As an unschooling dad who works in a corporate environment everyday, I miss a lot of the amazing moments of unschooling. Recently, however, I had one of those eye-opening experiences that illustrated the power of an unschooling environment. Here’s what happened. I was throwing away some wood scraps from some recent construction. My twin girls […]
Unschooling: Respecting Negative Emotions
My friend stopped over yesterday – and she was pissed. After a knock startling in its violence, she whipped open the door, removed each shoe and threw it down, slammed her purse on the nearest surface and flung herself onto my couch, launching into a loud, nearly incoherent tirade peppered liberally with expletives. “Whoa!” I […]
Unschooling: Constantly Learning
My son has a good friend who attends public school. As you can imagine, Paul and Thomas have many lively discussions about the differences in their days. Paul still can’t quite wrap his head around the unschooling philosophy. He’s not alone. Lots of people -children and adults alike – struggle to make sense of something […]
Unschooling: Recognizing Passion
Remember the movie Dirty Dancing? It’s one of my favorites. There’s a line in it that has often popped into my mind since having my twins. Near the beginning of the movie, Baby’s father says of her, “Our Baby here is going to save the world, ” after which Baby snidely remarks about her sister, […]
Unschooling: Saying Goodbye to “MY”
“Mine!” It’s a staple in my two-year old’s vocabulary these days. My dolly. My car. My puzzle. All true. In true two-year old fashion, however, she has expanded this word’s meaning to include not only what is, in fact, hers, but also what she is using at the moment, would like to possess at the […]