I have two data points for unschooling, my two children. After a foray in public school in SF, we decided to take one kid out at first, and the other one a year later, the older in 3rd grade, and the younger in 2nd grade. We unschooled them, which we were able to do because we had the equivalent of one full time parent available every day. It was hard work for us, mostly for my wife. It was expensive too. We hired tutors for certain things, we sent them to workshops, classes, etc… but it was always after they expressed interest (one way or another). After 3 years and one year of COVID, our kids expressed interest in going back to school to be around more kids their ages. It was weird for them (and for us!) at first, but they adapted to the schedule pretty quickly and they’re straight As kids.

It worked because in a way, they already had it in them. They both were (and still are) very curious and self-starters. They liked unschooling for a while, and to this day they still have an do-it-yourself attitude when it comes to learning things that they’re interested in —- I think most kids do, and in their case it got cemented during this period.

But they got sick of it too, they got sick of not having a clear schedule, clear goals to meet, too much uncertainty. Now they like more academic-oriented schooling, a bit of the opposite of unschooling, and they’re thriving.

We were lucky that the director of the elementary school they ended up in. She was very welcoming of our kids, and expressed that she herself had an unstructured upbringing. More interestingly, she seemed to think kids should have some unschooling period in their lives, as having free range helps them develop as people.

Anyway, as I said, 2 data points