Editing Unschooling (section)

===Learning styles===
[[Psychologists]] have documented many differences between children in the way they learn.<ref name="vosniadou-2001">{{Cite web |last=Vosniadou |first=S. |year=2001 |title=How Children Learn? |url=http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001254/125456e.pdf |website=The International Academy of Education}}</ref> [[Standardized test]]ing, which is required in traditional American schooling (a study conducted by the Council of Great City Schools has shown that students in U.S public schools will take, on average, 112 standardized tests throughout their school careers <ref>{{Cite web |last=Thompson |first=Rhema |title=New study says U.S. students take more than 100 tests a year with questionable outcome |url=https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/education/2015/10/26/new-study-says-us-students-take-more-100-tests-year-questionable-outcome/15685558007/ |access-date=2024-10-07 |website=The Florida Times-Union |language=en-US}}</ref>), is widely regarded as a poor gauge of intelligence. Its formulaic and rigid way of questioning does not allow for any creative thought or new ways of thinking.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2012-05-22 |title=What's Wrong With Standardized Tests? (Updated October 2023) - Fairtest |url=https://fairtest.org/facts-whatwron-htm/ |access-date=2024-10-07 |website=fairtest.org |language=en-US}}</ref> Unschoolers assert that unschooling is better equipped to adapt to such differences in thought processes, measuring intelligence through observation, rather than testing.<ref name="Evaluation">{{Cite web |last=Hunt |first=Jan |title=Evaluation |url=http://www.naturalchild.org/jan_hunt/evaluation.html |access-date=6 January 2013 |publisher=Natural Child}}</ref>

People vary in their [[learning styles]], that is, how they prefer to acquire new information. However, research in 2008 found "virtually no evidence" that learning styles increased learning or improved performance, as opposed to being a matter of preference.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Pashler |first1=H. |last2=McDaniel |first2=M. |last3=Rohrer |first3=D. |last4=Bjork |first4=R. |year=2009 |title=Learning styles: Concepts and evidence |journal=Psychological Science in the Public Interest |volume=9 |issue=3 |pages=105–119 |doi=10.1111/j.1539-6053.2009.01038.x |pmid=26162104 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Students have different learning needs, but in a traditional school setting, teachers seldom customize their evaluation method for an individual student. While teaching methods often vary between teachers, and any teacher may use multiple methods, this is sometimes haphazard and not always individualized.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Learning through home education |url=http://parentconcept.com/learning-through-home-education |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230609235601/https://parentconcept.com/learning-through-home-education |archive-date=2023-06-09 |access-date=2011-02-20}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=April 2023}}

====Developmental differences====
Developmental psychologists note that just as children reach growth milestones at different ages, children are also prepared to learn different things at different ages.<ref name="vosniadou-2001" /> Just as most children learn to walk during a normal range of eight to fifteen months, and begin to talk across an even larger range, unschoolers assert that they are also ready and able to read, for example, at different ages. Natural learning produces greater changes in behavior (e.g. changing job skills) than traditional learning methods, although not necessarily a change in the amount of information learned.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Armstrong |first=J. Scott |date=1980 |title=Teacher Vs. Learner Responsibility in Management Education |url=http://www.ssrn.com/abstract=647802 |journal=SSRN Electronic Journal |language=en |doi=10.2139/ssrn.647802 |s2cid=145788307 |issn=1556-5068}}</ref> [[Traditional education]] systems typically require all students to begin reading and learning mathematical concepts like multiplication at the same age. Unschooling proponents believe that this one-size-fits-all approach can cause some children to become disengaged if they have already mastered a topic, while others may struggle if they are not yet ready to learn it.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Holt |first=John C. |title=How Children Fail |publisher=Classics in Child Development |year=1982 |isbn=978-0201484021 |orig-year=1964}}</ref>

==== Music and Unschooling ====
While not necessarily an essential part of a formal education, most students in America take part in some form of music making. 97% of American public schools offer some form of music at the elementary level.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Highlights, Arts Education in Public Elementary Schools |url=https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/frss/publications/95082/#:~:text=Music%20is%20offered%20in%2097,instructional%20programs%20(Figure%202). |access-date=2024-10-07 |website=nces.ed.gov |language=EN}}</ref> The traditional approach to teaching [[music theory]] involves learning how to read music and play it exactly as written. The unschooling approach follows the "Garage Band Theory," created by Duke Sharp. This method is a take on "playing songs by ear"- it draws on a person's natural ability to recognize music and pick up on the same sounds in different songs. Unschooling parents believe it is a more effective way to learn music compared to sight reading.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Concilio |first=Joan |date=2017-05-26 |title=Learning music theory the unschooling way |url=https://unschoolrules.com/music-theory/ |access-date=2024-10-07 |website=Unschool RULES |language=en-US}}</ref>