Taking Time to Deschool

Where do you begin when starting out? If you’re about to start homeschooling, you’re probably hearing a lot about deschooling. 

What is deschooling?

Deschooling is a process of adjusting to homeschooling after school. It’s about taking time to reconnect and figure out how to approach your new normal as a family. 

The longer your kids have been in school, the longer the adjustment period. It’s the same for us parents.

Deschooling can help kids to redefine what learning looks like and also help to spark curiosity in learning. Sadly, that spark has often been dulled for some kids if they’ve had a negative experience in school but it can be rekindled.

Our Deschooling Journey

As a former primary teacher with over sixteen years in education, I also needed to adjust to homeschooling and reframe what learning can look like. We started to homeschool during a time of chaos in Australian schools- we went from a long lockdown straight into homeschooling. Our plan was to start and see how it went as returning to school wasn’t in the best interests of my kids at that time. 

I had heard about deschooling but I didn’t truly understand what it was all about so we didn’t deschool. In hindsight, we should have spent time reconnecting first. For the most part, the kids did the few workbooks we used and they did project based learning around topics of interest. It worked for a while and we trundled along, finding our new rhythm. 

Later on in the year, the kids were disengaged and had realised they didn’t want to learn in the same way that they did in school. Your kids will generally tell you exactly what they think, whereas in school, they will often go along with the activities they’re given so what works in the classroom may not work at home.

What does deschooling actually look like?

It can look like an unstructured time with lots of play and child centred activities. Free reading (reading whatever they like, not set texts), outings to playgrounds, connecting with other homeschooling families, baking, cooking, reading to them or listening to audios, enjoying movies and documentaries, doing Lego challenges, having fun with art. Any activity that helps you to connect with your kids and helps them to find that spark. 

What about meeting registration requirements?

As far as meeting state requirements for registration, deschooling is simply a period of adjustment and it is child led learning. You can still document and record what you have been doing. The kids will be learning so just make some notes about conversations you have with your kids or about your observations. This also helps you to find out where they are at, what they are interested in and how they learn. 

Whilst you are deschooling, research homeschooling methods and look into resources that will support you on your homeschooling journey. Chat with your kids about how they learn and what they’d like to learn. Figure out their learning styles. Knowing how your kids learn and what works best for them helps you to find your rhythm quicker as a family.

First, definitely don’t do what we did and skip deschooling at the start of your journey! Though if you do skip it, you can take time to deschool at any point in your homeschooling journey, just as we did. It's your journey and you will find your way.

In my next blog, I’ll be sharing my thoughts on finding the resources to support your homeschooling family.