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Kelli Femrite's avatar

This was so informative of all the different ways of perceiving unschooling. As someone who is embarking on this path myself with my 9-year old neurodiverse daughter - this gives me a ton to reflect on!

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Robina Khalid's avatar

Really liked this article, Fran! I would agree with this definition. <3

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Fran Liberatore's avatar

Thanks Robina :)

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Raven Robbins's avatar

Mom of an almost 3 year old and mentally preparing to have these conversations so I’m grateful to have found your voice!

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Addie Gengenbach's avatar

Ooo, didnt know you were planning on unschooling! We should have a side chat about that sometime 💚

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Raven Robbins's avatar

Yessss! Yes please!

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Guen Bradbury's avatar

Really interesting - thank you so much for explaining this so clearly. There's so much talked about this at the moment.

I guess I have a few practical questions, which I guess you'll answer in your next post! How old are your children? How rural is your environment? How large is your home/yard? What is your local community like? I'm interested in the environment in which you do this, as well as what you do. :)

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Fran Liberatore's avatar

Let's see if I can answer concisely, and I'll def elaborate in my next post. We have lived both in big urban cities, suburbs and now we live on an island. I don't feel like our environment made it easier or harder but it definitely did look very different based on where we were. Our yard is big now but we also lived quite a few years in a small, and then bigger, apartment. We've had years of having a really hard time finding ANY homeschoolers whatsoever, and also years (like right now) where my children are involved in a lot of community projects and are doing so well. I do think place matters, if that helps. It's not everything, but it has had a large impact on us as unschoolers. My children are now 11 and 13!

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Taylor Harrison (she/her)'s avatar

On the precipice of making this transition for our family (currently one child out and two in school) and every word of this resonates. Thank you for sharing your experience—it is incredibly helpful to be reminded that I am not alone in believing that a life that prioritizes consent, collaboration, and self-knowledge is possible and there are families ahead on their journeys to help us find our way. This, to me, is the kind of hard that feels like living (instead of being drained of life force). ❤️

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Fran Liberatore's avatar

Totally agree! It’s the struggle I absolutely choose! And no you’re not alone 💖

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Faith's avatar

Lovely article! I’m going to share this one with my fiance so he understands “unschooling” better and we can be on the same page.

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Fran Liberatore's avatar

Yay! So glad it was helpful!

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