Philip Patston explores 'unschooling' and laments his own creative education.

"I missed out on perspective, post-modernism and portraiture. Who knows how that kind of learning would have shaped my adolescent brain?"

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The other morning I watched, uncustomarily, TVNZ's Breakfast programme and caught an item on 'unschooling', described as "home-schooling without the books". Broadcaster and education commentator, Gordon Dryden, spoke about the unconventional and controversial experiential learning technique.

Serendipitously, while clearing emails after a week away, I opened an email from my brother with the (video below), made by my nephew Matt, arguing against homework. I think it's great.

The serendipity for me is that it embodies the spirit of unschooling, showing how kids as young as 8-years-old can harness a range of skills – constructing an argument, planning, writing, using humour, editing etc – without schoolbooks but merely experimenting using the technology around them.

To this day, I feel a little sad that, at school, I never did art classes, because I needed spare periods to catch up on english, maths, science. Art was seen as more expendable than the so called “three Rs”.

But I often bump into my art teacher, Angela Fraser, because we both live in Grey Lynn. Together we’ve lamented that I never had that creative input as an adolescent. I missed out on perspective, post-modernism and portraiture.

Who knows how that kind of learning would have shaped my adolescent brain?

I love the idea of unschooling and, as so eloquently stated by Dryden, it does not need to be a threat to conventional education. Rather, unlike my experience at school 35 years ago, it can add an exciting and creative learning alternative.

And, of course, there's no homework!