Hello, I’m Chris, a proponent of the unschooling movement. I don’t really like the term “unschooling” because it sounds like you’re doing nothing. As all home educating families know (and particularly the mums), there is virtually never a time when we are doing nothing.
When people ask what we do do as unschoolers, it’s hard to know what to say because unschooling is not really doing any particular thing, so I tell them it’s living as if school didn’t exist. We just live our normal lives and do what we want to do. I saw a meme on Facebook once that said, “Build a life you don’t need a vacation from,” and that’s it in a nutshell. My kids spend most of their time doing the things they enjoy, which for my daughter is dance and art classes, and for my son, game development, technology and inventing (as I type this he is in the kitchen crafting a medieval weapon out of a piece of bamboo). My kids use screens, phones, YouTube, FaceTime and all the rest, but they also go outside and see their friends frequently. In fact, one of the greatest joys of my homeschooling life has been watching them make long-term friendships with some of the people we’ve met at homeschool groups.
If you’ve come across my little blog because you’re a new home educator or an intending home educator in New Zealand, the best advice I can give you is to go along to some in-person meetups and talk to everyone there. It can be scary to start with but that’s the best way to find your people and your children’s people.
Best wishes
