Enjoy and Bless

I often think about the Tony Morrison quote, “If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” I actually tried that before I had children and have the start of a story that I wonder if I’ll ever finish… but in the meantime, I’ve discovered a podcast I want to listen to that hasn’t been created yet. So here I am to share reflections on my journey as a newly minted unschooling Christian mother. 

I’ve been listening to Dana K White’s podcast “A Slob Comes clean.” I’ve started at the beginning as she tells her story of stumbling into being a decluttering and organizing blogger and am inspired by her path of talking about a topic not because she is an expert but rather because she is trying to figure it out. (I highly recommend her blog and podcast, btw, especially if you’re a creative type who just knows you can find a use for that large purple plastic container the Halloween cheese puffs came in that really should just go to recycling otherwise it will sit in your house taking up space for the next 5 years. If that sentence didn’t make sense to you just move on along… But yes, I have two of those large plastic tubs in my garage right now.)

What was I saying? Dana K White. She didn’t even want anyone to know she was writing about being a slob. She just wanted to make progress and found that writing about her journey helped her accomplish that. That’s sort of where I find myself. 

Over the past summer I began to accept the fact that I am an unschooling mom. I’ve heard stories of unschooling families and how they live their lives with freedom and joy pursuing their individual passions and simply learning for the sake of the love of learning and not passing tests or checking boxes. It all makes wonderful sense to me and when I told my daughters that we would be changing to Unschooling, they were thrilled. We love this new lifestyle. 

But I’ve never met another unschooler in real life. In conversations with other families and moms I find myself feeling… well I’m not even quite sure what the feeling is – alone? I’m not quite sure how to respond when they share burdens about not getting enough done or falling behind in math or trying to get their child to finish the latest project for their homeschool co-op. They live under these constraints that we just don’t experience and I find myself wondering, “Hey friend….Do you realize that you are making a choice to live this way? Do you know there are other options?” And the truth is, maybe they don’t know. This is just the way our society has functioned for as long as any of us can remember (which btw isn’t really that long). 

Throughout my life there have been specific voices out there on the web that have been guiding lights for me offering a unique path. And I doubt I would have experienced the same growth and confidence without their willingness to share their story with the world. So here I am to share my journey in hopes that it might encourage and inspire even just a few other families to take a different route where learning is a joy and life pursuit rather than a chore and something to check off before getting on to “real life.” 

I have a million thoughts swirling in my head ready to pour out. My goal here is to share them in bite sized pieces that can be read or listened to in the spaces between. I hope what I share here is a blessing to you! Here we go!