I used to be...

So involved in unschooling discussions. I used to debate. I used to share my political views. I used to talk about parenting respectfully and I used to just be active online and in person. I used to promote my thoughts and opinions.

Then....peri-menopause hit me like a two ton heavy thing. Also life has thrown lots of punches in the last few years.

Now I'm just some crazy whacked out hormone imbalance that can't get it together anymore. My emotions are all over the map and I can't seem to pull myself together.

I used to be so strong and confident and determined. Now I feel weak and down. I don't want circumstances to beat me down. They are and I don't know how to stop them.

I don't know how to get out of this funk that I'm in.

Letting Go of School

                             

Letting go of school is a process that I believe is imperative to Unschooling successfully. When you start out homeschooling you go through a deschooling phase. This phase usually takes longer for parents because they have been indoctrinated longer than their children have.

If you have 12 plus years under your belt it may take you several months to deschool, maybe longer. Your children don’t have the luxury of waiting for you though. I recommend that you leave them out of it.

While you are detoxing from the system allow your child the same courtesy. If they have been in school or homeschooled they need to undo the damage of schooling.

 So many people try to unschool and then freak out and go back to math lessons or curriculum. Then they try again and keep failing. This can really confuse your child and it’s not good for you to panic about schoolish things.

School is artificial, Unschooling is natural, let it flow from one day to the next. Make one more connection, have one more moment without school. Pretty soon you won’t be thinking about grades or tests or lessons, just real life.

Education isn't about schooling at all; one is educated by learning what they need in this world. We all have different needs; we all have different abilities. That is why there are so many choices as to what one can do in life.

If you don’t completely deschool you will never fully unschool.

I’m not saying everyone can or should unschool. There are many people out there interested in Unschooling, curious as to what it’s all about. They try it on but never fully let go of school and just can’t seem to grasp it completely.

I may be in the minority but I believe that mass government compulsory schooling is doing so much harm to our youth. It makes no sense to attend an outdated institution for 12 years of your life. Being told what to do, what to think, what to believe, it leaves little for the imagination. We all know that textbooks are boring and full of mistakes and if you disagree with the teacher even if you’re right, you’re wrong. Being graded and tested is degrading to a child.

Learning is a natural thing but people have lost the ability because they have been taught that learning is a chore. It’s hard, boring and painful; it’s work, not fun.

This is of course not true but it’s what schooling will lead you to believe. Work hard, study hard, get good grades so you can grow up and join the rat race and celebrate mediocrity.

I say forget that! Venture out of the school box, let go of grades, tests, teaching, scopes, sequences, lessons, curriculum and textbooks. Let it go far away from your mind. Those things are not necessary for life learning.

Children who have never been schooled learn in a natural way. They know how to learn, they know how to think, they know how to get information.  Real learning, real education is about knowing how to obtain information.