Unschooling: Learning Without Rules

This week Izzy (13) and single mum, Jen, discuss how the years have been in and out of school for their family of 6, some of whom have special or complex needs. Jen had the difficult situation of passionately wanting to unschool but not always being able or permitted to because of mental health issues. She describes how she felt forced to take her children out of school. Izzy gives her impressions of life in and out of school and concludes that parents should ‘Let them be them’ I’d love to know your thoughts on this podcast. Please email [email protected] with any comments or questions. This is the last episode on the current run of the first series of 5. We’re having a short break while I learn to edit them myself (eek!) then will be shortly returning with a new series two. We hope to include a dads’ panel, more parent and child combos, a main stream teacher and a grandmother’s perspective among others. Thanks for all of your support. It’s been a dream come true publishing these. Massive thanks to my long suffering daughter Nell 😀🙏😀

Our 4th episode features ‘world schoolers’. Olga, raised in Russia , discusses how it was to unschool her three children in Scotland and then full-timing in a campervan for months in Europe as a single mother holding down an online coaching business. She talks to me about her introduction to unschooling through attachment parenting and how her confidence grew over the years and how she now considers her family ‘world schoolers’. She found that although they may acquire their milestone skills later in life when they are in control of their time and choices, it is with a wholehearted passion. The three children have independently chosen to attend courses in subjects such as programming, game design, science and maths club at Galileo: a ‘global school for 8-18 year-old self-directed learners’. Leo, her 11 year old son, talks about how much he enjoys it. He talks about how he feels about being a homeschooler and how he can’t imagine ever wanting to go to school. Books that we mention include: The Continuum Concept by Jean Liedloff Radical Unschooling by Dayna Martin Green parenting magazine How Children Fail by John Holt Growing without schooling website The Big book of Unschooling by Sandra Dodd

It was such a treat to interview my son Jo about his thoughts on his unschooling life. He describes how his very sense of self is defined by being a home schooler. He talks about his ‘self actualised’ childhood and how ‘unless I missed the memo, I was just enjoying my life which is meant to be the point of being alive, isn’t it?’ He gives a blunt no holds barred assessment of our school system from his own experience when he went in at 14 to take his qualifications. He concludes that school ‘hinders people from professional skills’ and labels it ‘cruel’. As an unschooling parent I had the great pleasure of being thanked by my 31 year old son for the life we gave him. He asks me how I felt when he went back to school at 14 and I describe the confidence I felt in him to take what he needed - his motivation was what it was all about. He chose it. His advice to unschooling parents is to have easy ongoing access to many creative resources simultaneously around the house and to relax and have fun. Jo concludes by throwing down the gauntlet to parents: ‘A happy person can do anything but a miserable person - their options are really limited’. As always, feel free to email me with any comments, thoughts or questions on this educational and parenting philosophy. [email protected] My heartfelt thanks go to my daughter Nell for producing this series. Jo mentions his publication at the start of the lockdown: ‘A homeschooler’s guide to parents for surviving school closure’ https://medium.com/@Jo_Burnham/a-homeschoolers-guide-to-parents-for-surviving-school-closure-571320832053

Unschooling means 'parents allowing their children as much freedom to explore the world as they can comfortably bear.' (John Holt) In this episode I talk to Jan and her adult daughter Eloise who were part of my unschooling community twenty years ago. Jan describes the fears and joys she felt when she took her oldest two out of school and unschooled her five children right through to adulthood. Eloise pays testament to her happy, carefree, self-directed childhood and talks about how unschooling impacts on her own parenting philosophy as a single mum of five year old Odetta. She discusses how it was for her to go to college at 16 and how her life progressed as an adult. Jan’s central piece of advice to unschooling parents is: 'Relax, you’re doing the best you can.' Eloise concludes that the best advice she could give any families embarking on home education is 'There is no one standard they need to be. They are entirely themselves and the world needs more entirely themselves people.' Please email me if you have any questions, comments or would like any kind of support. I’m Jackie at: [email protected]. My heartfelt thanks go to my daughter Nell for producing this podcast series. RESOURCES: Jan recommends - How Children Fail by John Holt - How Children Learn by John Holt - Summerhill by A S Neil - Support group: Education Otherwise https://www.educationotherwise.org/ - The free academic resource: https://www.khanacademy.org/ Eloise recommends: - My Wild and Sleepless nights by Clover Stroud. She describes it as ‘a gentle portrayal of her parenting experience’.