Home Schooling in America: ‘Unschoolers’ Put Children in Charge of Their Learning

Daniel Matica, a father of five in rural Worthington, Mass., is from Romania and the first in his family to go to college. He says his traditional schooling experience in Romania made him skeptical when his wife Erin Matica suggested that their children not attend school. Erin Matica explains ‘unschooling’ as a “philosophy of home schooling where the kids are in charge of their own educations.” The children decide what, and how, they learn, while the Maticas find ways to support their learning pursuits and passions. “They have a lot of freedom,” she says, “but at the same time they have a lot of responsibility as well.” The Matica family was profiled as part of an Education Week video series on home schooling families.