Over the last several months, it’s become a lot easier for me to tell just about everyone who asks which school Fisher will be attending that I plan to homeschool him. If I’m asked more about it, I’ll get into detail about unschooling, and on a couple of occasions I have even been called on by a “devil’s advocate” to defend my position. The great thing is that the more opportunities I have to present my ideas and aspirations regarding Fisher’s unconventional education, the better I get at getting to the heart of my choice to unschool him. And the affirmation I feel afterwards fuels my determination to keep Fisher going in this nurturing and progressive route. Besides, I’ve always loved a good debate, especially when I am so passionate about the subjects (of both unschooling and my son).
I managed to finally “confess” my intentions regarding Fisher’s education to my parents a couple of months ago. Much to my surprise, my mother barely batted an eyelash, and even agreed with my reasons, throwing in her own ideas about why children’t shouldn’t be forced to fit a mold. My father’s only concern was – what else – that Fisher not miss out on opportunities to socialize. Of course, if that’s the only problem he has with my views, then there is no problem. I am still both amazed and pleased that my parents reacted with so little concern. There may, of course, be other reasons for this appearance of trust, such as other big decisions I have made in the past that didn’t look promising but turned out to be very right for me. Who knows, really, and what does it matter?
I do think, however, that perhaps finally letting my parents, who had an RESP set up for Fisher by his first birthday, in on my plans is what has made me feel confident to voice those plans to most other people who inquire. But I also enjoy sharing such a unique, and unfortunately underestimated, approach to learning with others who tend to follow the status quo. And though I have yet to find or create an in-person community that embraces similar life choices (for which my shyness is at least partially to blame), I imagine that as disbelief at the incompetence of schools begins to take hold of the masses, I’ll be sure to find bosom-unschooling-buddies before I know it.
