Pam Laricchia's Blog, page 28
October 3, 2018
EU144: The Decision to Leave School Behind with Jen Lumanlan
As Jen Lumanlan puts it, “I don’t have much in the way of parenting instinct but I make up for it with outstanding research skills.” Her deep dive into parenting research led first to a Master’s in Psychology with a focus on Child Development, then to another Master’s in Education, and then ultimately to choosing unschooling as the path forward for her family. In this episode, we dive deep into how she came to that decision, and how she’s shifting things so that she can soon stay home with her daughter.
Questions for Jen
Can you share with us a bit about you and your family?
In this episode, we’re going to dive deep into the journey surrounding your decision that homeschooling, and ultimately unschooling, was going to be the path for your family. So, let’s start at the beginning. School is definitely the conventional path for children and learning. What sparked you to even consider that that path might not be for you guys?
Let’s dive into some of the questions you considered along the way. I imagine one of the first questions you asked yourself was, what’s wrong with schools in the first place? What did you discover about schools that you wanted to leave behind?
Another common question when contemplating homeschooling is, do I need a curriculum? Actually, I think that might start as, which curriculum would I use? How did that line of research and thinking play out for you?
When you’re trying to decide whether or not to forgo the school system, it seems pretty reasonable to ask, how do homeschooled or unschooling kids turn out? Because as parents we don’t want to do our children a disservice. What did you find when you explored that question?
Intellectually understanding the research is great, but seeing it in action with your own child takes your understanding—and trust in the process—to a whole new level, doesn’t it?
Now let’s move to your ultimate decision to not send your daughter to school as she approaches compulsory school age and instead embrace unschooling. Was there a final question or lightbulb moment that tipped the scales for you? Or was it more the accumulation of all your research and contemplation that convinced you to choose this path?
You host a podcast, Your Parenting Mojo. I’d love to hear the story behind how that developed.
Links to things mentioned in the show
Jen’s podcast, Your Parenting Mojo, full of rigorously researched information to help kids thrive
Jen’s course, Your Homeschooling Mojo, to help you decide whether homeschooling is right for you
Ben Hewitt’s essay in Outsider Magazine, We Don’t Need No Education
Canva, a free online graphic design tool
InDesign, desktop publishing layout design tool
Episode Transcript
September 26, 2018
EU143: Follow the Joy with Natasha Allan-Zaky
Natasha Allan-Zaky joins me this week for a wonderful unschooling conversation! We talk about her family’s move to unschooling, the challenge of embracing fun, learning piano, her biggest a-ha moment so far on the journey, and lots more.
Questions for Natasha
Can you share with us a bit about you and your family?
What did your family’s move to unschooling look like?
I love hearing what unschooling kids are getting up to. What are your kids interested in right now and how are you helping them explore it?
I think one of the deschooling challenges many of us face is the shift to embracing fun. And I don’t mean just for the kids—I mean for us too. For so long we’ve absorbed the message that adults and adult things are serious, while fun is for kids. It’s an important shift though, isn’t it? Can you share your experience around embracing fun?
I saw a video you posted on your Facebook page about a month ago about your daughter figuring out how to play a song she loves on the piano. I’d love to hear the story of how her piano journey has unfolded so far.
What has been your biggest a-ha moment so far on your unschooling journey?
Can you share the story behind your choice to name your blog, Follow the Joy? What does that phrase mean to you?
Links to things mentioned in the show
The rabbit hole of kulning
Natasha’s blog, followthejoy.blog and her Facebook page, Follow the Joy
More info on the Childhood Redefined Online Unschooling Summit
Episode Transcript
September 19, 2018
EU142: Second Generation Unschooling with Amanda Sharma
Amanda Sharma joins me this week to share her fascinating perspective as a grown unschooler who is now unschooling her own children. We dive into her experience growing up unschooling, the process of choosing unschooling for her children and family, what she’s found challenging on the journey, her favourite thing about unschooling right now, and lots more.
Questions for Amanda
Can you share with us a bit about you and your family?
Growing up, what did your family’s move to unschooling look like?
What stands out for you as you look back on your own unschooling years?
As an unschooler turned unschooling parent, I’d love to hear about the process of choosing unschooling unfolded for you and your family.
What did you find to be the most challenging aspect of moving to unschooling and how did you work through it?
How do you see the idea of trust playing out in your unschooling lives? And how did that develop?
What’s your favourite thing about your unschooling lifestyle right now?
Links to things mentioned in the show
Amanda’s unschooling articles on Medium
John Holt’s book, Teach Your Own
Lucy AitkenRead’s podcast episode and her group, Parent Allies: the website, Facebook page, and Facebook group
Carol Black’s podcast episode
Amanda’s blog is at raisingunschoolers.com, and her Facebook page and group, and on Instagram
Episode Transcript
September 12, 2018
EU141: Growing Up Unschooling with Alec Traaseth
I first met Alec Traaseth and his family when he was maybe twelve or thirteen, at an unschooling conference. I’ve enjoyed little glimpses of his life over the years through social media and I was so happy when he agreed to come on the podcast to chat about his experience growing up unschooling. We talk about his interests and passions, his experience with unschooling camps, his choice to go to college and how that’s unfolded, how his passion for math developed, and lots more.
Questions for Alec
Can you share with us a bit about you and your family?
What did your family’s move to unschooling look like?
Can you share a bit about your interests growing up and how you pursued them?
Over the years, our families have crossed paths at unschooling conferences, and when we first connected about arranging this call, you were at an unschooler’s summer camp. I was hoping you could share a bit about your conference/camp experiences.
How did your choice to go to college unfold?
I know you’ve become deeply interested in math—how did that develop?
What are your plans for the next year or two?
As a grown unschooler, what piece of advice would you like to share with unschooling parents who are just starting out on this journey?
Links to things mentioned in the show
Life is Good conference, hosted by Mary Gold (for unschooling families)
ETUSC, East Tennessee Unschooled Summer Camp, hosted by Laura Bowman (for unschooling teens)
NBTSC, Not Back to School Camp, hosted by Grace Llewellyn (for unschooling teens)
ARGH, Autodidactic Radical Gathering of Homeschoolers, hosted by Laura Bowman (for unschooling families)
Alec is on Facebook
Episode Transcript
September 5, 2018
EU140: Freeschoolin’ with Wendy Hart
Wendy Hart and her husband are unschooling their eight-year-old daughter. They live in Ontario, Canada where Wendy runs a local un/homeschool group that hosts fun activities, like yesterday’s Not Back to School Beach Meet-Up! We dive into how she discovered unschooling, how she’s helping her daughter pursue her interests, her biggest stumbling block on the road to unschooling, her biggest a-ha moment, her blog, and lots more.
Questions for Wendy
Can you share with us a bit about you and your family?
What did your family’s move to unschooling look like?
I love hearing what unschooling kids are getting up to. What’s Hope diving into right now and how are you helping her explore it?
What was your biggest stumbling block on the road to understanding unschooling?
What has been your biggest a-ha moment so far on your unschooling journey?
You have a blog, and a children’s book, called Freeschoolin’. I’d love to hear the story behind the name!
What’s your favourite thing about your unschooling lifestyle right now?
Links to things mentioned in the show
They volunteer at Big Curve Acres farm
Fraser Institute report on homeschooling (PDF)
Wendy’s website: Freeschoolin’
And her children’s book, Freeschoolin’
Pam’s newest book, The Unschooling Journey
Episode Transcript
August 29, 2018
EU139: Questions from the Inbox
This week on the podcast, I’ve put together a new kind of Q&A. It dawned on me recently that I’ve written many thousands of words in email replies to unschooling-related questions over the last few years. And I suspect that, for every person who actually emailed me, there are many others with a similar question in mind. So, I gathered a handful of questions from my inbox, heavily summarized and anonymized them, and then edited and expanded my answers.
As you listen, even if a question is about an unfamiliar situation or kids older than yours—or younger—don’t tune out. Listen and see if my thoughts about it make sense to you. My wish with this episode is not so much about solving a particular issue but about expanding your understanding of unschooling. About exploring how unschooling unfolds in our real lives. That said, some day you might find yourself in similar circumstances and you’ll already have some considered thoughts to help get you started!
Links to things mentioned in the show
Unschooling teen camps: Not Back to School Camp and East Tennessee Unschooled Summer Camp
Trips for unschooling teens and young adults: Project World School and Unschool Adventures
Unschooling conference list: on the unschoolingmom2mom website
My book, Free to Learn: Five Ideas for a Joyful Unschooling Life
Podcast episode 32: Choosing School with Alex Polikowsky
Episode Transcript
August 22, 2018
EU138: The Sparkle of Unschooling
This week on the podcast, I’ve put together a compilation of sixteen experienced unschooling parents answering the question, “Looking back, what has been the most valuable outcome from choosing unschooling?” I titled this episode The Sparkle of Unschooling because the guests are talking about THE ONE THING. It’s the thing we eventually discover that we celebrate the most. BOOM! Mic drop. Fireworks. And often it’s not the thing we thought we were looking for when we started out on our unschooling journey.
I hope you enjoy hearing what these experienced unschooling parents had to share!
Audio Snippets Taken from These Episodes …
EU002: Ten Questions with Pam Sorooshian
EU005: Ten Questions with Sandra Dodd
EU009: Ten Questions with Amy Childs
EU014: Ten Questions with Joyce Fetteroll
EU018: Ten Questions with Jennifer McGrail
EU022: Ten Questions with Lainie Liberti
EU037: Ten Questions with Carol Black
EU044: Ten Questions with Jennifer Andersen
EU057: Ten Questions with Akilah S. Richards
EU066: Ten Questions with Pushpa Ramachandran
EU074: Ten Questions with Robyn Coburn
EU089: Ten Questions with Jan Hunt
EU111: Ten Questions with Jan Fortune
EU130: Dismantling Shame with Ronnie Maier
EU131: Deschooling with Maria Randolph
EU135: Ten Questions with Anna Brown
Episode Transcript
{ Episode image fireworks photo by Grégoire Bertaud on Unsplash }
August 15, 2018
EU137: The Untamed with Courtney Barker
Courtney Barker and her husband Dave are unschooling their three children. Originally from Australia, they moved to Northern Zambia when their first child was 12 weeks old. Four years later they moved to Chile, and four years after that they moved to Canada. We have a wonderful conversation about their journey from school to unschooling, her most surprising discovery about life with children so far, tips for handling big emotions, unschooling and atypical kids, her favourite thing about unschooling, and lots more.
Questions for Courtney
Can you share with us a bit about you and your family?
What did your family’s move to unschooling look like?
When people first hear about unschooling—about not following a curriculum, about not doing endless worksheets of practice—it can be so hard to imagine what that might even look like. It’s a totally foreign concept. What did that mindset shift around learning look like for you?
What has been one of your most surprising discoveries about life with children so far?
You have a great blog post about handling big emotions. As you say, being in touch with and able to lean into our emotions are hallmark traits of emotional wellbeing, resilience, and healthy relationships. Yet many of grew up being shushed and shamed for having big emotions—especially negative ones—so we have a hard time figuring out how to support our children through those moments. Can you share some ideas to help?
You’ve also shared on your blog that one of your children is neuroatypical. That’s a pretty common question: “Will unschooling work for my atypical child?” Because often parents have found that conventional school isn’t working for their child and they worry that’ll happen with unschooling as well. What has been your experience?
I think another really important realization on the unschooling journey is that things are going to go sideways. This isn’t some fairy-tale utopia, it’s life—with all its ups and downs and twists and turns. Yet, the further we are on our journey, the more we come to recognize the valuable learning and self-awareness that often grows out of the mess of things going “wrong.” So much so, that I think eventually we rarely label any of our choices as “wrong.” But life is definitely full of mis-steps, isn’t it? How do you handle those?
What’s your favourite thing about your unschooling lifestyle right now?
Links to things mentioned in the show
Courtney’s blog, The Untamed
Courtney’s blog post, How Do You Handle Big Emotions?
You can find her on Instagram and Facebook
Episode Transcript
August 8, 2018
EU136: Our Unschooling Journey with Jessica Hughes
Jessica Hughes and her husband, Micah, have three children, ages 11 to 18. When their kids were younger, they were homeschooling with a curriculum but they eventually found their way to unschooling. We talk about that journey, what you can do when you feel caught up in everyday “struggles,” supporting your husband’s journey, shifting away from fear, how unschooling has helped their family heal, and lots more!
Questions for Jessica
Can you share with us a bit about you and your family?
How did you discover unschooling and what did your family’s move to unschooling look like?
I love hearing what unschooling kids are getting up to. Can you give us a snapshot of your children’s current interests and goings on?
When newer unschooling parents ask what to do about the every day struggles they’re having with their children, often the advice is basically to “stop struggling.” That can be a hard concept to grasp at first, though. How did you work through it?
Can you share some ways you helped your husband move away from conventional parenting? Sometimes it helps to remember to treat our spouses with as much care as we do our children, doesn’t it?
I love this quote from part 8 of your unschooling journey series: “If I had to guess, I’d say 99.99999% of the fear I experience as a parent comes from focusing on the adult I want to create instead of the child I have.” How do you shift away from fear?
How has unschooling helped your family heal?
Links to things mentioned in the show
Pam’s blog review of Homeschooled Teens
pick up the ebook of Homeschooled Teens: 75 young people speak about their lives without school from your favourite online retailer
Jessica’s son really enjoys playing and programming in Roblox
Part 8 of Jessica’s Our Unschooling Journey blog series on Steemit (includes links to the first 7 posts)
Episode Transcript
August 1, 2018
EU135: Ten Questions with Anna Brown
Anna Brown is back! We have so much fun diving into her family’s move to unschooling, how she developed trust in the process, what she found to be the most challenging aspect, tips for moving from conventional parenting to consensual living, stretching our comfort zones, and lots more.
Ten Questions for Anna
1. Can you share with us a bit about you and your family?
2. What did your family’s move to unschooling look like?
3. How did you develop trust in unschooling? Meaning, what helped you move from intellectually understanding unschooling to knowing in your bones that it was the lifestyle you wanted for your family?
4. What did you find to be the most challenging aspect of moving to unschooling?
5. What was your husband’s journey to unschooling like?
6. You have a website, choosingconnection.com, home to some great articles you’ve written about consensual living. Can you share how your interest in consensual living developed and how it has evolved over the years?
7. Can you share some tips for moving from conventional parenting and toward creating a climate for consensual living in the family?
8. Over the years, I’ve heard you talk a few times about the importance of the stories we tell ourselves. We think it’s just in our heads, so what’s the big deal? But it really can be a big deal, can’t it?
9. Was there ever an interest or activity that one of your kids wanted to pursue that stretched your comfort zone? How did you move through that?
10. Looking back, what has been the most valuable outcome from choosing unschooling?
Links to things mentioned in the show
Anna’s other podcast episodes, Diving Into Parenting and Ordinary Unschooling with Pat
Anna’s website, choosingconnection.com
John Holt’s book, Learning All the Time
The Childhood Redefined Summit
Pam’s book, The Unschooling Journey
Episode Transcript
