Unschooling at the base level is giving your child the ability to learn the things they are driven to learn. For gifted kids it looks a WHOLE lot different than what it would look like to others.
Many of our unschooling friends look askance at me when I describe what we do as unschooling. My kids choose maths, chemistry, Shakespeare, genetics etc as their fields of interest. I find ways to help them reach their objectives by finding resources that will assist them.
I introduce things that I like, as does the husband. Some they will like and some they won't and that's fine.
I do insist that if they ask to do a specific class/sign up activity that they accept responsibility for fulfilling any commitments that will derive from that. eg, if you choose violin and your teacher asks for daily practice, you need to understand you are committing to that.
What does our day look like? My boys like lists, so we make up lists of "things I'd like to do today". These include music practice, maths, German, Dreambox, attend Soccer practice, ride my bicycle, play LEGO, e-mail granny, bake a cake... whatever THEY wish to achieve this day, shaped around any activities we have on that day. (to me this is teaching a host of life skills)
Sometimes they tick them off, sometimes not. Sometimes we do all those thing, more than not we don't. And that's okay too. They are becoming answerable to themselves for their own goal reaching. And that, to me, translates to being independent learners.
We travel as often as possible, go on outings etc. We use online resources a lot, and we access other people for answers and discussions.
I see the freedom and potential it brings, and I see how much MORE self control and self discipline is evolving in Aiden the longer we do this.
I don't want to nag and beg and shout and threaten. He has his goals and he is becoming more and more aware of what he needs to do to achieve these. I believe that unschooling really is the best deal for a headstrong perfectionist who likes to learn in secret and jump around and around between topics, depth of learning and technical advancement of learning too.
At the end of each day I see my boys happy AND learning AND feeling more self confident in their abilities to chose for themselves.
So from me it gets a BIG YES!
