Unschooling Credo

Manisha and I were discussing our core beliefs about unschooling and we came up with a few:

• Humans - children and adults alike - are curious and learning creatures, and we learn through living.
• Children are the owners and architects of their own lives. Our job as parents is to act as coaches and facilitators.
• Having an interesting life is the main goal - learning is a by-product.
• There isn't a body of knowledge that everybody must know.
• Anyone can learn anything at any time; nothing has to be learned by a certain age.
• Learning is not about memorizing facts; it's about making connections.
• Everything is connected with everything else; the division of knowledge into "subjects" (especially at school-level) is for the convenience of the school system. Subjects do not exist in real life.

These beliefs about learning are based in turn on a couple of meta-beliefs:

• It's an abundant and friendly universe - you can have an interesting, happy, rich (in all senses of the word) and successful (as you define it) life.
• Unschooling is about self-actualization in the ultimate analysis. The "quest" is to have an interesting, happy, rich, successful life.

This is a work in progress. We'd love to hear your thoughts, comments, criticisms.