So I'm listening to this thing that's on in the other room about parenting and they're discussing how to educate your children, and how some people aren't doing formal schooling (Public/private) but are doing 'unschooling', which is basically letting the kids grow up and learn outside the school system generally at their own initiative and inclination. This is said to work better because every child is different and the freedom allows them to learn at their own pace with less pressure.

Personally, I rather like this idea. As a junior in high school in America, I've been thinking lately that I'd learn so much more if I were allowed to just sit in a library and read to my heart's content. The things I'd be doing on my own would give me a better education for what I want to do in life (write and edit) and a better understanding of how things work without the social pressure of my peers and the pressure of my future the adults around me are obsessed with. I certainly count myself among those with a hunger for knowledge, if not the academic ambition that many assume comes with it.

I was curious about your opinions of the current school system in America or the country you live in and on this concept in comparison.

I think we should all be more open to these ideas. Children and people like you would certainly thrive in an unschooling environment. Granted, probably many sheeple could not handle it, though. We are homeschoolers, with the younger two at home and the oldest one in public school right now. We homeschooled him the first eight years of his life. It was so interesting the other week when he said, "Oh, why can't I just study the things I like and get really good at something?" He despises "homework" after he's been in "school" all day. Seriously, what's the point of that? But it's so cool that he sees through all the nonsense at even his young age.

So, are you going to leave your current school? What do your parents think?

I hate to be rude, but after thinking about it that sounds completely ridiculous. If you want your kid to succeed and get a job then they'd better have some kind of formal schooling. You can get into a great college with homeschooling or private, public, or parochial school, but putting on an application "Oh, I just taught myself everything I wanted to learn, I had no teachers at all" is basically writing down about yourself, "I won't go anywhere in life". I'd hate to be unschooled! I'd miss all my friends and most days I'd just be lazy, possibly not even do any unschool work. Even in homeschool there's at least some sort of structure.

I think that total unschooling, or letting a child learn 100% of the time without any curriculum isn't a great idea. I think that homeschooling is great, with lesson plans and structure, but based on the childs interests.

My mom and I would sit down one day a month and talk about what interested me. We would then center any of our lessons that we could around that. Say I was curious about Japan. I would read about and write a report about life in Japan. That would take care of English and Social Studies. I might read up on Japanese food, plan a Japanese dish, shop for it, and prepare it. That would take care of Home Economics. Japan has volcanos, so I might study volcano's for my science. For math, I just usually did something out of my moms college algebra book.

Unschooling isn't a realistic example for kids. You don't walk in to a job, skip training, and just learn your work by trial and error. You really need to learn how to learn.

I wouldn't let my daughter do it. I see nothing beneficial about it. On a social aspect alone I think attending an actual school is so much better for someone. I definitely feel like not having that social interaction with your peers on a daily basis doesn't teach you that social skills and expectations of society. Then on the educational side I don't see the benefits. So say the child loves history but hates maths, they just don't have to learn math since it's not an interest? Too bad the world is based around math. Or what happens if the child has no interest in reading and literature? I think that's quite daft. Maybe I'm not fully understanding the whole concept of this whole unschooling thing?
I don't even agree with home schooling. I don't know any kid who's homeschooled who is up to par educationally and socially as others who have gone to school. When I was younger, yeah I did, now as I'm older it seems they've fallen behind. I'm not saying that's the case for everybody, just everyone I know, so there is no appeal to me.
Plus when my daughter starts taking GCSE she's able to choose what courses to take based off her interests. Or when I was younger I went to a school specifically for the arts. It was extremely competitive and it was hard to get into. You were auditioning at 7 to hold a spot for when you turned 8 and could attend. There are other schools like that, that aren't for the arts. If she wanted to go to one of those I'd be perfectly fine with it, as long as she's in actual attendance.
By the way my opinion is just based of what I've seen. I'm not saying what I think is right because obviously that varies person to person. I'm only saying I haven't seen any thing good come from kids who were homeschooled in those teenage and up years so the unschooling things just seems... rubbish?? (for lack of a better word)

I dropped out at 14 to be homeschooled becaused the school I was at was pretty violent and undersupervised. I did most of my work out of my mothers college books (she went back to college in her 40's to study special education). I feel like it was a good move for me, because I wasn't popular, or even liked at school. I didn't care about fashion and I had a tendancy to smart mouth anyone who messed with me.

I do disagree with you Gracie, on the education of homeschooled kids. I have a friend who homeschools her 4 daughters. The oldest, F, is 18, and she is very smart. She will do well intellectually at school. Her problem will be in the social game. She has been sheltered and I think that will hurt her in the end. The world is a big bad place, and I don't think she knows how to navigate it without her mom there by her side. Her younger sister, M, is 12, and is much more worldly. She has a wisdom that is crazy for her age, and she has wit, which is rare in a kid that age. She is very smart as well, and I think she will be the one to fly away first. The two younger girls are smart for their age, but have yet to show much personality.