Mimi Rothschild on Unschooling

My concern about unschooling is that can place the child at the center of the learning, instead of God. If driven by the child, it is not being driven by the Lord. If learnng is directed by the child, what happens when the child behaves sinfully which he will do because that is his inherent nature.

 In my 25 years of homeschooling, I have found that a curriculum helps organize the material that is considered important to learn if you want to be an “educated” individual. Much of the curriculum in public school is downright wrong. Much of the packaged homeschooling curriculum is downright boring (imho).

 Real experiences will always be the best teacher and if unschooling actively seeks situations in which the child is experiencing real aspects of life or working on a trade through an internship or relationship of some sort with somone who knows more about a subject, then that type of unschooling can be wonderful.

 But the notion that children will automatically “learn what they need to know” (a concept I’ve encountered among unschoolers) does not fully take into consideration that children are basicually sinful. Not inclined to do what is right. They miss the mark. They need a firm guide. They need a roadmap.