The school year has begun here where I live. If I look out my front door just before eight o'clock in the morning, I can see the middle-schoolers gathering on the corner across the street to wait for the bus. They look sleepy, and their backpacks look heavy. They do not look enthusiastic.
One day soon they will have their school pictures taken. I remember all of mine. The night before every one, my mother cut my bangs, and she always cut them crooked. I guess that's a perfect definition of the phrase "well-meaning parent."
The now-grown kid who lives in this house--let's call her Nina--didn't go to school. No buses. No school pictures. Lots of enthusiasm. Here are some of Nina's unschool pictures.
Unschoolers get to spend lots of time in the great outdoors--on the open prairie, perhaps, or in their own backyards.
Unschoolers can read any time they feel the urge.
They have time to have fun.
They have time for contemplation.
They have the precious luxury of being able to figure out who they are without peer pressure or externally imposed timelines and grade levels.
They get enough sleep. Amen to that.
I wish all of the homeschoolers and unschoolers out there a happy "Not Back to School." Learning does not require a building. Learning only requires an open mind.
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