FWIW, the families in the video seem to practice consensual living in addition to unschooling. They are often practiced together, but they are not the same.
I guess what I'm asking is, do any of you guys exclude subjects solely because your child doesn't want to do them? And if you don't, is it really considered unschooling?
My child is only 4 1/2, but of course there are things she is interested in and things she is not interested in (and naturally these things fluctuate). She does the things she is interested in. She is certainly not going to choose to do something she doesn't want to do and I'm certainly not going to force her. Are there things I'd like her to know by the time she is an adult? Of course. Am I concerned that she won't learn them? Not in the least. It's easy for me to let go of that worry because she's constantly surprising me with what she knows, and I can only imagine that externally directed learning would slow her down. I believe that unschooling ND kids is probably a lot harder to justify to the outside world, but I see no reason it wouldn't be every bit as good for the kids.
Personally, I think that the idea that kids are going to grow up totally uneducated in one subject or another is pretty misguided. Sure, they may learn things earlier or later than is typical in school, but, baring disability or neglect, no child is going to turn eighteen unable to do basic math or read or understand the general principles of science or the most important facts of history. And IMO if there is something an unschooled child is unable or unwilling to learn from his or her environment, it is very likely something he or she has no need or desire to know.
