How to not Screw Up when Unschooling your Kids

Posted on by

Is unschooling just for younger kids?

It might seem that way to some folks.. There’s lots of people I meet who have a toddler and an infant, or perhaps a 3.5 yr old child, who are interested in unschooling–which is fantastic!

I’m always really glad to see parents of younger kids who are already questioning the status quo.

Maybe they’re even ruffling a few feathers in their social circles because their kiddo’s not on a waitlist for daycare, or registered for soccer, ballet, and three other kinds of lessons/classes/activities.

I think many folks approach unschooling from the attachment parenting perspective, where you’re listening to your child’s cues and looking for opportunities to invite them to try new things, instead of forcing independence on them like a shoe that doesn’t quite fit yet.

I’ve seen parents of 18-month olds saying, we’re unschooling!

Continue reading →

that one time I thought I’d get to be homeschooled.

Posted on by

I remember asking my parents about how many years I would have to go to school.  

They were always reticent to answer…saying that after elementary school was middle school, and then more levels of school–junior high, highschool, etc.  I felt so frustrated, and so eager to grow up and call my own shots properly.

I must have pestered them pretty hard about it, because they told me all kids had to go to school, that not going to school was illegal and they’d get thrown in jail, end of story.

FINE. Continue reading →

why there aren’t more lifelong unschoolers.

Posted on by

Where are the lifelong unschoolers? Why don’t we see more teen unschoolers?  What happens to all the unschooling communities, where the groups of little kids far outnumber the lifelong unschoolers in the group? If it works so well, why aren’t more people doing it for longer?

Every fall, it seems that in the whirlwind that is public schooling, a few more brave souls are swept up into it…either because of pressures from concerned (possibly meddling) family and friends, financial stresses, lack of adequate #childcare, or just#overwhelm.

Our tribes are so diffuse, our individual resources are concentrated in ways that do not support us in doing what we believe is best for our individual children. Continue reading →

Unschooling Is…

Posted on by

This post is about unschooling, which is not to be confused with;

  1. how to pleasantly coerce your child to do schoolwork
  2. how to get your kids to do schoolwork on their own
  3. how to make schoolwork more fun

It IS about unpacking our beliefs about how learning happens, what’s good for kids and adults, and what’s really important in our lives as parents who want to raise happy, functional adults.

Continue reading →

Unschooled 6 Year Old Writes Poetry

Posted on by

My now-teenage daughter wrote this when she was 6, almost two years before she knew how to read.

Invented spelling is a THING, y’all.

This child is growing up to have impeccable grammar and spelling, and reads and writes more prolifically (and with more enjoyment) than any schooled child I’ve met.  She has yet to have a single grammar or spelling lesson. Continue reading →

On College and Worthlessness (2008 musings)

Posted on by

I wrote this in Fall of 2008, when I was in college, and still believed that college was a worthwhile pursuit.  Also, I had an aversion to capitalizing anything back then.  #sorrynotsorry

college is where people go to find themselves. discover things they are passionate about. learn about the things they are interested it, learn about What they are interested in…

it’s sad that college has devolved into almost a bare necessity for anyone who wants to make above minimum wage.

Continue reading →

Fireflies & Freedom

Posted on by

I love that my daughter can catch fireflies barefoot in our yard.unschooling freedom fireflies krystal trammell

No worries about tests or grades, no cares about what day it is, no needing to rush thru an exploratory afternoon-turned-evening to get ready for school tomorrow..

My children are learning organically, realistically, without arbitrary force or pressures in their worlds. Instead of memorizing math facts and war dates, they’re learning the rhythms of nature. They are increasingly able to notice the turning of the seasons, the blooming of the spring flowers turning to seed, the timing of the fireflies’ moments of dance. Continue reading →

That time I came out of the broom closet…

Posted on by

Written the first day of June 2006…

my spirituality….is nothing to fear or worry about, isn’t dangerous or something to protect yourself from, and yet, it’s apparently very misunderstood by most people.

I didn’t “convert” to Paganism. Paganism isn’t something that people convert to, and Pagans certainly don’t try to proselytize or evangelize.

You “become” Pagan when you decide that the things you already believe and intuitively know/feel are reflected in a Pagan worldview, and so then you use the word “Pagan” as a description of what you already are inside.

Continue reading →

Truth is objective & external, but you’re too stupid to see it.

Posted on by

Back when I was still sorting out my feelings on mainstream religious beliefs, and just newly hatching a definition of this vague and elusive thing called CONSENT.

from the dean of a Southern Baptist college:

“The therapeutic and consumerist atmosphere leads evangelicals away
from a view that sees Scripture as the external, objective standard of
truth and has pushed them to look inside themselves to find ultimate
truth.”

Continue reading →