Why school isn't working School takes children away from the real world and places them behind a desk . It breaks the unfathomable magic of life down into things called subjects. Math, Science, English, history, geography and so on, It labels ,it grades, and it dismisses curiosity. School operates under the assumption that each subject is a puzzle piece. Each year the teachers hand out various pieces to the puzzle, and the students collect them. If you put all the pieces together you have knowledge in its entirety, and you are then so called "educated"- your puzzle is complete and you have LEARNED that subject! But how can children really learn about life through puzzle pieces they have been given, instead of living these subjects for what they really are ? LIFE. Yes school can teach a child a vast variety of knowledge, but is it even useful in todays ever changing world? NO. Will the child who spent hours and hours of their life's putting these jigsaw pieces together , even remember or need them in adulthood? UNLIKELY. In most schools, memorization is mistaken for learning. Most of what is remembered is remembered only for a short time, spewed out for an exam and then quickly forgotten. Most of the time spent throughout the week at school is focused on content , content with a capital C, with little connection to why it matters,what it will be used for in the child's future and the likelihood of that content ever even needing to be used in the new ever changing world.The school system is stuck in a past,teaching age old lessons and failing to accommodate change. Instead of learning together, many of the children spend hours filling in worksheets or copying down class notes that they could google in 30 seconds.Too often those lessons they listen to are boring and will be irrelevant to their adult lives. The advance of new technologies and new science is the new way to teach this generation of children which the school system will never respect. Rather they will continue to bore children out of the love of learning, taking away their natural curiosity for things -in exchange for completed workbooks,good grade marks and unnecessary long hour lessons for things that will not be needed for their generations future. on the other hand,we have Natural learning Natural curiosity or better know as natural learning works so well at teaching children , instead of being taught these so called subjects through jigsaw pieces- natural learning teaches these subjects for what they really are LIFE- through living and embracing everyday LIFE. Natural learning allows a child to truly learn and remember this information as it is something they are interested in- they will learn what they need to at their own pace and when they require.They will continue to learn with the ever changing world as they are actually immersed in it- and not stuck behind a desk ,learning age old teachings. Natural learning allows for exploration, it allows for real hands on opportunities and it allows for curiosity Curiosity is the natural instinct that implies wanting to know more about something through research and interaction . Curiosity is the key to knowledge An example of curiosity is the key to knowledge- Lets say your child is curious about dinosaurs, because they have started playing with their toy or watched something about it recently ? - they begin to ask you questions , when were dinosaurs alive? how did they die? what did they eat? They begin to research in their own time ,using google/ youtube videos-where they begin to learn the names of dinosaurs , their characteristics- they start to learn about carnivorous and herbivores and reptiles- and this begins them learning about other animals that are reptiles and carnivores- reptiles are cold bloodied ,carnivores eat meat- what animals are cold blooded ,and so on so on... Curiosity leads to exploration - does all this happen at once? NO ,does this happen all the time? YES. Natural learning is about your child learning in the spare of the moment , when they see fit.Without being required to complete hours of worksheets about dinosaurs or reading notebooks on reptiles.They learn exactly what the want , when they want and how they want, they learn things they feel will benefit them for the now. school loses hope in children Young children who start school do not understand why they cant eat when they are hungry they are confused why they cant learn about the things that they are interested in. They can not make sense of why they have to sit still and be quite most of the day, Why the fun of singing and playing in preschool has suddenly ended in exchange for a pen and paper, and why getting good marks,high grades and stickers for good performance has became a top priority that they can not fail at. All of this change leads to the disappearance of natural curiosity . It takes away the love of learning , by the time children hit high school they are mentally exhausted,they have lost a childhood of exploration , of fun and of discovery. Since we can't know what knowledge will be most needed in the future, it is senseless to try to teach it in advance. Instead, we should try to turn out people who love learning so much and learn so well that they will be able to learn whatever needs to be learned.- John Holt John holt was a famous American homeschool pioneer and has written a amazing book How children fail, it explains how children investigate the world, He explains the problems of classroom learning, grading, testing, and into the role of the trust and authority in every learning situation in his book

Whoever sold us the idea that the best way to teach children about the world was to isolate them from it , that a child will learn best by sticking them behind a desk and by constantly providing them with direct step-by-step instruction on every possible topic through the use of books and pictures must have been been one persuasive human! Now to know that when I left school I forget almost everything I was taught and that I never ended up needing practically any of it in my adult life, is such a eye opener. learning by doing instead of being taught Children spend half of their childhood trying to learn about real world matters, most of which is not very important for their futures .They do not learn about these worldly things, out their in the real world, where you would expect, instead learn these from a textbook behind a desk filled with pictures, which they only get to use one of their senses from this direct learning style approach and it is their sight. lets say A teacher gives a child a worksheet with a picture of a fish. What will they learn from that picture? It has 2 eyes ,a long body ,they notice the tail the fins and the gills, Even if they’re not able to verbalise its features, they will see them. The teacher will do a prepared lesson of "the fish " - with more worksheets and pictures. When their younger the lessons will be - , colour the fish, what fish is that, as they get older a new teacher will prepare another lesson on "the fish " with more worksheets and pictures covering the fish anatomy , and the fish scientific classifications: Kingdom:Animalia Phylum:Chordata Clade:Olfactores Subphylum:Vertebrata and so on But what is this all teaching them ? What fish look like? because we know Children just like we did , are not going to remember the anatomy of a fish or the scientific classifications of a fish as they go through their school years and they will defiantly very unlikely use that information in their futures You see Schools try to throw ever bit of information, on just about every type of topic at children throughout the school years , to cover CONTENT. - not to truly teach and enrich a childs life, but by boring them making them lose their love of learning , The more they teach , the more time they cover in school and to cover time you need lots of content . Why do they need to cover content you ask? to meet the "big guys" requirements -the government Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn– Benjamin Franklin Instead a child should truly learn about what a fish looks like " naturally" not synthetically. and how do you do that ? By giving your child a fishing rod and see what he can find out. its not only a memory he will cherish but a great learning experience that was real enough to hold onto .By fishing he will not only use his sight sense, like he would in school -he will instead engage all senses, he will hear the sound of the fish splashing and he will feel the weight of the fish on the end of the rode and feel its slippery body through his fingers,he will smell the salty sea and that dreadful fishy smell , he will begin to ask questions and truly have a love for learning about :"the fish" and hey who knows you might decide to keep him for dinner introducing the taste sense, you may show your child how to prepare a fish to eat while discussing together the fish's anatomy , Your child may become passionate of fishing like my sons,where we enjoy weekly fishing trips. Consequently, the learning opportunities are far greater to naturally come to learn about " the fish " then in school where they would have the questions handed to them in worksheets and only engage a sense of sight through pictures. It's not that I feel that school is a good idea gone wrong, but a wrong idea from the word go. It's a nutty notion that we can have a place where nothing but learning happens, cut off from the rest of life.” -John Holt We literally take children out of a rich environment full of great learning opportunities, childhood memories and family adventures, for what ? to deprived them of the real world because one persuasive person came up with the idea of school. It’s time to let them learn how they were designed to learn , from real life experiences Real life experiences are invaluable to children’s learning. Why? They: - Increase motivation – wouldn’t you be far more interested in investigating a real fish rather than just looking at a picture of a fish ? - Improve behaviour – the more your children are engaged, the better their behaviour is likely to be, this is because real life experiences is stimulating and fun - Develop Communication & Language – experiences give children something to talk about. Having open discussions with your child and answering their curious questions is key - Develop Understanding of the World – this is an area of development that depends on children experimenting and finding things out for themselves. - Develop other areas - by going fishing you are in turn supporting other areas of learning. For example maths ( Shape, Space and Measure) your child will compare fish size, weight and length and talk about it.

As a unschooling parent , filling your home with materials and resources is a great way to support your childs natural curiosity, for when they feel like creating, exploring and researching. You do not need to create a school like at home atmosphere with desks,folders and posters all over the walls or a classroom like setting, natural learning should entwine with your home and your family,If you are having doubts to what your home should look like , you are over thinking what unschooling is all about, Unschooling means no school, so stop thinking like a teacher. Natural Learning weaves through daily activities so Trying to confine it to a particular space is artificial . Our home (unschooling classroom) looks like a regular house, you will not see learning posters all over the walls or see a dedicated space for "learning" as for us, natural learning is just living in our family home . You will open up our kitchen cupboards and see measuring jugs, measuring cups,scales,blenders,mortar and pestles,and jars for collecting specimens,you will look over and see our oven and microwave and coffee machine these are all our natural "maths" materials for when the children want to make and bake slideshow You will go into our sunroom where our old dining table turned art table / bottle flip table is , you will notice 2 cupboards , which hold all our art supplies and recycled cardboard packaging , waiting for when the kids want to paint and create, You notice half the sunroom is set up as a gym and one wall has a dart board , waiting for the kids to challenge themselves . slideshow You go into our loungeroom in the corner you'll see our computer and printer , set up for when the kids want to research, print and play, you walk over to our loungeroom cube storage, where you'll find games, books and other bits and pieces, that promote curiosity and exploration- I have found most from second hand shops their waiting for when the kids want to explore and read. Slideshow In the other corner is our bluetooth speaker waiting for our children to embrace music,above that is our shelf with our wooden instruments and guitar You go into my daughters room, where she has a sewing machine set up ,a mini fashion designing doll kit , some of her artworks she has created are on display , more books, notepads and pencils and a hanging chair where she can read and play her phone in, You go into my sons shared room and you will find their bow and arrows and metal detectors hanging up, their slingshots,pocket knives,lego builds and power tools on their bookshelfs ,their gemstones and other things they have foung on display , You will notice their xbox and tv set up and their beds are pulled close to it. Slideshow You walk throughout our home and find all our specimens and nature finds we have collected on our outings on display everywhere, waiting to strike new conversations and observations. Outside you will find our shed full of wood,nails and tools waiting to be turned into something when the kids feel like tinkering Unschooling is about just having the resources, around for whenever your child may feel like exploring, it doesn't matter what your home is filled with, letting your child naturally learn life skills, problem solving skills and giving them a chance to have hands on opportunities throughout your home is teaching them SOOO much. Slideshow Our bikes, scooters and skateboards are waiting for new adventures, our basketball hoop ,soccer,cricket and tennis balls waiting for a family match Im sure if you look around your home , you will discover that it is a perfect natural learning space for your child just the way it is, A learning place should be warm,cosy and full of great learning opportunities waiting for your child. It doesn't matter if they do not get used everyday because natural learning is happening one way or another even if you can not see it. If you look around your home now, you will see that it is most likely full of great materials,appliances,tools and things your child can use.Dont be afraid to let them explore all these amazing natural learning resources. No 2 families are the same, how our home is set up, may be completely different to yours, But our home ( unschooling classroom ) is full of things we all love, wanted or are interested in , like the gym and music area are dads passions, the computer area was for me and this blog, the art area was for my daughter, as she loves art ,and the shed is for the boys as they love to tinker, but we all share these spaces together , with each other .Our learning space will forever be changing and added to as we grow and new curiosities arise. As well as all the learning opportunities our home provides We use all the learning opportuinites wifi provides The kids are constantly watching something new and intriguing on youtube, covering a science, history ,creative arts or a geography topic .That they watch in their own time They are researching their problems and questions on google, and learning more maths, english , creative arts and science things on their online gaming. Whenever we are out and about at say the beach, we always find and see something we talk naturally about that turns into learning something new from a quick google search like yesterday for instincts ,the beach was covered in foam the kids played in and then wanted to know what the foam was from , a quick google search taught us that Large amounts of algal often wash ashore and the Foam forms when the algae particles are churned up by the big surf and the wind , this then lead to further conversations as to what algae was. As well as all the learning opportunities our home and wifi provides We use all the learning opportunities nature provides,view some of our other how we unschool post to see how nature helps us learn . slideshow My children are indeed learning They are learning from their own curiosities They are learning from asking questions They are learning from having a go They are learning from conversations They are learning from each other They are learning from our home They are learning from playing They are learning from wifi They are learning from apps They are learning from Nature They are learning naturally “There is substantial evidence that children have a strong and deep-rooted sensitivity to the natural world and that play, a biologically-driven instinct, is the primary mechanism through which they encounter and explore their immediate physical environment.

When we started this Unschooling journey 3 years ago I was not sure on what I should have for my children to learn, should I go out and buy all the best books and have read outlouds with them ,should I create all those beautiful nature tables or small world play tables , I see on Pinterest , should I set up invitations to play or unit studies for them and what about tinker stations and makerspaces I need to set up areas like that, otherwise how else will my children "learn" ? Thats what i thought ! and oh was I silly. Yes they look beautiful and you feel envy when you see them all over social media, but the fact is you do not need any of that. Natural learning is all about your child's OWN curiosity, not what you try put in front of them. This list is my top 4 free unschooling methods that i use to teach my children, it works well for my family, my children have learnt so much already on this unschooling journey because of them. We embrace unschooling how it truly is - natural, spontaneous, in the moment learning! 1) Top of the list is Conversations Talking with children as if they are young adults and not small children, I think is one of the greatest natural learning resources there is. By answering their questions truthly and with patience is teaching them so much. By included them in your conversations and asking them questions. By laughing, by joking and by being silly with them. By choosing to listen and to see them as smart growing young adults is one of the greatest things a parent or unschooler can do. Since unschooling my children have become confident in confiding with me, if they have any questions or problems they will come straight over to seek my knowledge. We are always having deep conversations and they are shown the same respect in our conversations as if they were young adults. Unschooling and enjoying our new life by always being together has made us a tight family unit. If we are out and about my children will ask questions, if we are on a adventure amongst nature my children will ask questions, if we are at home my children will ask questions, all these questions turn into great conversations, where they feel as though they belong, they are listen to, they are appreciated and they are heard. My children have gain a lot of learning just by our conversations alone. 2) Next on the list is Daily life A lot of people are confused with what daily life actually means in a unschooling family. It simply means , whatever is going on that day, you do not have to have it planned out. Your children are learning something one way or another. (simply just think of say a weekend) Why ? because when its the weekend you are not thinking of acting like your child should be at school, you do not try to make them "learn" or think they should be learning something, you are simply going about whatever needs to be done for the day. If that means going to the shops , or maybe a day at the park or maybe a lazy day at home , then so be it. Your child learns from the environment they are in - at the shops there are signs and tags to be read, products to be calculated, subtracted and weighed, they are money handling ,budgeting and learning about food and harvesting. You might not see them "learning" - , but I assure you they are quietly learning and it keeps adding to their knowledge the more they go, the more they remember and the more they ask. At the park their researching, analysing, communicating, and making decisions, all of this is moulding them .They observe others and explore new concepts. They challenge themselves. At home the learning opportunities are waiting to be explored if you have read our unschooling classroom post you will notice that your home is a perfect unschooling/natural learning space for your child. Remember everyday something different is going on ,things pop up, schedules change, your child one day at home may be learning about cool science facts on YouTube and the next day they may be learning about fractions while baking. One way or another no matter what is happening in your daily life today- your child is absorbing new skills. 3) Our next top resources is WIFI (i know this isn't technically free,but all the opportunities it provides is) I have discussed a lot about WIFI on my blog , and that is because everything and anything your child wants to learn about is at the touch of a finger, this new age with our advancing technology has provided online courses ,lessons, information, and anything your child wants to become - all easily available because of the internet .My children have learnt a lot from using the internet and all of this they have taught themselves, asked for help or came across while browsing, My daughter has taught herself how to spell, read, simple code, use video editing software, how to create, record and edit her own YouTube videos, how to make her own YouTube channel, discord server, Roblox game, how to draw anime, how to make fruit smoothie bowls , made friends from all over the world, she has learnt that there are different languages ,different countries, different time zones .She has learnt names of animals ,world facts, science facts, adding ,subtracting, percentages, and money skills and loads more she just turned 10 and all this she has taught herself from her own curiosity and using her online games. 4) last is Nature We have always been a outdoorsy nature loving family ever since the kids were born, nature has so much to teach , that might sound silly but a day trip to the beach, you never know what you'll find or what questions your child will ask, once we found a biodegradable golf ball, and this led to a big natural learning conversation on what biodegradable means, the benefits to the environment and what pollution means . A look in some rock pools lead to learning facts about starfish (from a quick google search) and underwater ecosystems. Watching sail boats lead to discussions about wind and direction and how a sail boat moves, Finding a plastic water tank floating in the shore lead to discussions about what a water tank was used for, which lead to further discussions about sustainability and self sufficiency , as well as the effects of natural disasters (storms) .Finding a poor diseased whale on a remote beach taught us some whale facts, natural discussions on migrations and different whale species. A walk in the bush lead to great maths skills, by navigating, measuring distance ,time ,counting the age of a tree by the rings ,spotting echinus and learning about their spikes, finding wallabies and wombats, discussing bird nests and different trees. A swim in a waterhole lead to discussions about fresh and salt water, how waterholes are made, animal habitats and so on. You never know what you will find and learn by being out in nature, I always bring my phone - (for a quick google search if I'm not sure about something ) nature has taught my children and myself so much already, and there is more waiting to be discovered. slideshow Unschooling By choosing to unschool your child you are following the path of nature. It is a child’s personal journey of discovering themselves and the world around them. Unschooling fosters rather than stunts natural curiosity and inspires a love of learning that will last a life time.Learning cannot be rushed. There is no expiry date. Children want to learn. Curiosity drives them.When a child is allowed to explore new knowledge at their own pace, things that they find useful and relevant, then you are creating a motivated child.You are creating a natural learner.

One of the most common issues surrounding unschooling is people just do not understand how a child who is unschooled could learn maths! It seems such a crazy thing to think a child can naturally come to experience maths out here in the real world , without the need for a school or workbooks and Without forced lessons and piles of worksheets, but the truth is yes! simple maths comes so naturally to children,just like learning to walk or talk as a toddler did. Maths is everywhere and its unavoidable . Natural learning can not be rushed, its happening without you knowing and it will happen, if not straight away- then when your child feels they need it. Will there be gaps in their maths? YES -but that does not matter because it is irrelevant in their lives , most students who go to school, do not use Geometry, Algebra ,Trigonometry, Pre-Calc, Calculus, pi or any of those other so called "important" maths lessons forced by teachers in their adult lives anyway and if your child does for some reason need or even want to learn it, then just trust in them that they will learn all the maths they require -guided by their curiosity.You need to remind yourself exactly how much of all that maths we were taught at school ,that we actually use today in this advancing society. My Unschooling children I like to think are quite good at maths for a 10, almost 9 and a 7 year old ..We have learnt maths so simple, so natural and free. They have never read a textbook, done any online maths apps/lessons or any maths worksheets ,yet over the last 3 years they all have learnt their small additions and large additions 1030+200+30 etc , 2x, 5x and 10x tables, 10% & 50% ,divided by 2's ,ml,cup,time,cm,m and money skills and are beginning to pick up on other maths concepts ! the way they have learnt this is from 2 ways As mentioned in my previous post Top 4 free unschooling methods we use to teach , we use conversations and daily life as the way to teach our children and maths is no exception, this is the only way we have done it since we started our unschooling journey. Down below explains how each work for our maths. 1) mental maths (conversations) (mental maths means mathematical calculation that is performed mentally, without the aid of a calculator, abacus , pen and paper or textbook ) So every now and then if I get one on one time with one of my children(say my youngest is sitting with me at the beach, while my eldest 2 are running around climbing sand dunes and it feels like a good time to naturally discuss "maths" - meaning he is not preoccupied with something else and he has some spare time - I will ask if he wants to learn "more" maths as we call it. -this mental maths session usually lasts no longer then 5 minutes, and happens on occasions (about 5 times a month) To do this I always start with explaining it simpler, for instance if we are learning 2x tables, when I start saying 2 times ,I will remind them that 2 x means " double" when we were learning divide by 2s I, would remind them it means "half" just like 50%, for 10% we say take away a zero or add a decimal. eg 10% of 50 (minus the zero you have 5) 10% of 55 (add a decimal and you have 5.5) were always finding a simpler way for them to remember - I always start of with saying even numbers for the first few months or until I know they understand - like what is 10% of 88 , 50% of 240 etc- once they have learnt the easier side of it we will advance to odds and harder ones. I only ever teach what I think is relevant or what they have asked about like percentages as they noticed the shop sale tags and asked about it , Will we learn 3,4 6,8 time tables? I must admit ,I do not know them as I forgot from school,(actually I just never paid attention as school wasnt for me) have I ever needed them in my adult life? NO. if I need them I have a phone calculator. So I will not teach them this, if they need it for some reason or want to learn them- then we will learn together. That is what natural learning is about, its about learning what is needed for the now, what is relevant for daily life and learning in the moment if the time comes. It really doesn't take long for them to click on and begin to understand these maths concepts. They begin understanding that you add 32+14 by adding the 4+2 side first then the 1+3 side so right to left and they remind themselves with this for minus's and their larger 2 x tables, etc , sometimes they just surprise me because they understand so well. these are my favourite 3 tips for mental maths 1) Soon as they start showing a lose of interest I will change the subject right away- and forget that math lesson 2) Be silly and make it fun with jokes, and enthusiasm ( by making them laugh and thinking of it as more fun games then a maths lessons) IT ALWAYS WORKS. - if I had 50 cupcakes and I ate them all up to my self and I was still hungry so I brought another 120 how many cupcakes would be in my now big belly 3) Funny praises with lots of enthusiasm to make them enjoy it - like omg I cant believe you got that answer right,you have the biggest smartest brain ever - or omg how did you know that are you reading my mind or my youngest sons favourite, I will sing -(you are a genius, genius, genius ). (yes if you have ever watched Mr deeds) slideshow & 2) Daily Living As well as these short bursts of mental maths lessons, they learn maths from daily living , they use maths all the time without thinking about it, maths is unavoidable and it is everywhere, your children will sink it in. This is some ways we use maths through out daily life and gradually the kids have naturally learn "maths concepts" Asking them to check the clock and over time discussed ( am/pm , 24hr in a day, quarter pass,half past, quarter to,clock goes up by 5's(5xtables) ) baking cakes/making food and reading measurements on packaging themselves with help if required (discussed how many ml in a cup, tsp,tbsp ,set oven timer,( 60sec = a min) 60mins=1hr) set microwave/blender, volume,fractions,observing temp,heat,read kitchen scale- discuss gram/kg tell them share the food/drink evenly between them (discuss halves/quarters/ratios, adding and dividing by) shopping and having a allowance, (discuss about money,100c = $1,adding,subtracting ,percentages,cost of living,budgeting) playing Roblox games, fortnite and other games they download on their phones (adding,measurments,percentage,distance,timestables,subtracting,coding) A few other natural maths we have came by using tools and appliances , set stop watches when they are doing workouts/timing each other on xbox,building toys-lego,blocks,diy and science ones, use the measuring tape when they are building and tinkering, going metal detecting,asking how to use the calculator on their phones ,reading weather reports,counting things out in nature ,reading signs around them, writing lists ,counting various things ,doing art and craft ,going golfing ,hiking ,fishing/sorting out tackle,helping in house renovations and playing games together to name a few. Some maths problems are coming up each day and they are figuring it out, they are learning new strategies and each day is teaching so much naturally. Its so surprising as they have just absorb so much maths from their environment and doing things they find interesting, and I'm not even aware some times. My youngest son I remember when my son he was 6 at the time , he was counting all his 10 cent coins by his 10s timetables he got to 100c and said okay 100c is $1 and started over again, when he got to the end he counting his piles, it was amazing as I had no idea he knew his 10 times tables nor that he knew 100c = $1 .He just figured it out and learnt it himself. These are the only 2 ways we learn maths in our household and they work so well. Arbitrary problems with no real connection to our child's lives aren’t going to cut it. The brain does not store what it considers unimportant pieces of information... unless it’s actually used. So when my unschooled kids are using natural math- it’s useful to them. And so their brains remember the concepts more, then as if the where in a traditional school.