"Back to school—it’s a busy season you dive into head-on after you’ve kissed the summer days goodbye. It encompasses a whole slew of things, like buying school supplies, back-to-school clothes, and gearing up to make different takes on back-to-school lunches. Not to mention how expensive going back to school is. In addition to all the prep, there’s an important thing you want to make sure your kids are exposed to—learning. Traditionally, teachers gear up and finalize lesson plans before the school year begins. But some ‘unschooling’ parents take education into their own hands with a curriculum that’s nonexistent—and are sharing more about their approach on TikTok.
Experts have started weighing in, with TikTok videos from educators like @mrwilliamsprek, a preschool teacher and therapist, garnering over 1.4 million views. His video also has over 5k comments of people chiming in with their thoughts on the matter. In his video, he evaluates how one popular influencer describes unschooling that is not recommended from an educator’s standpoint.
What is unschooling?
Even though #unschooling is trending in TikTok, unschooling isn’t a new concept. The term was coined in the 1970s by educator John Holt. It’s defined as “an educational philosophy that relies on a child’s innate curiosity and desire to learn.” In other words, education is led and initiated by children in their own time, at their own pace, and by what interests them. The learning is essentially child-led learning. So, something like learning to read can happen. It just may not happen until a child is interested in the subject. @academicanarchyx reports her 5-year-old taught himself how to read and spell “mostly through video games.”
Because of the lack of curriculum and clear-cut rules, unschooling isn’t streamlined, and parents have different variations of the philosophy.
In the stitched video that went viral, @mrwilliamsprek assesses the day of one unschooling parent. The parent states a part of an unschooling day consisted of learning how to have fun at the park. He then references another day from a previously recorded video by the same parent. This day included doing the laundry, cleaning out her car, and going grocery shopping. Williams states those activities are “not unschooling them… Those are chores they should be doing anyway, on top of school.”
@bootsmacgregor commented, “It’s supposed to be a term for a specific type of homeschooling that’s extremely child-directed, but too often, it just ends up being letting kids do what they want all day.”
What is most concerning to Williams is that the same parent claims her children are unlikely to pursue any career other than what they’re exposed to. The parent claims, “What if they want to be a doctor or a lawyer? The likelihood of my kids wanting to do something they don’t see that I’m normalizing is very slim. My career of being an entrepreneur—they’re likely going to follow that path.” Williams responds by saying, “It’s my job as a teacher that no matter what my student has been taught that they know their potential has no limit.”
@parkrosepermaculture is an unschooling mom and also reflected on this type of unschooling. She states, “Forcing your kid to do chores is not unschooling. It is absolutely, diametrically opposed to the philosophy of unschooling.” She then says, “They may learn something on the side, but it’s not unschooling.” @parkrosepermaculture goes as far as to say this type of practice is exploiting unschooling in order to monetize it.
@JessieJ commented, “What she is calling ‘unschooling,’ we just call life skills.”
Is unschooling legal?
Unschooling is, in fact, legal in all 50 states because it is under the umbrella of homeschooling. Homeschooling in each state has its own requirements and guidelines that should be followed and met by each child. What parents report to meet those standards when it comes to unschooling?—it’s pretty ambiguous. There can be interest in mathematics, reading, and science. However, it’s up in the air when those subjects are covered and how they’re taught.
It’s safe to say that unschooling has caused a worry. With this alternative, there’s a notion children won’t be prepared socially or will lack the tools to fit into society. Ironically, it’s also wreaked havoc in the unschooling community. @amasonhomeschool, a homeschool parent weighed in with her own evaluation. She says, “I just really hate seeing people promote unschooling and acting like it’s a walk in the park… Please don’t fall for this trend.” Unschooling isn’t regulated, curriculum isn’t defined, and it’s hard to pinpoint what children are learning. So, it’s best to do thorough research (beyond TikTok) before making childhood education decisions.
But like @mrwilliamsprek iterates, no matter what our children are learning, they need to know their potential has no limit. There’s hope as parents that children can become confident adults in whatever life path or career they pursue.
Patty Schepel, Editorial Intern
As the editorial intern, Patty works with The Everymom’s team on pitches, creating original articles, updating existing content, photo sourcing, writing shopping product descriptions, inputting freelance articles, and more. When she’s not working, you can find her spending time with her family, training for half marathons—she ran one 16 weeks pregnant—traveling, cooking, reading a rom-com, and keeping her sourdough starter, Rose, alive.