Structure or No Structure

From my point of view, after home educating after 20years.  How one chooses  to home educate almost does not matter.  What matters, it seems to me, is the level of dedication and attention parents are willing to put into their children to help them succeed through their educational, life and learning experiences.  

I think this opinion is unlikely to be unpopular with those starting out, who are keen to know the "right" way to do it, and are still themselves caught up in the schooling system, or perhaps even reacting to it, and in all likelihood need some experience of deschooling, and learning based purely off interest, to understand more about how people learn, what motivates them and what creates a successful learning opportunity or environment.  Those who are true life learners after their educational experience, are not necessarily concerned about the "right" answer, but are aware that via the journey they will inevitably discover a successful pathway if they are consistent, and redirect and correct themselves when errors occur.

I myself, am not a fan of a wholly interest led learning experience, but I know that with the right attention and guidance from parents that this method of home education is as valid and as successful, as those who follow what I call, "school by other means" where children are ferried to classes the majority of the week, all over town and get an alternative schooled education.  The only method that I have direct experience with not working, is those that believe unschooling is doing nothing.

I have met many families over my 20yrs of homeschooling, who chose school, when they reach high school level, when they have taken the doing nothing, unschooling approach for the primary years, because when faced with the later part of education those families have not learnt *how* children learn.  I have even come across a couple of people now, who did not  want to home educate their own children, because they disliked the do nothing approach.

I do think this is unfortunate, as having read John Holt many years ago, I see a lot of value in interest led learning/unschooling, but it certainly is not doing nothing, and it is a pity that many people have mistaken it for that.  At it's core if that is the system one chooses, as far as I understand it takes a fair bit of discipline to manage to educate and cover all the learning areas via an interest led approach.  I know people that have done that, and have had their children do well too.

Personally we do a blended natural learning, Steiner inspired approach, that suits our family and I know it works.  I have three children finished now.  Two are very certain of the pathways they have chosen, and one who is still working it out, and from my view point this is fine.  Not all of us know excatly what we want to do, or where we want to be, and learning, and in particular interest led and exploratory learning is a continuous journey that will hopefully lead to the discovery of one's passions.

I am also at a point, where I just know so many home educated adults, who have experienced different types of education- no two families are identical in how they teach/raise their children and all of them were successfully home schooled or home educated.  Their children have gone onto careers in many different areas, and are leading successful and happy lives......some of these adults are now teachers, gardeners, hair dressers, naturopaths, electrical engineers, farm hands, nannies, zoo keepers, librarians.  

My own children have so far studied a Diploma in Music industry (classical voice)- Willow, a cert 4 in digital screen and media- Gabriel, a cert 3 in aviation (remote pilot), a cert 3 in ground operations, and  (recently completed) a Diploma in Aviation Management- Arden.  They have all made money busking when they were younger and also had a range of jobs working in cafes, juice bars, coffee bean stalls, clothing shops, admin work which turned in online fraud payment analysis.

This journey has certainly not been easy, but it has been worthwhile, and our children have had childhood and teenage lives unlike the majority of school children that I have met.  They are involved in life right from the beginning, and they get loads of opportunities to engage in the real world, and learn practical and useful life skills.

Now obviously this is my way to home educate, and it may not be yours, or your family's.  It's your job to work out how that will look, and what it will look like for you.  The rhythm should suit *your* family, the philosophy should suit you, the style should suit you.  If you decide it doesn't you can change it.  If what works for one child doesn't work for another, you do something different.  It is a learn on the job role, and with adequate support it is a very satisfying experience.

Some Thoughts on Learning

I've been home educating long enough now, to feel pretty happy with what we do. I've seen my children learn and grow, and many of the things that left me nervous and uncertain in my early days have been overcome. I have two adult children in their early stages of making their way in the world, and on the whole I feel home educating has been the right choice for our family.

Some things that I think are worth considering on this journey are the balance between structured (classes, etc) and unstructured learning (question led and going down rabbit holes!) and multi-generational family and independent learning.

Learning together- exploring colour as a family.

My parents were a blend of structured and unstructured in their approach to learning, and some of my fondest memories are of me spending time with my Dad, and having him explain to me various activities, that perhaps other adults would have thought I was too small to understand. As the second youngest of 12, I assume now he treated me this way because he was treated this way( he died 21 years ago). I feel very blessed to have had this experience and to have been able to bring an experimental multi-generational sense of learning to family, that I now realise was routed in spending time with my Dad.

When we started home educating, Willow who's 23, had been to a Steiner school and the creativity and the practical side, and the screen minimisation (both Damien and I were in favour of this, both of us had computers young, and Damien works as software engineer) and in our early years I was very much trying to replicate Steiner at home. I did quite a bit of reading on it, including reading some of Steiner's takes on education. At this stage now, in my 18th year, I feel this background continues to serve me in how I approach education with my children, as I have this understanding to fall back on, when I am wondering how my children are progressing in life. The main tenants, I find particularly useful are knowing that children in the first seven years tend to imitation, from 7-14 they tend to imagination, and from 14-21 they tend to inspiration.

In practise what this looks like is children under 7 copying everything they see and hear, try to use their vision of the world and what interests them to create the sort of people that they wish to become. For children 7-14, the imagination stage can be creating anything- stories, game, drawings, etc. 14-21 year olds, need guidance through mentorship, inspiring people and stories, and initiation to start to bring themselves into maturity.

So coming back to my earlier thoughts- structured and unstructured learning. Both have value and both have potential. My preference is to have a balance of both in our family. A class with an exceptional teacher/mentor can impart knowledge that I lack and the right circumstances speed up learning. However they do not tend to teach a child how to be a self-directed independent learner. That is something that unstructured learning can offer- particularly I think if a parent/guardian is prepared to be a co-learner with their child/student. Doing research together, asking questions together and exploring together, set up the child to understand how to do the process easily when they are more mature.

Trying out an ice hockey class.

Multi-generational learning, in a family or in extended community, brings enormous rewards in that the student gets to receive skills across the family, or across the generations of people that are becoming or have become significant in their field (this of course does not have to mean paid work- it could be a hobby that they are exceptional at). Independent learning give the student a chance to research , to understand their own boundaries and how far and how much they can push themselves without an adult judging whether they have done enough or are good enough. It encourages them to self-assess and to work on themselves, themselves.

A spontaneous bit of history- on a walk to a park to meet friends.

Some interest led learning- Arden exploring textures of fabric close up, on my camera.

And so, over the years I have noticed a couple of things in my community here, in Perth. People doing very structured home education- with lots of text books and classes can manage the high school years easily. They fall back on the idea of the traditional view of education, probably pre-dating modern schooling. Those that unschool in the early years, and do not learn how to learn with their children seem to come unstuck at high school, and seem to particularly need to send their children to high school, as they are uncertain how to transition into more academic style learning. This seems to be particularly the case when people claim that unschooling is "doing nothing" (I have heard this statement quite a number of times over the years, and I highly recommend reading John Holt for anyone that thinks that this is what it is). I find it quite a shame that many people come unstuck at this point, and I think it would serve many people well to remember that they are the child's first teacher- walking, talking, etc and to remember that what skills one has as an adult are valuable to pass on to children. Not force on to them, just work side by side learning together, so that the best of both world's can be had, and that there is no need to find endless classes (or schools) because sometimes learning in the family at home can be enough.

A past obsession; marble runs made out of jenga blocks. There was lots of self-directed creative play, building, learning and inspiration from youtube.

15yrs - A Review

Well my computer actually died, taking some things with it, and leaving this very neglected this year.  I had wondered if I wanted to continue posting on here- I really started it as a sort of a diary of homeschooling when I was quite uncertain of how it would go, and if I would be able to do it.  I know I can now.  I think  this is 15yrs.  Best decision for our family. 

There's been ups and downs and it gets a lot easier as time goes along- or at least it gets more familiar.  Children come with themes and personalities, certain things usually happen at certain time in childhood and having this knowledge makes home educating my younger two children easier than my older two children.  I have an idea of the path and the way forward.  The older two are still more challenging, but the older two also now are on their own journeys into adulthood- the oldest working in internet security, and enjoying it, and the second looking for work and continuing to study at home- in particular working on drawing, Japanese and maths in this past year as he contemplates the idea that he would like to study and work in Japan. 

 
I am thinking I will try to keep posting on this from time to time.  I've had a little feedback that it has given people the idea that they could home educate, and that was the other reason that I put it here.  To help provide others with ideas of "how to...".

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2025

I decided a while ago that I would continue.  It was nice to hear that some people I knew had found it useful.  When I started home educating, I used to spend a lot of time researching ideas and plans, etc online and in a way just looking for a little inspiration.  Inspirations for how we could do things at home, and what we could do.

Plus everything was very community based and so it was also nice to have ideas for our co-op, and to be encouraging each other along in our home ed community in Adelaide.  I'm really feeling a need to get a bit more grass roots community like that again, but TBH every time I've tried to create something like that in Perth it's never really worked, and quite some time ago I accepted, rather sadly, that it was not possible here partly, I think, because people here generally believe that there is nothing wrong with school.

Arden was always keen to have extra classes and more activities out and about, and so in the last few years of his home education I have tried to foster that a lot, and that has been one of the advantages of living in Perth; there are a lot of  classes and external activities.  Irving likes a more intimate learning environment and so I've been aiming to do more at home, and one on one with him.

I always like the idea that learning is for everyone and should be free and that the sharing of knowledge should be free and so that is another reason I've continue blogging and sharing more diverse thoughts on education, because simply, I have a lot of experience now, and I hope that I can continue to offer inspiration.

If you've enjoyed or got something useful from my blog please say hi, and let me know what helped you out, and there's a few link's shared below that may be particularly useful.

My early thoughts on natural learning vs natural learning, with 2025 update.

https://unicorn-pegasus.blogspot.com/2010/07/why-i-waldorf-homeschool-and-dont.html

John Taylor Gatto's resignation letter.  

https://unicorn-pegasus.blogspot.com/2023/07/john-taylor-gattos-resignation-to-wall.html

Willow's adventures at Uni.

https://unicorn-pegasus.blogspot.com/2017/06/adventures-of-homeschool-graduate.html

Childhood.

https://unicorn-pegasus.blogspot.com/2025/01/beginnings-and-endings-and-thoughts-on.html

Things I've Learnt Teaching My Four To Read.

https://unicorn-pegasus.blogspot.com/2025/07/learning-to-read.html

More Thoughts on Natural Learing

As we progress through our home education experience, we still continue to use structure and natural learning as a blend for our learning experiences.  Increasingly throughout my life, I've come to value balance- finding the middle view and how to bring that to life.  It seems to me, that so many things that humans do are out of balance; it seems to be an all or nothing approach, success or failure, healthy food or junk food, etc, etc.  As complex creatures we have the ability to be many faceted, to be able to define ourselves by our own rules and intuition, to honour our own voices and our own journey.

The longer I have home educated the more this is important, but so is belonging and fitting in and knowing when it's appropriate to break or bend the rules.  Individualism has been taken too far IMO, and has lead to people feeling isolated and lacking in connection.  Around here our main focus of home education has always been family, but I understand it as a goal more clearly now, than I did when starting out on this journey around 10years ago.  We regularly discuss how to be an individual whilst still being a part of the group; how to support family and still be oneself?  How to express one's inner ness and still be connected outwardly.  To me these are important components in creating a balanced home education experience, and that family must always be at the core.  So as part of that, each and every person in my family has value, no one or other greater than any individual.  As an example since I am the person that manages the education and the home, I have a need for a peaceful and tidy home.  I'm more relaxed and better at focusing on everyone when our home feels and looks tidy.  So this is a priority that needs to be achieved- everyone takes part in home loving day (this year on Fridays) so that as a group we have a more peaceful life because I feel supported with our home and keeping it tidy, and as individuals we need to learn how to take care of ourselves.  Various members of the family have jobs to do during the week to help maintain the comfort of our home, and make sure home loving day doesn't become too enormous.

The more I consider natural learning in this sense, part of me feels that as a society we lost our way over the last 60-100years.  Day in day out at home children would have once learnt all sorts of useful life skills from their parents taking care of the home.  Modern natural learning, seems to me to still be pre-occupied in many cases, that the parents cannot teach the children anything, and that everything must be about the child's interests without regard for the fact that there are some skills that the child must learn for a healthful and useful life.  Perhaps in the early 1900s everyone was totally overburdened with the level of tasks that needed to be done to survive, but we now have an alternative extreme where there are few too tasks to be done that have meaning, and it seems to me that a life without meaning is filled with disillusion.  For me the structure of home ed, balanced with natural learning and following a Steiner path returned meaning to my life.  Thus for me, a balanced approach is still both, some natural learning and some Steiner.

As my two oldest go through the high school years, we are taking a more unschooling approach; as I guide them towards fulfilling their dreams.  However for me I feel satisfied that they are capable young people who can care for themselves in the world, and without any structure in the early years, I feel certain that we would not have achieved that as a family.  Both Willow and Gabriel are able to cook lovely meals, competently clean the house, babysit, do a variety of crafts, as well as follow their own interests- for them both  there is a love of circus, Willow has a passion for writing and music and Gabriel has a passion for board-gaming and financial systems.  I feel like I have given them a solid basis as adults going out into the world, one where they have an understanding of how to support themselves, and how to look for support and guidance when it's needed, from that basis I feel that it's easier to then follow one's own interests, as the basics are covered.  I guess I see a lot of Steiner early education being on par with teaching a small child to use the toilet, be polite, eat a meal with the family.

With Arden I feel much more competent in regards to the journey, I know what's expected of Steiner education up through the primary years,and he's naturally guided towards various goals of the curriculum through our day to day life.  This year aged 7 1/2 he desired to have his own dinner night, as Willow and Gabriel do,  but due to our youngest , only being 2 1/2 I felt that I didn't have time to support that, but Dad (Damien) did.  In terms of Steiner education, this was perfect as we are approaching class 3- with it's focus on taking care of oneself- and it was linking naturally into life, because as a family we now have a solid base of understanding where we are going.  Something that was definitely absent in the early years of our home educating.

In case anyone's interested, these are some thoughts I had on natural learning, earlier through our home ed journey.

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2025

I feel I still pretty much agree with this.  We have varied how we do things a bit around here, now that we have adult children.  For instance, we aren't screen free in our home education any longer, but we are particular that the computers are used as tools for learning.  

Why I Waldorf Homeschool and Don't Natural Learn

I have been pondering the topic of natural learning.

My local homeschooling community here seem to be enamoured by it. And I'm fine with that, in many ways natural learning appeals to me. But what was disconcerting, IMO, on first stepping into the local homeschool community was how many of the mothers went on about how they did nothing- as they were natural learners. Doing nothing has never appealed to me, so their excitement put me off. Why would I stay at home with my kids, to do nothing?

After that I read a John Holt book- 'How Children Learn' and I got the idea. It did appeal- but not in the way that I wanted to embrace it over everything. Also I didn't understand how these parents thought he meant to do nothing- I interpreted it as being an instigator in enabling my children to learn the things that they are interested in.

And so I've been talking to someone about it again, yesterday. She seemed very interested in it- but funnily when she was talking about wishing she'd learnt music when she was younger, she seemed like she couldn't do it now. And yet to me that's the perfect way to show natural learning to one's kids. She wants to know how to do it- she finds resources to do it. And indirectly, through her learning, she teaches her children how to natural learn.

And so I do Waldorf homeschool, and we natural learn all the time. Through doing Waldorf I expose them to things beyond myself or themselves that possibly we would never have examined. And I love that. My natural learning is the Waldorf thing. Gabriel's natural learning recently has been looking at Atlantis, because he found it interesting after a school block of Willow's. Willow loves making things (which is easier due to our craft sessions). But then my goal is not to encourage my children to be natural learners, mine is to have children that find the world an interesting and amazing place- and can be interested in anything.

And so I don't embrace natural learning as my mode of education. It's great to choose to learn what you want- but sometimes one has to learn and do things one doesn't want to. And sometimes those things are interesting, I find that usually they are. But then I must wonder, is it my view of the world that is different to the parents that embrace this? Particularly those who embrace it in the 'I can do nothing' kind of way. I loved primary school. I loved wondering what exciting things the teacher would reveal to me each day. It was high school that destroyed my passion, and homeschooling that returned it.

I think perhaps some of these parents need to find their passion and show their children how they find it- and maybe then their children will know how to love learning.

Recently (2015) I've been reconsidering my views on this, and why I still feel a balanced approach is best for our family.  Here's a link to the page "More thoughts on Natural Learning".

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2025

(Disclaimer- I have not reread my 2015 take on writing this)

So these days I would say that we are 50/50 structured and natural learners.  Probably we always were, but because I hadn't deschooled myself enough I hadn't looked at the idea that as life learners we were natural learning in the times that we weren't learning using a structure.

For our family this really began with the move to Scotland, and travelling to Japan and Europe in 2004.  We got in the habit of being curious and examining the world with an open minded attitude.  When we returned to Adelaide in 2006 we looked at it with fresh eyes, and got in the habit of engaging with all the interesting local activities.  We went to the kids classes at the art gallery, we did French at alliance francaise, we went to Womadelaide, we went to the Irish fiddle nights at a local pub, we went and learnt Scottish dancing.  It turned out that there were loads of interesting things to do in Adelaide if you took the time to look.

I also realised on reading John Holt, that the idea of his book, How Children Learn, that children are naturally curious and intrinsically driven was quite obvious to me.  I had loads of great learning experiences alongside my Dad, asking him questions, both when he was and wasn't doing something.  Dad was always willing to explain how things worked to me, and so on a certain level this style of learning was so intrinsic to me, that we just did it anyhow.

In regards to school, particularly primary, I had a very positive experience, and with homeschooling I realised that my education had been very much inspired by Montessori, Steiner and probably even John Holt to an extent.  For years I went to school, wondering what we would be shown today, and excited at the idea of learning something new.  So it was obvious to me that there was a balance in the idea of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.  A teacher can create an extrinsic opportunity, that becomes intrinsic as the student engages and creates their own passion in discovering the joy of learning something that they may have not otherwise had the opportunity to learn.

It is particularly the case I think when one has something difficult and seemingly lacking of pleasure due to the lack of skills of the student.  It takes time and perseverance to accomplish some things, and this requires a build up of skills to get to the level to create at a certain level.  I know myself, when I was taught to knit, I became disillusioned at knitting a scarf, as I came to realise that it was "too big" and I would never finish.  (Eventually I gave up and made it quite short).  And as I taught the kids to knit, aged 6, I realised that it was super important to make the goal achievable in size, so that they could have the feeling of accomplishing something.

So these days we have come to the point of home schooling still within a Steiner framework, but it is much looser than it once was.  I still follow it fairly closely to year 8, as I think it gives excellent life skills.  I have given Arden and Irving a lot of choice of what they would like to learn within the topics.  For instance we are continuing to learn Ancient Greek this year, because Irving loved our taster of it, last year when we were studying Ancient Greece.

By high school we have headed to a more child/ student led experience.  The older two (partly out of necessity and partly from desire) planned and organised their own time and topics from about year 8 onwards.  Arden who preferred the structure, continued doing  whatever new topic Irving was doing, as well as his own learning, until he started at TAFE.

The main thing I have come to realise however, over my time home educating and home schooling, is that whatever method one uses, it will work, if one is dedicated to the process of enabling the student to learn, and understanding how learning occurs.  I have met many people here with the do nothing approach to unschooling/natural learning, and in high school they either go to school, or need to do classes every day of the week, because they very often haven't crossed over into intrinsic motivation.  The people overusing (IMO) structure, have fewer issues at this time with learning, because they have a system for learning, where the do nothing people do not.