It’s August and many Michigan parents are in their back-to-school era. In some families, school never stopped for the summer. Their kids don’t plan on stepping foot inside a classroom this year either.

Instead, those parents are “unschooling” their kids. Unschooling is a kind of home schooling, but the kids take the reins in what they learn. Some parents behind the effort took me to school on what unschooling is.

“Unschooling to me is completely different from what traditional schooling is,” says Molly Bonds.

She’s practiced unschooling with her two boys their whole lives. Bonds is a former grade schoolteacher and she taught for a decade. Now Molly is a 24/7 educator for her 9- and 11-year-old sons. They’re being unschooled in their Ann Arbor area home.

“Homeschooling, you’re usually educating your child at home. You’re usually following a curriculum versus unschooling, you’re following your child’s desires, your child’s interests. So, you may grab a curriculum to help with that but overall, you’re really just presenting like a feast for your child. Your child’s picking and choosing what’s interesting to them,” Bonds said.

Lynette Heinz is on the other side of the state, near Grand Rapids, but she’s on the same page with unschooling her three kids. The eldest is on the verge of starting unschooling at the high school level.

“The unschooling is happening year-round all day long,” said Lynette. “I see them learning so much in ways that works for their learning styles and their interests, so they’re really motivated.

“Schools, the structure of them is set up really well for certain students, certain learning styles, and personalities but there’s a lot who don’t really fit the box of school,” Lynette added.

Unschooling isn’t a uniform method of educating and it can look different to each household practicing. It’s also not tracked at the state level. Michigan doesn’t keep track of how many kids are enrolled in any home school program. Per the Michigan Department of Education:

There are no required tests for a home-schooled student. The issuance of report cards, transcripts, and diplomas are the responsibility of the home school family (based on internal standards). The annual reporting of a home school to the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) is voluntary. (Reporting is required if student is seeking special education services) Unschooling parents say the state not keeping close tabs does not mean their children aren’t learning.

“For all of them who are homeschooled or unschooled, there are nine required classes that parents have to make sure - it’s the same classes you get if you go to school. Math, science, language arts, and history and language arts get broken up a little bit and then civics,” said Lynette.

Bonds added, “you have to teach the U.S. constitution, the Michigan constitution, Michigan history, so they want to make sure you are actually graduating someone who’s going to be functional as a citizen.”

Parents can give their kid a high school diploma if they stay home through 18 years old. Both Lynette and Bonds said if their kids do want to start public school, they can. In the meantime, they say they’re working lessons into everyday life.

“If we’re at a museum, that’s their classroom at that moment. If we’re traveling and we’re in Florida on the beach in the middle of winter, that’s their classroom at that moment. If we’re at a park with friends that’s the classroom,” said Lynette.

Bonds added, “inflicting a schedule on your children seems a little adult to me and so I would like my children to have open-ended free play time for the majority of their day.”

A playground or any place play can happen is a good place to facilitate learning, according to the U.S. State Department.

In a “Teacher’s Corner” article about teaching English Language Arts, the state department shares, “when teachers use activities that make learning engaging and fun, students are more willing to participate and take risks. Having fun while learning also helps students retain information better because the process is enjoyable and memorable.”

An American Academy of Pediatrics article titled “The Importance of Play in Promoting Healthy Child Development and Maintaining Strong Parent-Child Bonds” backs up the value of play by saying, “play is essential to development because it contributes to the cognitive, physical, social, and emotional well-being of children and youth.”

“I knew from a very young age Ginley liked dinosaurs. So, my youngest was into dinosaurs, I had dinosaurs for him. We read dinosaur books. That’s unschooling. That is playing with my child, realizing what he likes, what his interests are and because we have that super amazing partner to child connection I knew the things,” Bonds said.

Both parents say when asked about unschooling, they don’t really get a lot of negative push back or comments. One myth they do want to put to rest is, their kids are getting socialization, and they have friends outside of their homes.

“That is why we’re here today. So, every single week on the same day of the week we meet up. The kids are playing. The parents are interacting. and it’s much more socialization than you could ever get at school because at school you’re quiet, you’re sitting in your chair, you’re raising your hand. I taught public school, and we were keeping our kids very quiet,” said Bonds.

Lynette added, “everything that typical high school has around here, the homeschoolers have that same thing. They have homecoming dances. They have other like prom type dances.”

The parents both belong to the Facebook group, “Unschooling Michigan.” They invite any other parents interested in learning more about the concept and putting it into practice, to join.