Natural Learning Plans
As a Unschooling mum I raise my three children with no rhythm, no planned lessons and no routines scheduled for each day.My children are free to pursue the things they find curious, they are free to explore their surroundings and have real hands on experiences ,they are free to play for as long as the like,they are free to ask as many questions as they need. My children are free to live a childhood that many of us lose once we hit school aged.
approved unschool learning plans below
But how do they learn ?
Learning happens naturally and by allowing children to pursue passions to satisfy their curiosities. Trusting in them is one of the biggest obstacles in unschooling, as a parent you will constantly ask yourself ,are they learning ?, Am I doing it right ?, Should my child be reading now they are eight and the books tell me they need to be reading at 6, or how will they learn algebra or calculus ? The best advice I was told when I first started our unschooling journey is 'Your child will learn everything they require, if or when they require it' - meaning if your child doesn't need to read or write at the age 8 then so be it , when they decide it is time, they will pick it up from daily life ,not from lessons on phonemics and sight words but from things they find interesting. The same with algebra and calculus , if they need to learn it for some reason ( maybe they are interested in it or want to become a carpenter or Chemical engineer, only 5% of jobs even use this today) then when the time comes in their lives they will teach themselves it through self research and on the spot learning - this could even be when they reach adulthood or they may find it is irrelevant to their lives and never need or want to learn it. Unschooling is about trusting that learning happens naturally, learning happens by following curiosity and learning happens by providing your child the answers and resources they seek.
Am I allowed to unschool?
Every state in Australia allows you to unschool your child, this is referred to as following a natural child - led learning philosophy.When you register to start home-schooling each state and territory in Australia state on their education department websites that how and what style of teaching style you will be using is up to you,as long as the standards are meet for registration requirements.These vary from state to state but mainly include your describing your childs learning environment and the style of learning that suits them,when and where learning will take place and how you will cover english,maths,history,science ,tech, and so on , you can read more on registration guidelines here . This year since we have moved to a island ,we have registered with QLD homeschooling department as unschoolers. the process is quite straight forward , below is their requirements
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How to write a unschool learning plan
Some states and territories have their own learning plan templates you can use or must use to create your home school learning summary for your child, but most states say this is optional and you can create your own , When creating a unschool learning plan for my children,I create my own. I like to write everything they currently do and enjoy, this is different for each child ,somethings they all enjoy together, other times one child enjoys something completely different, I also write everything they want or will be doing for the year ahead ( this is things I know they will be doing, or we have discussed ) and I always include that as they grow their curiosities will changed, new questions and experiences pop up throughout their daily life's and new learning opportunities arise .I also love to include how rich of a learning environment the natural environment and our community are for the children to learn in.I also add photos of the kids to my learning plans to help give the department an idea of my children learning through life.Oh and I also see everything my children do as learning so I include this, like playing roblox and watching YouTube ! as learning is always happening , I just use 'smarter words to describe these'.Once I have a rough drafted idea of what each childs learning plan is going to be . I fill in all the required matters and subjects I need to provide my children with a high quality education just like the department requires. Below you will find attached my two sons APPROVED unschooling learning plans I submitted for this year 2023 with the education department , they are long but they explain how my boys learn through life,how thier learning is adaptable as they grow and how following a natural learning philosophy covers they key learning areas ( english,maths etc). In QLD once your child is approved , you do not need to reapply each year unlike some other states, they stay approved as long as I submit an annual written report on the educational progress of each child at the end of each year. If you Haven't already you can view my 10-11 year old daughters approved unschooling learning plan also Here
To learn more about Unschooling you can visit our resources pages Here
