Just like dawn rising, snow melting and spring flowers easing their way into the sunshine, many long-term homeschoolers find themselves in a full-blown summer of unschooling, not quite sure how they got there.

But first, for the new readers, WFR at EveryWakingHour will try to answer What is unschooling? A good place to start for a big question, one with many answers.

So that may leave you wondering just what do unschoolers do all day? Play video games? Well, some do. It’s a part of the whole. Everything my son learned about Carthaginians is the fault of Age of Empires.

Perhaps we can stop by Samantha’s and we’ll temporarily interrupt her reading while she highlights some of the learning that goes on. And naturally, one unschooling household learns different things in different ways from another unschooling household. Allison shows us how everyday objects and occurances are chock-full of crunchy learning goodness and all about the word play. And legos. Who doesn’t love legos?

Updated: I missed this link this morning, but oh what a goodie it is! Amelia Earhart / Doc / Butch does a complete breakdown of the practicalities of creating a house, nay, your family, your life, that sets a stage where learning just can’t NOT happen. Even better, it’s part 1 of a series. Thanks, Doc.

Oh, I can hear you now wonder aloud. “But what about basic things like math?” Running2ks has agreed to field this question and shows quite precisely how something seemingly big scary and intangible (for some) like math really is all around us every day.

And there are families for whom unschooling is a season, something that drifts in and out of their routines. Melissa has explained it beautifully, this tidal homeschooling of hers.

Many wonder how something seemingly undisciplined can coexist with a Christian life. Spunky shares her lessons learned while unschooling : four undeniable truths.

After getting past the basics of unschooling, we are often asked deeper and more thought-provoking questions about freedom, choice and responsibility. Daniel talks about subtle differences in the choices we give our children. And in another entry here on site, Ron does a brilliant job of breaking down exactly what any child “needs” to know.

Unfortunately, even unschoolers have to put up with the standard question lobbed at any kind of homeschooler: (say it with me now) “But what about socialization?” Joanne goes further than the pat answers we all give and explains that here too, we give our children choice and freedom.

Thank you for joining us this month! I hope you came away with something thought-provoking, a better understanding of the process of unschooling and possibly some new reads. Tune in next month on the second Thursday, February 9th, for the third round. We are open for submissions until then. Please email the URL of your submission to submissions@atypicalhomeschool.net so they don’t get accidentally missed.

Note: The Carnival of Unschooling has move to Unschooling Voices.