Unschooling?

Does anyone here unschool their kids? It's a fascinating idea, but I'm afraid my kids would miss out on opportunities later in life because they wouldn't have any motivation to try more academic career paths.

What does unschool mean? I have never heard of this concept. Is this to just let your kids do whatever they want without teaching them anything related to school? Why would someone unschool a kid?

Is this a joke? What is "unschooling" - I've never heard of it! I have to admit that there is a lot of math that I don't find necessary until later in life if you are in a profession that requires it, since they re-teach it to you later in college, anyway! But unschool? Please explain.....

Unschooling is letting your kids learn from life, the same way adults learn new things. You provide opportunities for them to discover interests, and the kids pick up knowledge from pursuing those interests. For example, someone who loves sailing will naturally learn physics, meteorology, navigation, etc.

I don`t think I would like that way of teaching my kids. They have to learn to read and write and do math. I would push them in the direction of their individual interests. There so many things they need to be in school to learn unless you home school them. I don`t have the patience for that.

This idea is totally ridiculous. While it is important to encourage kids to explore their choices and dreams, they need the reality of normal schooling in order to succeed. They still need to deal with banks, accountants, and other businesses in order to advance and you need numbers, letters, logic, and problem solving as taught in school.

Well they may not learn to read or write at 5 or 6, but eventually they would learn because they would need to in order to pursue their interests and to survive. Same with math--we all use basic math daily. People learn what they need to know outside of school too.