Unschooling: Will it work for my child?

I just added a new blog post on my Child-led Learning Blog:

Unschooling, Will it work for my child?

I wrote it a few weeks ago but wanted my daughter to read it and have her permission before I posted it because it has very personal information about her life and struggles.  So tonight, she read it, I am out at Panera for my Monday night out writing and she is at home.  So I am texting her after sending it to her via email and her first response to my post,

“you have some spelling errors”  – she is my always unschooled child.

I will share the beginning here and follow the link to read the rest:

I spoke last summer at the Love to Learn Conference in NC for the second time on the topic of Child-led Learning.  I began as I had done before telling the story of my oldest child who was an early reader and who loved academics.  As I began to share his journey, someone interrupted me and asked, “What if your child is not like that?”

I am glad she interrupted me.  It hadn’t occurred to me that starting my talk by describing the child who is easy to unschool, the child who you can easily follow their lead because they love academics and dive into topics with all of their energy, does not help those whose children don’t fit this description.  You know, the child who is a late reader, the child who resists most ideas you have.  Often times, this child may learn differently from you which makes homeschooling and parenting, in general, more challenging, and when following a child-led approach, you really need to understand how your child learns best and the best ways to present ideas and resources to your child.  

It is about time that I devote an entire post to my daughter.