As far as academics go, I consider DD an unschooler and we plan on letting her be one until she is at least 5. Every time I get a bit involved and DD can sense that she is being pushed into one direction or another, she loses interest so I have learned to let her be but each child is so different on this regard.
Amen to that - our DS3.5, when interested in something, will zoom ahead and learning everything there is to know. If we try to push him, coerce him, or even merely ASK him something that he doesn't want to answer, we get nothing. So I feel like unschooling is what we do with him at home...let him lead, if he wants to do something, he will (and seems to eventually find his way to the things we might have wanted to introduce to him in the first place). Trying to fight with a stubborn, smart toddler is just...well, basically impossible. So we don't do it
Sometimes (I'm a little embarrassed to admit) I do find myself thinking..."this kid can read so well...if only he LIKED to do it right now, think of the books he could be reading..." or "if he had an interest in learning piano, I KNOW he would be playing simple songs on it....he's so musical." but then I just bite my tongue. Eventually he will get there. Or not. He's an awesome, unique kid, and I'm not about to screw that up by pushing my own agenda him.
