Oddbean

Sharing this from a home ed group I'm in - written by a homeschooled now adult: Hi everyone! I'm 23 years old and I've been Unschooled for my entire life, as have all of the kids in my family. I see a lot of comments in this group and online asking for success stories of grown Unschoolers/Homeschoolers, so I wanted to take a moment to address that, as an adult Unschooler. I'm sure there are other people who feel differently, but I've never liked those comments. I understand our experience being valuable, but there is a lot of pressure on us home educated adults to be "successful". Part of reaching adulthood for us is realizing that sometimes parents still expect us to conform to systems like college and/or traditional work force arrangements, despite the fact that we were raised in an unconventional system. Some of us home educated adults have "successful" jobs/careers, while others have minimum wage jobs and are struggling, and that's not because we didn't go to school, it's because we're trying to start our adult lives in the worst economy American has seen since the Great Depression. Too often in my experience are we used as reasons for or against parents Unschooling their kids. I will always share my experience with those who are interested, but my life story shouldn't be a factor in whether or not you should keep your kids out of school. Stop focusing on "will they be successful" and start thinking about what children need NOW. There is no way to out maneuver a toxic system, and no amount of "early education" can prepare children for a world of broken people and dangerous circumstances. But they can be taught how to find joy and peace in the world they're in, and strive for a better one because they've been shown how to love and how to love and value themselves. Children shouldn't be Unschooled because they "can still be successful", they should be Unschooled because it's what is natural, and it's the right thing to do. If parents can't see that, can't see how broken every school system is, they're not paying attention. Speaking as someone who's grown up around Unschoolers and school kids alike, I can promise you that whatever fears you have about Unschooling don't matter. We all integrate, we all learn, we can all "keep up" and get jobs. But maybe you should have better priorities for us. Thanks Annelise Nicole for giving me to share this here. #homeschooling #unschooling #selfled #education #parenting

Very nice. I homeschooled my eldest son (and am still homeschooling my youngest son who has Down Syndrome). We didn't unschool, but we were flexible on what we learned and when we learned it and we would go off on a tangent when something interested us and stop something or change it if it wasn't working or was boring. He took one class online at the local community college each semester his sophomore year of highschool and 3-4 classes at the community college each semester his junior and senior year. My son got a 35/36 on his ACT and is at college at Liberty University on free tuition and 4,000 towards room and board due to being in the honors program. Although it is his 2nd year, he is a senior by credits and getting a double major in computer science and math. We were able to accentuate his strengths (logic and curiosity) and work on his weaknesses (handwriting and hyper literalness that gives him problems with things like figures of speech). He had so much issue with handwriting that he couldn't handwrite a paper properly and would've done terribly in government schools. I allowed him to type papers in 3rd grade so his brain could focus on his thoughts rather than controlling his fingers. He was able to excel, but would've struggled in government school. The best thing is he never lost his love of learning. He learns just for the sake of learning. He knows who he is, both strengths and weaknesses, and is OK with that. He isn't manipulated by peer pressure. He is a loving, caring, generous young man that is a joy to everyone who meets him. Even more important than his academic learning was his character growth. Homeschooling is the best. This world would be a better place if all kids with loving parents were homeschooled.