It’s not exactly a brand-new ideal; in fact some theorists claim it was the original method for educating children. Whatever the case, the phenomenon of "unschooling" has seen a rebirth recently, as more and more parents lose faith and patience with the effects of conventional education.

According to a story in the Tennessean, focusing on several local families engaged in this homeschooling variation, the emphasis on making the child the primary, and often the only, decision-maker in picking curriculums. Whereas conventional schooling involves strictly regimented classes, timeframes and topics determined by outsiders, and even homeschooling often implies parent-developed curricula, under the unschooling model a child does pretty much whatever he or she desires to, with the stipulation that it involve some type of learning activity.

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