School Isn't for Everyone Chapter 8 What to expect as unschooled children grow and Chapter 9 Teens, screens and socialisation

Chapter 8

Unschooled children are different. Their experience of the world is different, their relationships with family, friends and their community are different, the way they live is different and how they learn is different. Throughout this book I have talked about how school does things and the effect that that can have on our children. I have also talked about how unschooling families approach things and the impact that those choices have on our children. As our children grow up the difference between schooled and unschooled children becomes noticeably bigger and increasingly more obvious, especially for those in the habit of comparing their children with their schooled peers (which I don’t recommend and don’t find overly helpful.) The truth is that schooled children often appear to be doing better, learning more, and getting on in life or growing up, faster than children who are self-directed. Children who are growing and developing according to their own time line play longer, accept support from others for longer (by which I mean that adults are needed to do more for and with their children,) are more relaxed about taking exams or have a broader view when it comes to the pressures and expectations that others put on them and are often clearer about what they want to do and how they want to do it. Their growth and development is noticeable in other ways and the way that we relate to and support our child changes too. Here’s what you can expect through the seasons of unschooling.

Chapter 9

Here I address the three most common questions that I am asked: How will my teen get GCSE’s if I deregister them from school? I am worried that my child won’t have any friends if we Home Educate, and ‘when you say, ‘unlimited screen time’ you don’t mean that they should be allowed to play on their tablet all day, do you?’ Taking my observations from over 20 years’ experience in education, more than twelve of those in the unschooling community, I bring a different perspective to each of these questions, re-evaluating our priorities for our young people, shifting our thinking, and questioning the dichotomy of thought in our society.