Have you ever wondered about unschooling? Or maybe you prefer to call it delight-directed learning? Have you ever wondered if it would really work? If a child left to his own interests would ever want to learn math or writing?
 

It really is an honest question. It's a question that I asked in my early days of home educating. The answer is one that you usually cannot believe until you see it for yourself. I'm not going to bother to answer the question. However, I will tell you a little story.
 

I used to unschool. My older children really did learn lots during those days. Then perimenopause hit, and I forgot to help them along unless it was written down for me. Brain freeze– everyday. So we now do some scheduling, but I also do not freak out if we don't get to our plan.
 

The last few weeks we have been on a break. Just enjoying summer and catching up on some household tasks. When it's too hot to be outside, the children are finding ways to occupy themselves. Wait. I'm just a little ahead of myself. I'll back up just a bit.
 

About two months ago, Zarah was into a reporter phase. She would use a hairbrush as her microphone and interview people for the evening news. She even made up a reporter name for herself, but I can't even say it correctly so spelling it is out of the question. While she was still interviewing people every day, I mentioned to her that I had this book called Wordsmith Apprentice and that it teaches about writing by having you pretend to be a reporter for the newspaper. She immediately wanted to know where this book was kept!

So, back to the story…
 

This past week has been so hot that the children really have not wanted to be outside. (Can I get an "Amen"?) Zarah had not interviewed anyone in a couple of weeks, but her inner reporter had not left her. She bugged me until I got out the Wordsmith Apprentice book off the high shelf for her.
 

Zarah began going through the book. She got out a special spiral bound notebook that was a Christmas gift and made it her "Newspaper Notebook." She wasn't even through the first section of the book before she had decided to put together a family newspaper.All the siblings were questioned: Would you like to write a section of the family newspaper? Which section would you like? Can you have it done by next Saturday?

Hard at work on a comic for the paper!

Zarah was a nine year-old girl on a mission! She had a tiny spiral bound notebook that became her interview notepad. Each person in the family was asked a series of questions, and the answers were recorded in the notepad. Each sibling was reminded daily of their assignment for the paper.
 

Saturday morning, I heard sobbing coming from somewhere. It was Zarah. Upon questioning, she stammered out among sobs that no one had done their assignments for the paper and now it would not be done in time for the arrival of cousins visiting from out of town. We talked and finally the sobbing stopped. We decided that they could not possibly write an entire newspaper every week; instead we would put together a family newspaper once per month.
 

So I ask you: Does unschooling really work? If left to his own interests, will a child ever learn math or writing?