But before I dive into this, allow me to introduce myself.
I’m Sue Patterson, your host here at the Unschooling Mom2Mom Podcast. Each week (usually) I’m here to talk with you about all the benefits of unschooling. My own unschooled kids and their friends are grown now - some with kids of their own. So I’ve been looking a trends and information about childhood for a very long time. If you’re interested in learning more about unschooling, start at my website, UnschoolingMom2Mom.com

Reach out if you’d like to get on my calendar to chat about any concerns you may have.
And just so you know, we all start out with concerns. Time passes, we start to observe our children for even more years, and some of these questions do resolve themselves. Sometimes new questions come up. I love being able to share what I’ve seen happen with so many families that opted for this unconventional approach.

A long time ago, I wrote an article for a magazine called The Mother Is Me.
The article was, “Where have all the thinking parents gone?” I was referring to all the parents who saw the value of play-based learning when their kids were little, but then they shifted gears when Kindergerten rolled in. Suddenly, they were all about getting their kids signed up at all the best schools - and they jumping onto the conveyor belt with everyone else.

And this is happening at younger and younger ages.
Now it’s not just Kindergarten - although that push is REALLY strong!
It’s hard to find support.

As parents of preschoolers, you find yourself surrounded by families who are going to shift gears and suddenly send their little ones off to preschool. Most of the conversations among parents are all about getting them in the “right” school or program. Or this is the “Feeder school” for some other place that have waiting lists and parents are clamoring for. It’s so competitive and we just fall right into all of that.

Even those of us who aren’t that competitive start freaking out. I believe it could be because we were primarily raised in schools where competition was the way they got us to conform. With class rankings and comparisons between kids and their test scores - to teachers who definitely gave the impression of “ohhh! You don’t want to be left behind, do you?”

And we carry that with us.

SO if you’re a parent leaning toward unschooling, and you mention you’re thinking of not jumping on the bandwagon, maybe even just skipping a Pre-K year - concerned friends and family toss a lot of doubts and worries into the path.
Like…

Won’t they be behind when you DO start them in school?
What about all the missed opportunities?
Are you as the parent just being too clingy?

And then… Yikes!
You start to wonder, “is that what’s going on??”
I can hear all the self-doubt.
Often parents of preschoolers are new parents filled with uncertainty and DO worry that they’re doing something wrong.

We’re all told to ignore our gut and conform like everyone else!

So marketing taps into all of this,, and we’re easily manipulated by the implication (or saying it outright),
“You don’t want YOUR kid to be left behind, do you?”
And man… Fear is in the driver’s seat at that point, right?
Not only fear that our kids COULD be left behind, but fears that we aren’t doing a good job as moms or dads!

It’s a double whammy!

So any time you feel you’re making decisions out of fear, slow it down.
No one is going to be left behind.

Let’s look at it all rationally and wrestle the microphone away from the marketing people!

Your 3 Action Steps

I have three action steps for you:

1

Below, I have a list of 10 Tips for Unschooling little children.

• Practical tips for helping you with focusing more on playing with them and less about subjects.
• Guides to help you if you have a lot of people ganging up on you for your decisions!
• Even links to more articles and research supporting this idea of delaying academics.

I want you to go scroll down and look at the list of things to do..
I'm keeping this all on one page to make it easily accessible.

2

Next, I want you to create a new habit. I want you to read a little every day from the list of articles and research supporting unschooling and not duplicating school.

Extensive collection of articles pertaining to Pre-School & Play-Based Learning

One article a day over coffee.
Or a podcast while you push the kids on the swing.
Think of little places in your day where you can slip in more information to help you. You have a lot of years to offset really. You’ve been conditioned to think of the school-approach as the one-right-way, and it’s not. It’s not even the BEST way. So educating yourself on this now, while the kids are little will help you so much as they get older!

3

If you’re feeling alone and wishing you could surround yourself with other parents who see the value in this unschooling approach,

Join the Creating Confidence membership group.

Parents of preschoolers need support. You’re learning to trust your intuition and getting okay with moving away from the status quo.

Joining the group will help you learn more about how unschooling works and gain the confidence they need to create the home life that is filled with learning and connection.
You can bring questions to our group coaching calls and brainstorm with other families who are also opting for something that actually FITS our kids and our families.

In wrapping up,

The bottom line is that when we push academics with our littlest ones - we’re wasting their time. Time that would be better spent accumulating real life experiences filled with play, with trial and error, with imagination. All because we’re sticking with what’s familiar. And maybe we’ve even created some stories around it that we need to dismantle.

So even if you never become unschoolers,
focusing on play-based experiences, connection with them - and fun - is such a better use of the time.
For you and for them.

That’s it from me. Take care, enjoy your family, and happy unschooling! I’ll be back to talk with you again next week.

Are you curious about unschooling your little one?

Do you wonder if there's a "good" age to start?

The good news is, your kids are already on that path! They've started without you!
It's the natural way for children to learn:

• To gravitate toward their interests
• Seek some help from their grown-ups
• Continue on with their curiosities!

Kids don't need lesson plans to learn to walk or talk or hold a spoon. Unschooling is about recognizing that this hard-wiring to learn is in every human being. Unschooling little ones is no different!

The next question that follows is...

What should I be doing with them?

And the answer is one that drives people crazy... it depends.

• It depends on their personality - how do they like to interact with their world?
• It depends on their interests - what do they like to do?
• It depends on their curiosities - how can you support them?

And those are really the keys to figuring out your next steps.
There's no formula that takes those unique pieces into consideration.

You don't need a PreSchool Curriculum

You don't need to hurry with some topic because their brain needs it NOW.

You don't need to worry they're going to be left behind other kids.

They're right on time. Staying tuned into their unique way to approach their lives will be the way to create the most - the BEST - individualized learning opportunities for your kids!

A Huge Collection of Resources



I love it when parents of younger children want to learn all they can about parenting and education. I have an enormous collection of articles and videos that can help you. If you find additional resources that will help other parents of Littles, be sure to put it in the comments here or at this link.

What kinds of resources are over there?

• Mainstream media articles addressing the problems arising with starting kids in school settings too young
• Importance of Play, articles that emphasize how learning and play are intertwined.
• Parenting Help for those who want to break away from some of the mainstream techniques - but don't know what to do!
• First-hand accounts of unschooling families with younger kids
• ​Activity suggestions unschoolers have recommended