The healing journey of a widowed, unschooling badass in Delaware.
Maybe school is a horrible place for children to find nourishment of any kind. Maybe we should wonder why children are so hungry for sunshine, play, FOOD, and fun when they are not compelled to be in a government building all day and only permitted to nourish themselves at prescribed times.
Westen’s first speaking role was as a messenger in Macbeth. Although only a few lines, he had to deliver them alone and in front of the curtain during a scene change.
He was so comfortable and there was no doubt that there would be more plays in his future.
He seems most suited for villians and comics on stage, but his recent passion for behind-the-scenes work has him student directing a production of Much Ado About Nothing this summer.
Can you define what a “day” of public education is? In Delaware, the government does not define it, so homeschoolers and public school officials all pretend attendance means something. We all know kids and teachers are all screwing off with half days and bullshit time fillers during the final weeks of the school year, but these 5-10 days count toward the 180? The system has a thin facade of competency.
I don’t school my children at all (excepting when I slip into the old trauma patterns I learned in school).
We live with the seasons. We learn as the sun comes up and goes down. We learn as we live. We do not live in a cinderblock building. We live in the loving spaces of God’s Creation and try to create more love in the world as we engage it with enthusiasm and curiosity.
Westen has gone from an elder statesman of the youth program to a full fledged member of the adult classes.
I’m excited to see how he will grow in an environment full of potential mentors. We are continually blessed by our membership at Elevated Studios.
The white represents glacial progress.
Four (or more) witnesses, all aged 13 or under, from three (or more) families were enjoying their free-range privileges far from parental eyes when things got out of hand.
My elder son and his rowdy buddy found a frog. It was alive and then it was dead. That’s where agreement seemed to end as I texted with the other parents hours later.
My patience is most pressed when I am lied to. My son was not forthcoming with the truth and I could only walk away from him to check back with the other parents for more pieces of the story.
A short lecture on respecting all life and the danger and hurtfulness of deceit was the consequence.
I can’t know what happened in the woods. Those who made bad decisions will be judged by their peers and God, I don’t see much of a role for myself. It’s the kind of uncomfortable relinquishing of control that defines free range parenting. As Bridget Phetasy says in her interview with Lenore Skenazy, “That’s kid stuff, don’t bother the adults with it.”
Going all out at Iron Hill Park in Newark.
These kids are wild. The jungle gym in the way of the zipline, the pool underneath, the slide on top…all madness cooked up by a team of madmen.
On Tuesdays I host an unschool club at our house. Kill Baby Thanos! was the first name for our comics-centric club, but the reference may be too obscure and dark for most homeschooling parents.
I love the graphic my girlfriend designed, and we embrace the chaos that Thanos was driven to thwart, so he gets to stay.
I’ll reveal the new name and graphic shortly as I broaden the scope of the club to make space for unstructured play in the spirit of unschooling.
We were new (tired) parents in 2009 and didn’t have a grand educational philosophy or plan for future schooling.
I was excited to read to my baby son, but we had hardly any children’s books and I wasn’t terribly interested in that kind of material yet.
I picked up Jules Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days and started reading aloud to my one-month-old.
He fell asleep on me most times and I kept on reading because it felt like a magic spell. Sometimes I fell asleep.
Mary laughed everytime I said, “Passepartout,” and it strikes me that Westen just this week discovered an interest in French that was unexpected. Although, he says, he may switch to Spanish.
I always try to remind parents interested in home education that they’ve been doing it for years. No child between the ages of 1 and 5 needs school to learn a vast amount of skills and knowledge. No one needs any school after that either. We’ve been conditioned to accept school as a universal, yet we are born to learn. The home education community is growing exponentially and the examples of children thriving without school are plentiful.
My older son is getting a lot of attention in the adult jiu-jitsu class. People are learning what his coach and I have been seeing for years, that he’s focused on technique and won’t be intimidated by someone’s size or skill. He battles and learns like he was built for it.
A fellow practitioner asked me about his involvement with other sports and I said, “Actually, he’s really into theater. He’s been on stage many times and is the student director on a production of Much Ado About Nothing right now.”
Our conversation turned to Shakespeare and I was happy to find another lover of The Bard. I guess my passion got her to ask, “Do you teach Shakespeare?” “Well, I’m a homeschool dad, so I don’t teach anything.”
I’m a facilitator. Yes, I brought Shakespeare into my boys’ (and wife’s and lovers’ and anyone who will let me drag them to a show) lives, but after that, I don’t teach. I will spout off because I am truly curious and passionate about so many things, but I have modeled a spirit of challenge with my boys. It can be infuriating, but they know that speaking truth is their responsibility and repeating the words of an “authority” will never fly for truthful thought.
We found a lot of freedom when I gave up teaching. It created space for more passion and curiosity, it took the chains off our learning lifestyle.