School choice

Mainstream state or Unschooling?

The difference between Mainstream state and Unschooling is mostly one axis: where the curriculum comes from. Mainstream state sits toward a fixed body of knowledge, set in advance; Unschooling sits firmly toward it emerges from the children. They agree, more than most people expect, on technology at school. Neither is the correct one. What follows is what each asks of a parent, and where the difference actually shows up on a Tuesday.

Mainstream state

A national curriculum, same-age classes, regular assessment, and an intake drawn from whoever lives nearby. It is the default rather than a philosophy, which is exactly why it belongs on this list: choosing it deliberately is a different act from ending up in it. The mixed intake is a real feature and, for many families, the main argument in its favour.

What it asks of you

  • Accepting that you get the school you get, and that teaching quality varies inside it
  • Being willing to supplement at home where the school is thin
  • Sometimes, moving house — which is how selection works in a system without fees

Unschooling

Home education without a curriculum. There is no sequence and no subjects; a child learns what they are pursuing, when they pursue it, with an adult whose job is to make resources and people available. Holt's argument is that children learn constantly and that schooling mostly interrupts it. It asks the most trust of any position in this instrument and offers the fewest reassurances along the way.

What it asks of you

  • Sustained nerve with no milestones to check yourself against
  • Constant availability — it is less structured than home education and not less work
  • Meeting the legal requirement wherever you are, which varies enormously
  • An honest distinction between this and neglect, which only shows up in what the adult is doing
Side by side

Where they differ

Mainstream state is the filled marker, Unschooling the hollow one. Widest difference first.

L4Where the curriculum comes from
it emerges from the childrena fixed body of knowledge, set in advance

Mainstream state sits toward a fixed body of knowledge, set in advance; Unschooling sits firmly toward it emerges from the children.

E1Mixed ages
classes of the same agemixed-age groups

Mainstream state sits firmly toward classes of the same age; Unschooling sits toward mixed-age groups.

L1Who directs the day
the child chooses what to dotimetabled, and directed by adults

Mainstream state sits toward timetabled, and directed by adults; Unschooling sits firmly toward the child chooses what to do.

C1What the family can put inwhat your life allows
school has to run without the parentsbeing in it, daily

Mainstream state sits toward school has to run without the parents; Unschooling sits firmly toward being in it, daily.

L3Measuring it
no grades, no testsgraded and tested regularly

Mainstream state sits toward graded and tested regularly; Unschooling sits firmly toward no grades, no tests.

L5What a teacher is
a guide who steps backan authority who instructs

Mainstream state sits toward an authority who instructs; Unschooling sits firmly toward a guide who steps back.

L2When formal academics start
when the child is ready, and late is fineearly, and ambitiously

Mainstream state sits a little toward early, and ambitiously; Unschooling sits firmly toward when the child is ready, and late is fine.

V3What it is for
childhood is the pointit should set up university and a career

Mainstream state sits a little toward it should set up university and a career; Unschooling sits firmly toward childhood is the point.

V2Who else is there
a broad, mixed intake matters mosta community that shares our values matters most

Mainstream state sits toward a broad, mixed intake matters most; Unschooling sits a little toward a community that shares our values matters most.

E2Outdoors and the body
learning happens at a tableoutdoors and hands-on is the point

Mainstream state sits a little toward learning happens at a table; Unschooling sits toward outdoors and hands-on is the point.

C2Money and distancewhat your life allows
free and local, or it is not an optionwe can pay, and we can travel

Mainstream state sits firmly toward free and local, or it is not an option; Unschooling sits a little toward free and local, or it is not an option.

V1A view of the world
school should stay neutralschool should teach a view of the world

Mainstream state sits toward school should stay neutral; Unschooling sits between the two.

Where they agree

Usually more than the argument between them suggests.

  • Technology at school. Both sit a little toward built in from the start.

Neither of these is the correct one

Which fits depends on what you value and on what your week actually allows — and the second of those is the half nobody writes about. The questionnaire scores both.

See which one you are already doing