I'm not really hard core anything when it comes to education. I recognize that what's good for one child isn't necessarily what's right for another one. Add to that, I believe in mixing it up a bit for the same kid sometimes.
I understand that the ideal of unschooling is to let a child follow his or her own natural curiosity to the result of learning. I do believe that this does allow a child - and an adult - to not only surface learn, to really inhale and take a topic to heart.
Last year, my then seventh grade daughter unschooled herself in all things Tudor Era England. And I do mean all things, not just Henry plus six. She went into details on the extended Tudor family. Another great example, I believe, of unschooling success.
However, my daughter's unschooled time was also supplemented by resources from a Waldorf publisher's site. http://www.steinerbooks.org/ Some of her Tudor Era interests were even covered in the history book The Age of Discovery by Charles Kovacs.
This brings me to the title of this post. I see that for many alternative homeschoolers the word curriculum has a bad rap. Curriculum is often seen as "school in a can," to use Gregory and Martine Millman's expression. A curriculum can also be a wonderful resource to a child pursuing his or her own interests. Many curricula offer excellent project ideas. Perhaps while following a curriculum, a child may develop a real love for the topic being presented and then step outside of the curriculum to further explore the topic - unschooling at its best! Maybe while learning about one topic, the child may become interested in a "brother-topic" that is introduced during the course of the study. Many curricula also offer suggestions for further reading which an unschooled child may greatly appreciate.
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