Environment
The phase of mastering all you have access to in your immediate environment. As you grow your environment grows to incorporate expanding frames of references and expanded exposure to new environments. Babies only know the room they are kept in, their environment grows as they expose themselves or are exposed by parents to other rooms, spaces and the outside places.
Exposure
The phase of being exposed to that which you knew nothing about and do not have direct access to without resources provided from an external source or expert source. Exposure requires a secondary party or change of environment. Exposure adds to your Environment or known universe. This builds your frame of reference by broadening your horizons.
Engagement
The phase of exploring all there is to know about what you have been exposed to. Engagement moves the learning in Exposure from a passive task of taking in to an active task of navigation, unpacking, diving deeper and doing research. Engagement is driven by interest, the curiosity of unanswered questions. If there is no deep interest from Exposure, Engagement may fizzle out for a certain subject or never be sparked. THIS IS OKAY. Do Not push or force Engagement. Engagement is self driven. Theories and hypotheses are formulated in Engagement. Children may come up with ideas both wild and grounded. Whether imaginative or rooted in reality they are manifesting their own world view. Not being fed one.
Experimentation
The phase of putting ideas to work. Making mistakes, building confidence and pushing ideas to their limits. Theories and hypotheses are tested in Experimentation. You seek to find out how true the theories you have studied are. You try to disprove what you have learned. You may begin to formulate a plan to do something with your new found knowledge. This may feel like a phase of total geeking out.
Endeavor
The phase of action or mastery. Doing something, getting answers or the completion of having learned a topic to your fullest extent at the time (not exhaustive there is always more and new information coming out). This completion phase is never ending for lifelong learners. This phase may not happen in succession of all the other phases. You may need to go back and learn another topic to complement Engagement and Experimentation in order to acquire the skills needed to execute or realize a successful Endeavor. Endeavoring never fails. It always yields answers from a lesson learned from Experimentation. It may yield a profitable business idea, project or product, art or music, book or course, team or set of relationships.
Parents, For Your Mental Health
These phases are all part of many cycles your kid will experience. They are not levels for grading or judgment. They are mental focus points for us as parents to avoid internal panic rooted in our own schoolishness and old programming about what life "should be". I offer this as a state of mind useful for imagining and generating ideas to get through a roadblock or overcome our own schoolishness moments. Your kid might jump past some phases quicker than others for various topics they enjoy or don't care for. Let them be!
You will start to see, each phase can be revisited at varying times for varying durations as they endeavor towards the Experimentation phase. The completion of Experimentation may or may not inspire an Endeavor it should not be forced but rather encouraged so as to not build stress but assist in reaching a level of satisfaction your kid is happy with.
Notes of Encouragements
I just realized 8 years later, there is a 6th E needed "Encouragement"
I encourage you, my unschooling parent friend, don't just give up unschooling because it might seem difficult at any phase, or there are roadblocks. Simply go at your own pace. There is nothing to rush towards. No deadlines no tests no graduation, just live life with "your mini-me". Your kid and you are going to learn what you need to learn, let go of what doesn't serve you, then pick up later what you need when it's needed.
Sometimes, so called or seemingly, a lack of ambition could just be a missing skilling set or the search to find the light switch. Unschooling at times can very well look like nothing at all. This is normal! And when you turn around to have a conversation with your kid, you might find yourself surprised there was a universe worth of data being processed by your kid.
Unschooling is a lifelong learner's journey.
We may "Venture in the Unknown", make new discoveries, create a product, an actual thing from our entire experience or we may start over with another topic to simply acquire more knowledge and skill building. Unschooling can produce polymaths or subject matter experts all we as parents need to do is provide the resources our kids request and unlearn systems of performative control.
Remember unschooling, It's Easy!