About

I am Mother to two children: Daughter (born ‘02) and Son (born ‘04). I am also a Leader with La Leche League. Husband and I are self-employed and work from home, splitting child care duties somewhat equally (I work fewer hours than he does). I am a former research scientist turned medicolegal consultant. Husband is an engineer whose business involves software development for mobile applications. We live on the beautiful West Coast of British Columbia, Canada.

Unschooling, also known as Free Learning, is a type of homeschooling whereby children are free to pursue their interests on their own time, at their own pace, and under their own direction. Free learners have total ownership over their education. Parents play an active role by being involved in their children’s lives, providing them with learning resources and a supportive home environment, a varied selection of regular activities, and a community of like-minded families (where possible). Inherent to this type of homeschooling is the belief that children possess an innate, biological, genetically-programmed drive to learn and that this persists throughout childhood and beyond.

I was very fortunate to have met a few unschooling families when Daughter was still young and Son had not yet been born. They were part of a small community of local mothers, myself included, who had found each other through the Internet and who pursued a philosophy of Natural Family Living. As I spent time with these families I learned about choices in education I never knew existed. I got to see the products of a Life Without School in the older children, ask endless questions, and explore the possibility long before having to make that decision for my children. The more I learned, the more books I read, the more time I spent with my children, the more it appealed to me. After a brief stint at preschool with Daughter, from which we withdrew halfway through the year, we made the decision to homeschool and have never looked back.

We are fortunate to have a rather large homeschooling community in our city, with no less than three organized groups in the greater Metro area. There are drop-ins, daytime classes, field trips, picnics, activity centres and learning centres. Our province is very progressive when it comes to education; we have a choice of several Distributed Learning programs (“virtual schools”) that cater to homelearners. The most unschooling-friendly is the Self-Design program, the only Indepedent DL program that is recognized and funded by the Ministry of Education. The program provides resources, support, and funding to its families. Daughter is now in her second year and Son will join the program when he turns five.

Because Husband and I run our own businesses from home, and the kids don’t go to school, we lead a relaxed and (usually) slow-paced life. Weekends are meaningless (other than reasons to lie low and avoid the crowds). We travel during the “off times”, sleep in when we want to, and generally lead a laid-back and unscheduled life.

It is my hope that this blog will provide a real-life look at unschooling, supporting others on their homeschooling journey, and inspiring those who are still trying to decide about their own children’s education. Thanks for stopping by!