Parents believe in letting children set the pace

Many parents consider Patapsco State Park a leisure destination. Suzy Provine of Millersville views it as a classroom.

George Provine, 6 (left), brothers Lance, almost 4, and Miles, 17 months, and mother, Suzy, look at a salamander George caught in Patapsco State Park. (Baltimore Sun photo by Algerina Perna / August 31, 2009)

As children headed back to local schools this week, she and her four sons explored the park’s craggy earth and tossed large and small rocks into standing water to test the laws of gravity. Venues such as Patapsco are why Provine, 38, has never sent her children to traditional school, opting instead for an eclectic approach to learning known as unschooling.

A byproduct of home schooling, unschooling incorporates every facet of a child’s life into the education process, allowing a child to follow his passions and learn at his own pace, year-round. And it assumes that an outing at the park – or even hours spent playing a video game – can be just as valuable a teaching resource as Hooked on Phonics.

"It’s different from sitting in front of a desk all day," said Provine’s oldest son, Marcus, 8, adding that his friends in traditional schools say they would rather be unschooled.

Zoa Conner of LaPlata, co-organizer of the Enjoy Life Unschooling Conference to be held near Frederick this month, said the approach is about helping children discover what they’re really interested in.

"If most [people] think back to their own school experiences, how much of the information you were expected to learn do you know today?" added Conner, an unschooling parent. "We cannot know beyond the shadow of a doubt precisely what our children will need when they are 10, 20, 30 or 80. We do all want what is ‘best’ for our children and we want our children, now and when grown, to be poised to accomplish whatever they may decide is important. This is where unschoolers excel."

While unschooling parents say the method is growing in popularity, some education experts question its effectiveness.

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