Unschooling under SC Laws

How can you implement unschooling under SC laws and record-keeping requirements? The SC laws seems very structured, so how does it work with unschooling?

Check out my guest post at Homeschool.com
—>How to Homeschool with Unschool Method<—

Unschooling is child led learning. It can also be called discovery learning or project-based learning. You can utilize this homeschool method and stay compliant with the record-keeping requirements in South Carolina.

Unschool method believes that learning occurs anywhere, not only in designated spaces. Learning takes place anytime, not just at designated times. Learning happens in living life, not necessarily presented in specific sequential order. We just need to document the learning activities.

Unschooling Under SC Laws

Covering the subjects: SC law says that you should cover some basic subjects: Reading/Writing, Math, Science and Social Studies. But, unschoolers find the subjects to be arbitrary divisions–and it technically isn’t necessary till you want to write an official transcript in High School.

Many unschoolers just track the activities such as building a blanket fort or baking a cake or play acting. And they don’t worry about whether it’s covering reading, or math…or what exactly. The subjects blend in there–and it’s not necessary to figure out which subjects it “counts” for. You know you’re covering the subjects at some points during the activities.

Curriculum, textbooks and workbooks are not part of the requirements in the law. Remember record-keeping is for your benefit, to see your child’s progress. The content and the format should make sense to you.

Documentation requirements: SC law says that the parent will keep track of daily learning activities. Unschooling includes unstructured free time–and you just write that down. Some people use an app, like evernote or seesaw that includes pictures and videos instead of written documentation.

You’ll keep track of daily learning activities. You’ll also keep some samples of the student’s work. Then, you’ll take a look back periodically to see progress that you didn’t notice in the day-to-day. That’s what’s required in the law.

• Read more about how to document unstructured play.
• This is an example of how one unschooler in SC does her documentation
• When you get to high school, you can still count unschool/independent studies as a high school credits, too.

Be sure to write down those “a-ha” moments when your child has accomplished something, learned something or mastered a new skill. It helps you trust the process is working. Writing it down helps you remember (because we all suffer from CRS–can’t remember squat).

Association policies: Each association has different requirements for what documentation they want you to turn in and if it needs to be in a certain format. Some associations want you to list out the curriculum you’re using. Some may want you to format the progress report as a report card with grades.

If the association policies require you to format a report card or list curriculum, you might want to consider another association. Unschoolers tend to not do grades or subject categories in a traditional format like that. Choose an association that understands unschooling methods and allows you the flexibility in documentation procedures.

Whether you dabble in the unschooling sometimes or get fully immersed in it–you can document the learning your student is doing as SC law requires.
Content and format is up to you so you can see your child is making progress.

Here’s 3 REAL Reasons for Record-keeping:
More about Unschooling:

The Unschooling Handbook: How to Use the Whole World As Your Child’s Classroom (Prima Home Learning Library)Unschooling To University: Relationships matter most in a world crammed with contentUnschool Yourself First: A Parent’s Gateway to Self-Directed LearningUnschooledHomeschool Gone WILD: Inspired Learning Through LivingSandra Dodd’s Big Book of UnschoolingDo It Yourself Unschooling Journal: & Eclectic Learning Handbook (60 Day Emergency Homeschooling Curriculum Plan) (Volume 7)The Homeschoolers Are Not Hermits Quick Start Guide to Homeschooling