I don’t think any of us manage to grow up without being a bit bullied or pressured by our peers. In fact, let me take that a step further. I don’t think you CAN grow up without being a bit bullied.
Why? Because only when you try to be something that you aren’t do you really understand who you actually are. A healthy amount of pressure from others to be something different is what gets us to stand up and say, NO! I won’t obey!
But the power to stand up and say no to something also means that whenever we let someone put us down, make us feel bad, or act in a way we don’t want to, it’s because we are giving them the power to do so. We are just as responsible as they are.
Last spring, if I had stayed in school and been a normal kid I would’ve graduated from high school. This fall I probably would’ve started a college program, or perhaps taken a year abroad or worked for a year to save up money.
But I didn’t stay in school, and my life didn’t take that path. In February I came home to Finland after 3 months in the USA. From May to August I worked selling produce for my parents. Since then the craft business I have with my mom has been my focus. If my life was normal and I had stayed in school, none of those things would’ve happened.
But let me get to the point: People no longer assume I’m in school.
They assume I’ve graduated. Not being in school is okay.
Yes! Talk about liberating!
But it raises a point: school ends. Even if you go to school for 20 years, eventually it’s over and done with. People move on and live their adult lives. Some of us go really wild and rethink the way education works, and then when we have kids we become unschoolers and homeschoolers.
But what about me? What about other adult unschoolers? At 19 school-goers are done with basic schooling. Is telling people “I’m an unschooler” really going to get the right message across? I mean, really, a 19-year-old not going to school isn’t much of a shocker. Continue Reading →
Music is a wonderful thing. It can inspire us, express our feelings, and it just plain old feels good to listen to. No matter our tastes, there’s something for each of us.
This is a collection of songs I enjoy more as an unschooler. Some of the songs are about oppression in schools, some are about freedom, some are about reform, but all of them make me think about unschooling, and reaffirm my decision to leave school. I’ll be listing each song with a Youtube video, my favorite lyrics, and maybe a comment or two. (Please note that a few of the songs have swears and other possibly offensive language.)
Enjoy!
Little Things
This song both reminds me of two things: how liberating it is to be an unschooler, and that despite the negative memories, I wouldn’t be the same person today without my years in school, for better and for worse. I appreciate unschooling all the more for it, that’s for sure!
Yeah, this song is dedicated
To every kid who ever got picked last in gym class
To every kid who never had a date to no school dance
To every one who’s ever been called a freak
It isn’t, but after finding this diary entry and seeing how far I’ve come in so little time, I don’t hesitate to say I’m in quite a different position in life now. For one, the anguish that I felt when I wrote this isn’t there anymore—at least, it’s not for myself.
This entry, dated about a year before I started unschooling, brings me back to the climactic point in my life when I realized my problem wasn’t just my school and it wasn’t just me, it was something that was effecting everyone. I wrote this half a year before I came to understand what unschooling was. I almost wish I could hug the Anna I was back then and tell myself things would turn out all right.
Then again things did turn out pretty well, without me doing some sort of crazy paradox-creating time-traveling supernatural feat— in fact, let’s skip my time travel fantasies and get to the diary entry.
Without further ado, I introduce you to pre-unschooling Anna, age 15:
Seriously: I can’t go to the library without picking up at least a couple more books to bring home. Trust me, I’ve tried. It just doesn’t happen.
These are my favorite sites for finding free books online, whether it be classical novels like Jane Austen’s Emma or philosophical pieces from great minds like Plato or Artistotle. Whatever your tastes, I know you’ll be able to find a book you enjoy.
It’s almost the end of January already! Where’s 2011 going? And heck, where did 2010 go in the first place?
George Haines (@oline73 over at Twitter) asked me to do a quick email interview about my opinions on education and unschooling, and I was happy to oblige.
You should check out his other interviews; hearing what students have to say about school is refreshing. I’m glad George was interested in adding my unschooling values to the mix. :)
Go check out the interview and let me know what you think!
Those of us that have gone to school know the drill.
Literally.
Students have to go through an endless amount of repetition. Teachers bring up the same topic, again and again, in an attempt to cram their students with the right recipe of information. It’s just part of the way schools work.
When it comes to lifelong learning, focusing on repetition and drills is a bit like trying to build a pyramid from the top down.
Today I played a game: I asked questions inspired by the things around me.
The result? A list longer than even I had expected. I stopped playing after a few dozen questions, but the game does prove a good point: we can learn everything we need to know just by paying attention to what is around us.
Why is learning from your environment better, though?
Unschooling brings up a lot of choices. You choose what you learn. You choose when you learn it. You even choosewhy you learn it.
What does choice really mean, though?
It means you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do. Whatever you’re doing, you’re doing the things you want to do. Yes, even chores. Yes, even painful, embarrassing experiences.
It’s been a month since I relaunched Adversarian, and I’ve been having a blast!
Here’s a review of the top five posts so far, in case you missed them. There’s lots more to come, and I have a few extra special goodies up my sleeve. Stayed tuned for upcoming freebies! (It’s a surprise!)
We live in a predominantly left-brained culture. Everyday things like language, numbers and the symbols we use to identify the world around us are understood by our left brain. Many jobs require us to be detail oriented. That’s left brain thinking, too.
The arts are commonly associated with right brain thinking. Certain traits, like left-handedness, are considered right brained. However, right brained thinking is more than just the arts. It’s about creativity.
A Side-By-Side Comparison
Our two brains are complete opposites, and we need both of them to understand the world the way we do. Let’s compare the two.
Compared to unschooling, schools require dozens of teachers and faculty, all with their own specializations, to make sure the school runs properly. The same level of complexity is impossible to replicate at home. There’s simply too much to do for one family to be responsible of.
The truth is the complexity is unnecessary, and even harmful.
