling, Homeschooling and Unschooling are all ways to teach your child outside of the public school system. Everyone has one main reason as to why they want to teach their children from home. My husband and I want our children homeschooled primarily because we want to teach them about our faith and teach them the Bible everyday. We also have over 20 other reasons why we homeschool our children.