I have always been a fan of unschooling, but unschooling alone didn’t work for us. So as an eclectic homeschooler, I adapted unschooling to fit our homeschool.
Many years ago I incorporated an independent learning time in our days. I set aside an hour each day. During that time my children would choose what they wanted to learn. I didn’t “schoolify” any of this time or require anything to be turned in. I didn’t even require discussion. They just told me what they wanted to study or learn and off they went.
This independent learning time was the last hour in our school day and it was something my kids looked forward to all day.
My kids had their “go-to” activities. My son would gravitate toward Scratch programming. Later that morphed into more complex coding. My oldest would typically choose something science-related. My youngest enjoyed writing stories.
This independent learning time gave my kids more time to develop areas of interest. I was there as a resource, if needed. During this time they were not allowed to play video games or watch TV unless it was a show that covered a topic of interest.
Having an independent learning time helped deal with complaints about not having time to study certain topics during the school day too. It has been a great addition to our school routine.
