How to worldschool for unschoolers

Some call it worldschooling, we actually just call it life.

Af Cecilie Felumb Conrad | June 25, 2016

Learning defined

The cognitive end result of an experience, the knowledge and wisdom and skill, you take away from whatever happens in your life, is – when all added up – what we understand as education. In the western world we separate or value different kinds of learned elements, according to what is usually taught in schools, and what is usually learned voluntarily in your “free” time. Or differentiate “academic” stuff from “practical” stuff. It’s all in our minds.

Outside the box

Liv Ea studying a goppel

Anyway. We as a family celebrate the concept of worldschooling – but actually, we mostly do so, when we need to make people outside of the unschooling / worldschooling community understand what the heck we are doing with our lives.

Its complicated. At least, if you have never considered the idea of not using the schools to educate your children. What is even more complicated, is to try to explain: That the education as such is not the main focus of our life. We live, because we are engaged, intrigued, involved, motivated, inspired, curious, present. We live, because we want to, because life is calling.

The goal is to be (without at goal)

The learning: The skills, knowlede, experience we take away from all of lifes many different stages, and narratives – is just a byproduct. Rarely do we decide to learn something and engage in activities to do so. More likely do we want to see something, or run somewhere, or feel different or visit someone or join something or someone, and sometimes, we actually need to work on something in particular to learn something in order to realize the dream. But mostly, we “just” live. Making sense, and making a difference. With love.

Examples of focused voluntarily learning

I study spanish, since I like traveling in spanish speaking countries. It makes sense to me, and I like it a lot. Especially, when I actually need a word, and I find it in there, in my brain. But I do NOT study spanish in order to be able to speak spanish – just so. It is in order to connect to people, when I travel.

At one point a child can decide, he or she wants to be able to ride a bike. It takes practice, and the child will therefore practice. So, of course there are activities played out only to learn, but it is always voluntarely, self lead and motivated, and it is by no means something we structure or plan or praise a lot. It is just part of life.

It all ads up to a meningfull life

Just as the rest: Just as reading, and cleaning the house, and washing your feet, and finding carrots in germany or walking streets in Italy, or driving over a mountain, or looking at the 22.30 sunset in the high scandinavian summer, or feeding the birds in Venice or Copenhagen, or answering someones question or helping af friend or someone you don’t know.

It all ads up to a meaningful life with compassion and love, friendship and health, strength and fun.

Speaking educationese

And there is – in terms of what is normally perceived as education – much to take away from all situations: We learn language and principles of growth an ecology and planning of cities, when looking for the carrots. We study the much different human culture of the Italians, the building tradition and the joy of being a tourist – and language again, when walking the streets of some little city by Lake Como – and we even met a bar witch had a lot of penis-art of non-pornographic style AND live tortoises, featuring elderly men playing cards and enjoying huge amounts of espresso.

Then we learned the art of wondering … realizing that reality is always more surprising, than you could have ever known.

Anyway – you get the picture, and I will complete the anecdotes, as this magazine unfolds.

Terminology can be a great filter

When we do call ourselves WorldSchoolers, it is because of the intuitively easy to understand meaningfulness of this word: It is so easy to grasp, that the world is so ultimately inspirering, moving around and engaging in cultures, people, languages, lifestyles, places, naturesites, museums and countrysides – is likely to produce so much learning as added bonus, sort of work free learning, so that when explaining our unschooling, much traveling, unplanning lifestyle, most people “inside the box”, will intuitively understand the core of it.

Or at least I hope so.

With love