Report I on a Survey of 75 Unschooled Adults (2024)

FAQs

What are the statistics on unschooling? ›

While unschooling is still a relatively small movement, it is gaining steam. It is estimated that unschoolers make up 10 to 20 percent of the country's more than 2.5 million homeschooled kids, according to Gina Riley, an educational psychologist and education professor at Hunter College in New York City.

The most frequent benefits of unschooling reported by the whole sample included the children's improved learning, better attitudes about learning, and improved psychological and social wellbeing; and increased closeness, harmony, and freedom for the whole family, which followed from being free from the school schedule.

Unschooling promotes individualized learning by allowing the learner to make their own choices regarding what and how they learn. The role of the parent is to provide the learner with an environment that fosters their natural curiosity.

Can Unschoolers be “College and Career Ready”? Overall, 83 percent of the respondents had gone on to pursue some form of higher education.

Is Unschooling Legal? Unschooling is a form of homeschooling, and homeschooling is legal in all 50 states. And while there are no official “unschooling laws,” the laws that regulate how you homeschool in each state can affect the way you approach—or at least report—your homeschooling progress.

Unschoolers can go to college.

Help your teen to look for the intersection of their strengths and their community's needs to identify a potential career and then work backwards to map out a path. Then look at community college as a potential stepping stone to get there.

Unschooled kids can get to know themselves better and develop more self-confidence. They're not trying to please others - teachers, parents, peers. This allows them to be aware of their own preferences and not have to wait until middle age to figure “who they are” or “what they themselves like.”

Unschoolers learn just like you or I learn as adults: based on what interests them, figuring out how to learn it on their own, changing as they change, using whatever resources and learning materials they find, driven by curiosity and practical application rather than because someone says it's important.

Rather than following a set curriculum or schedule, parents allow their children to guide their own learning experiences. This approach allows for more flexibility and creativity in the learning process. Unschooling parents often provide resources and materials to support their child's interests.

Because, with unschooling, instead of following curriculum, our kids are following their interests. And if we don't first take curriculum off the table, there's a pretty good chance we'll just naturally jump to that style of learning whenever our kid expresses an interest in something.

What are the goals of unschooling? ›

If you choose to unschool, you would concentrate on your children's natural curiosity and ability to learn independently and allow them to choose their interests and goals based on their educational interests.

Right — I do imagine it is hard work to unschool a child!

You're ultimately, as the parent, in charge of your child's education. So yeah, it's definitely hard work. It takes effort, just like all good parenting does. But it's a really nice way to learn together, while also seeing your child and teen and how they learn.

250 million children out-of-school: What you need to know about UNESCO's latest education data | UNESCO.

Data from a 2022 standardized achievement test data analysis reveal that California homeschool students scored at the 78th percentile to 88th percentile in reading, language, math, science, and social studies.

Unschoolers are a diverse group of teens who may be attracted to various college options. It is possible to unschool for high school and still be a competitive candidate for a top college.