Editing Unschooling (section)

== Motivations ==
{{See also|Motivations for homeschooling}}
Parents choose to unschool their children for a variety of reasons, many of which overlap with reasons for [[homeschooling]].

Unschoolers criticize schools for lessening the parent–child bond, reducing family time, and for creating atmospheres that are fearful.<ref name="8-powerful-reasons">{{Cite web |date=2017-10-12 |title=8 powerful reasons why I 'unschool' my kids |url=https://www.mother.ly/life/why-i-homeschool-my-kids |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230518213647/https://www.mother.ly/life/why-i-homeschool-my-kids/ |archive-date=2023-05-18 |access-date=2020-07-13 |website=Motherly |language=en}}</ref> Some unschoolers argue that schools teach children facts and skills that will not be useful to them, whereas, with unschooling, children learn how to learn, which is of more enduring use.<ref name="8-powerful-reasons" /><ref name="beginners-guide-to-unschooling">{{Cite web |date=4 October 2012 |title=The Beginner's Guide to Unschooling |url=https://zenhabits.net/unschool/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230518212144/https://zenhabits.net/unschool/ |archive-date=2023-05-18 |access-date=2020-07-13 |website=zenhabits.net}}</ref> Some assert that schools teach children only how to follow instructions,<ref name="8-powerful-reasons" /><ref name="beginners-guide-to-unschooling" /> which does not prepare them to confront novel tasks. Another argument is that the structure of school is not suitable for people who want to make their own decisions about what, when, how, and with whom they learn because many things are predetermined in the school setting, while unschooled students are more free to make such decisions.<ref name="beginners-guide-to-unschooling" />

In school, a student's community may consist mainly of a peer group, that the parent has little influence over or even knowledge of. Unschoolers may have more opportunity to share a role in their community—including with older and younger people—and can therefore learn to find their place within more diverse groups of people. Parents of school children also have little say regarding instructors and teachers, whereas parents of unschoolers may be more involved in the selection of the coaches or mentors their children work and build relationships with.<ref name="beginners-guide-to-unschooling" />

According to unschooling pioneer John Holt, child-led learning is more efficient and respectful of children's time, takes advantage of their interests, and allows deeper exploration of subjects than what is possible in conventional education.
<blockquote>...the anxiety children feel at constantly being tested, their fear of failure, punishment, and disgrace, severely reduces their ability both to perceive and to remember, and drives them away from the material being studied into strategies for fooling teachers into thinking they know what they really don't know.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Holt |first=John Caldwell |title=How children learn |year=1967 |publisher=Da Capo Press |isbn=0201484048}}</ref></blockquote>

Some schools have adopted relatively non-coercive and cooperative techniques in a manner that harmonizes with the philosophies behind unschooling.<ref name="Armstrong">{{Cite journal |last=J. Scott Armstrong |year=1979 |title=The Natural Learning Project |url=http://marketing.wharton.upenn.edu/documents/research/Warmaudit31%205.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=Journal of Experiential Learning and Simulation |publisher=Elseiver North-Holland, Inc. 1979 |volume=1 |pages=5–12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100620221122/http://marketing.wharton.upenn.edu/documents/research/Warmaudit31%205.pdf |archive-date=2010-06-20 |access-date=2011-12-06}}</ref> For example, [[Sudbury model]] schools are non-coercive, non-indoctrinative, cooperative, democratically run partnerships between children and adults—including full partnership with parents—in which learning is individualized and child-led, in a way that complements home education.<ref name="Armstrong" />

Concerns about socialization can also be a factor in the decision to unschool. Some unschoolers believe that conditions in conventional schools, such as [[Age segregation in schools|age segregation]], the ratio of children to adults, or the amount of time spent sitting and obeying orders of one authority figure, are not conducive to proper education.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bunday |first=Karl M. |title=Socialization: A Great Reason Not to Go to School |url=http://learninfreedom.org/socialization.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230518212336/https://learninfreedom.org/socialization.html |archive-date=2023-05-18 |access-date=2008-09-04 |website=Learn in Freedom!}}</ref>

Unschooling may broaden the diversity of people or places an unschooler is exposed to.{{citation needed|date=June 2023}} Unschoolers may be more mature than their schooled peers on average,<ref>{{Citation |last=Shyers |first=Larry Edward |title=Comparison of Social Adjustment Between Home and Traditionally Schooled Students}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Liman |first=Isabel |title=Home Schooling: Back to the Future? |url=http://www.educationatlas.com/home-schooling-information.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230811112825/http://www.educationatlas.com/home-schooling-information.html |archive-date=2023-08-11 |access-date=2008-09-04}}</ref> and some believe this is a result of the wide range of people they have the opportunity to interact with, although it may also be "difficult to find children [...] for, well, socialization".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bunday |first=Karl M. |title=Isn't it Natural for Children to be Divided by Age in School? |url=http://learninfreedom.org/age_grading_bad.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230518212225/https://learninfreedom.org/age_grading_bad.html |archive-date=2023-05-18 |access-date=2008-09-04 |website=Learn in Freedom!}}</ref> Opportunities for unschoolers to meet and interact with other unschoolers has increased in recent years,{{When|date=September 2023}} allowing unschoolers to have interactions with other children with similar experiences.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Peer Unschooling Network (PUN) – Unschooling Teens Unite! |url=http://www.peerunschooling.net |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230531104306/https://peerunschooling.net/ |archive-date=2023-05-31 |access-date=2017-09-29 |website=Peer Unschooling Network (PUN) |url-status=usurped |language=en-US}}</ref>