Unschooling

About the time my daughter would have gone to pre school I met homeschooling families.

I had no idea what I was embarking upon. I could not have dreamed of anything more comfortable and meaningful. 

It would be years before I developed into a an unschooling radical. For those early moments and days it was just nice to find a community. 

We were living a random life. She never had a bed time. I wanted her to learn all there was to know. 

I limited her tv and movie watching time in favor of her playing or doing crafty things. I was always watching something as well as online. 

Finally I realized if the new families we were meeting were living without school we could try it. 

I thought homeschooling meant school at home. Text books, work books and tests. Boy was I wrong. It is just not how our relationship worked best. My daughter fought the idea of me making her learn. 

I knew she knew many if not most of the things she needed to. I was only trying to conform her to what I had experienced in school without question. She would have none of it.

I decided to change my day to day tactic and do some research. Life went on.

I continued to hang out with families raising children without school.

The thought of unschooling sounded like living in a car or living in a tree not caring what children might get out of the process.

Oh it was so long ago. I could not quite articulate even as I was appreciating that life is learning. 

Now I can tell parents: A normal healthy child, heck any child with some level of capability, will be constantly taking in from the world we give them access to.

You will know if they are not meeting reasonable benchmarks.

As my daughter got older I knew she could read but I could not get her to which pained me. I worried. 

One morning she woke me up reading the fine print on the back of a cereal box. There was some some prize or game she was interested in.

I was barely awake and she was reading every word. So excited was she to participate. At first I was annoyed to be awakened and bored to try and half listen before coffee.

However a little light went on and I thought hahaha she is reading.

Isn’t that the goal of education? To empower our youth to be able to interface fully with the world they will face as adults.