Episode #7: Beginning Unschooling During a Pandemic: Part One

This was originally a conversation recorded for and posted to the Stories of Unschooling Families online community in Spring of 2022 and we decided to include it as an episode. Ashley and Erin had an opportunity to talk to Jenna Reich of Rogue Learner podcast and website and Jenna Reich Photography about Ashley’s and Jenna’s journey into beginning home education, specifically unschooling or self-directed education. This was an interesting opportunity to discuss beginning homeschooling during and/or because of the pandemic with two parents who also happen to have worked in the education system.  We Discuss:  How homeschoolers went from sort of being tolerated to being sought out  The initial freedom of learning together as a family to families feeling bogged down by online school  The misunderstanding of what home education is and the mixing that up with online public school  The individual family journeys to home education Physical symptoms of school anxiety  The reasons for moving into all the way to unschooling rather than a more traditional homeschooling  Whether and when a teaching background has helped or hindered the process  How curriculum can sometimes be used and enjoyable within an unschooling context and how a child’s prior school experience (or not) might be related to how that goes  Recognizing the signs of school trauma that some children experience and the time and space to deschool  The social challenges of homeschooling during the pandemic – the realities of true loneliness  The many nuances of education choices and how choosing school is absolutely one of them  The diminished opportunities for exploring things like museums, galleries, libraries, travel, etc and whether that impacts kids’ perceptions of the homeschooling experience Resources Mentioned: Peter Gray – Free to Learn  Stories of Unschooling Families Community Photo by J. Gilmore