Unschooling: When Life is the Curriculum with Yonat Sharon

Today, Maria talks with Yonat Sharon, a freelance iOS developer, writer, and speaker. Her learning journey, and that of her four children, is one of a kind and might change your mind about education as we know it. 

Yonat learned to code at home at a very young age after her father bought a computer for her older brother. And for over twenty years, she has been unschooling her four children. When digital communities were not a thing, she built a virtual place for the unschooling community in Israel to connect families across the country and enable them to learn and grow together. 

If you are a parent considering unschooling your children, this conversation provides actionable insights to help you get started and ease your way on a learning journey where life is the curriculum. Even if unschooling is not for you, this episode offers specific recommendations on what schools can learn from unschooling to help them develop independent, lifelong learners who own their learning journey and create the life they want. 

If you are a parent with your children at home struggling with distance learning, Yonat’s unique experience and perspectives will help you identify opportunities to make your children’s learning enjoyable for them and you. 

This was an eye-opening conversation for Maria. Not only did it help her change her mind about a few aspects of conventional education, but it also guided her to think about learning as a beautiful tool to build stronger connections with our families, friends and communities. 

I hope you will enjoy this conversation that turns traditional education on its head and provides specific and actionable insights to help you build better relationships with your children while learning at home.

 Listen to this episode and explore:

Introduction to Yonat Sharon (1:28)

Yonat’s favorite childhood memory playing in nature (4:25)

How Yonat learned to code at home at a young age when her older brother got a computer (5:26)

Studying science and math and wanting to have a family (8:40)

How Yonat and her husband decided to start unschooling their children (9:33)

The difference between homeschooling and unschooling (11:40)

How Yonat supports her children with their learning interests and how the children find what they want to learn (12:34)

Learning in physical and social places through real-life experiences (15:05)

Yonat’s insights about supporting her four children’s needs on a given day (15:55)

The learning preferences of her children driven by their interests and passions (17:28)

How children can be self-directed learners, but they don’t have to be (19:42)

How to create an effective learning environment at home using short-feedback loops (20:46)

How to improvise when children’s interests change over time (23:25)

Yonat’s approach to unschooling her children through trial and error and the skills she developed along the way (24:00)

One thing that Yonat would do differently if she started unschooling her children today: joining the unschooling community and meeting other parents and children from the start (26:26)

How Yonat created a virtual community for the unschooling families driven by her interest in the wiki and world-wide-web (28:00)

Why the children wanted to have their own wiki and how they learned to read and write while building lifelong friendships (29:26)

Maria and Yonat discuss how children develop independence by parents and teachers getting out of their way (31:05)

What school can learn from unschooling to help them develop lifelong independent learners: student-driven learning and short-feedback loops (33:34)

Yonat’s unique insights on the role of control, neglect, involvement and connection in unschooling and parenting (36:00)

The greatest gift of unschooling: Time. And how time helps children to immerse in deep learning (38:38)

Why children like to learn difficult things as long as they relate to them (41:06)

Maria and Yonat discuss the role of fantasy play and storytelling in learning and planning  (43:38)

How Yonat guided her children to learn through play and storytelling to (47:47)

Yonat’s family experience during the pandemic: How knowing how to be with each other made things easier during the stay-at-home restrictions (49:24)

Maria and Yonat discuss the role of community in unschooling and homeschooling and how physical communities have evolved over the years (51:16)

What Yonat wants to leave her mark on during her lifetime. It might surprise you! (56:20)

Where to find more about Yonat Sharon:

LinkedIn

Professional Experience 

Learn more about curriculum-based Homeschooling

Production team:

Host & Producer: Maria Xenidou

Introduction Voice: David Bourne

Contact us:

impactlearningpodcast(at)gmail.com

 Music credits:

Like Lee performed by The Mini Vandals

Transition sounds: Swamp Walks performed by Jingle Punks