Homeschooling, Unschooling, Worldschooling — or Free Learning?

What the heck are we doing?

You may know that our kids don't go to school. Well, our daughter is only one, so I guess this really applies to our four-year-old son.

What does this mean? Why are we choosing to live this way? And where are we heading with all of this? You'll find some answers in this blog post.

Three Years of Worldschooling

We don't have a residency anywhere at the moment, so technically, our kids aren't required to attend school. No government is currently responsible for overseeing their education, as we aren't settled in any particular country. On average, we've moved our home base every three months. Even if we had wanted to, that would never have been enough time for our son to properly settle into a regular school environment. So why integrate him into a system when we're going to leave again soon anyway?

Looking back, I'd say we've pretty much been worldschooling our son over the past three years. His learning was shaped by the places we lived, the cultures around us and the everyday dynamics of our lives in those places. Life itself became his teacher.

But What Happens When We Settle Down?

We don't want to be on the road forever. We want a home base of our own. So how are we going to make sure our kids learn what they need to learn?

Honestly, that's not really our concern. But funnily enough, people seem to be quite concerned about whether our kids are learning while we live our lives the way we do.

There are quite a few fancy-sounding names in the alternative education bubble. Homeschooling, unschooling, worldschooling or free learning?

If we had to identify with one of these labels, we'd probably choose free learning. But what does that actually mean for us?

Following Their Curiosity

It's actually quite simple: our kids and their interests will guide their learning. Their curiosity and their desire to understand the world around them will be our starting point. We don't want to force them to learn specific things just because we, or society, think they are important. Instead, they'll have the freedom to choose what they want to learn and how they want to learn it.

We'll ask questions like: Where do you feel most comfortable learning? Do you prefer one-on-one time with Mum or Dad? Do you think it would be helpful to have teachers from outside the family? Would you like to be part of a group while learning? And the list goes on.

You probably get the idea by now. They are free to explore their own way of learning. As a family, we'll then try to understand their needs and create a learning structure that works for them while remaining sustainable for all of us.

Why We Choose This Way

We believe that forcing children to learn simply doesn't work. So why would we put ourselves into a system built around that very idea? Why waste everyone's time when a child clearly has no interest in certain things?

We chose a certain lifestyle because we don't want to send our kids away for most of their day. And, like everything in life, this choice comes with certain consequences. But we're willing to accept that price if it means seeing our kids thrive and live up to their full potential.

Maybe the bigger question isn't how or where our kids will learn. Maybe it's why we've become so used to thinking that learning needs to happen in a classroom, at a certain age, following a certain structure. Children are naturally curious. They want to explore, understand and figure things out. Maybe we don't need to teach them quite as much as we think. Maybe we just need to stop getting in their way.