To this wonderful unschooler: Let's NOT call it a "fake" diploma, and/or a fake transcript. You DID learn, and you did accomplish so many things, probably more than you would have in a traditional school. Thank you for sharing your story!
Currently unschooling my 3 kids after the pandemic left us in an unusual position. I really love these videos of yours! I have to fight against the rest of the world who labels us including family. I wonder myself sometimes if I’m making right decision but these interviews are helping me! Thank you keep them coming!
These Grown Unschooler Interviews are great. The interviews show a good rapport, I felt I got an authentic representation of the unschooled life and I really appreciate the production quality.
You should make more videos like this, successful unschooling kids, teens and adults. I'm homeschooling my daughter and it is motivating and inspiring ❤❤ Thank you.
It was a good 50 minutes! Thanks for the good content. Watching this (and the other unschooling videos so far), I feel that unschooling's main strength is its fluid learning principles instead of rigid, which helps students stay motivated doing/learning things. When Meghan stated that she should learn things to use it in her career instead of learning it to be tested (21:23), I thought her attitude/approach towards learning was more positive, which is likely one of the largest markers for successful learning. Not saying that everyone from a traditional high school will be unmotivated to work, but unschooled person, by definition, will approach topics when THEY want to, which means the aforementioned markers will always be high. One personal concern regarding unschoolers is the concept of grit. I'm glad you included this in your list of questions (43:57, Resilient to failure). Here, Meghan stated that she's never really had a sense of failure/shame but that might be from her innate personality + her parents' outlook. Her personality is pretty easy-going in that she does not worry too much about results (e.g., no worries graduating college within 4 years). And I do agree with this -- in general, progress-oriented thinking will help you learn much faster than results-oriented thinking. However, there will be times where results will matter more than the progress, and results must be achieved at the expense of any resource. There will be topics that you will have to learn by force to achieve a goal that you want, to get to the things that you want to do. I have concerns that the unschooled kids are less equipped to deal with situations like this as they have always shifted towards what they wanted to learn. (EDIT: I understand that Meghan had to learn math and other topics once she had to reach university, but I'm talking about instances when there is an optional goal that a person wants to reach, but chooses not to because they are content where they are.) Furthermore there are topics that provide value to society but unanimously disliked by the population (Who likes doing taxes? Heh. All my CPA friends hate it). As we shift to a more personalized/individualized teaching (as I believe it's not a matter of if but when), I wonder how this will change the job market and society's perceptions in general. Maybe it won't matter in the face of even more rapidly changing world, with technology becoming better and an earth where humans need not apply. Regardless, it already looks quite promising and I wish it was more looked at by the general population. Conventional High School currently seems like an efficient method for society to churn out the most amount of mediocre-ly educated people to contribute, but it's not the best for individual needs. Whether it's unschooling or other methods, personalized learning will likely bring out better results in individuals because that's what it's meant to do. It also takes that much more resources since it's tailored to a person's needs. My hope is that as society improves and becomes more efficient, learning can be more personalized so that all individuals can strive for their absolute best. I have no idea what I'm saying anymore. I rambled on for far too long. Thanks for reading if you did.
Wow. This is me the past year. I’m 33 this year, I felt I was ready to start college. I had to start from scratch with math and English. I was never taught math past the basics same with english. I’m all caught up on everything I need. I really didn’t think I could do it but here I am and I start my lab tech degree in the fall. My sister just got here cosmetology license in May. So all in all we think we are turning out pretty good.
Thank you so much for sharing your experience! I'm currently unschooling 2 children. Can you tell me how you felt about your life growing up? Did you feel free, lonely, etc? Thanks!
Unfortunately my parents were motivated by fear and did it for religious reasons in a highly controlled environment. I didn’t miss the school environment as far as learning went. I always made friends all through Elementry school. Before I stared middle school my parents took us out. They didn’t really have a plan, just née-jerk reaction to the school telling them that I really need to be in special education classes because my comprehension on across the board had never been good and I was going to be held back. For my sister being at home, she hated it. She was thriving in public school. She was given a scholarship to a private school for super smart kids. Her being home killed her drive completely because she wasn’t being challenged at all. She begged to go back to school. But my parents said no. We weren’t free to peruse what interest us in are hearts. We did what are parents told us we wanted. I am a loner by nature so I didn’t get lonely. But my sis was more social. They taught us to function in that bubble only. We had a very hard time functioning in the real world. My parents hoped we’d marry young and have a good Christian man to take care of us. Me and my sister left the religion at the same time and married none believers so it was a major culture shock living out the bubble. It took a decade to find are feet. With that being said, looking back had it been about us and them being are allies between us and the world, setting us up to take care of are selves and not about their religious agenda I think it would have been a great experience for me. Not my sister. I think after trying it out for a year and getting the feedback of not liking it for my sister, they should have listened. We were angry about are up bringing for many years after but we have come to terms that it wasn’t malicious, they really thought they were doing what was best for us. Didn’t make it less frustrating but helped us move on. Give it a try and see what works. If it works great keep expanding on that, if not don’t dig your heels in with the “it has to work” even if it clearly isn’t. Today compared to 20 years ago. There are a lot more resources and families to turn to. Go to meet ups in your area. Talk to other mom and dads with similar circumstances and ask a ton of questions and see if the lifestyle will work for your family.
thanks so much for this! so helpful!! i would love to hear an interview with her brother and her parents!!! i have 3 boys and i want to know more about how to help them as we unschool
Hi I loved all your video ... we r from India and unschooling our 4yr old... yes we have hear a lot of success stores from unschooler but would also want to watch unschooling gone wrong ao that we don't repeat that.. but I am sure if u trust the child and trust the process everything ll be fine ..
I love this, but wish she stopped saying fake diploma or transcript, because they’re real, just not received through traditional schooling. 🎉 Unschooling for the Win.
It's interesting--I've watched a bunch of unschooling videos. Might be some "lazy parents' (though even then I see them going on picnics and outings). But reading comments--" if we could see these kids 10 years later.." they seem to think that the kids will be sweeping streets (though not sure this is so terrible either). I think they'd be REALLY surprised. There's a lot of info about kids who graduated from Summerhill and similar schools.
Probably very badly. This thing only works if one of the parents is available at all times. Poor families need both parents working for money. I think this is where school is clearly a better choice - you know that your child is safe in school (maybe not so much these days)
We make 62k a year and have 5 kids, we unschool and my 13 yr old who is my oldest is reading at an 11th grade reading level and she also is wanting to become a vet. You just need to involved, I have found many free or low cost resources out there it just takes effort and time though and you have to ask around and make connections
To this wonderful unschooler:
Let's NOT call it a "fake" diploma, and/or a fake transcript. You DID learn, and you did accomplish so many things, probably more than you would have in a traditional school. Thank you for sharing your story!
Lol I was screaming this. Girl it's nothing fake about that diploma.
Currently unschooling my 3 kids after the pandemic left us in an unusual position. I really love these videos of yours! I have to fight against the rest of the world who labels us including family. I wonder myself sometimes if I’m making right decision but these interviews are helping me! Thank you keep them coming!
Living Joyfully with Unschooling channel also has a playlist of interviews with Grown Unschoolers, highly recommend!
These Grown Unschooler Interviews are great. The interviews show a good rapport, I felt I got an authentic representation of the unschooled life and I really appreciate the production quality.
You should make more videos like this, successful unschooling kids, teens and adults. I'm homeschooling my daughter and it is motivating and inspiring ❤❤ Thank you.
It was a good 50 minutes! Thanks for the good content. Watching this (and the other unschooling videos so far), I feel that unschooling's main strength is its fluid learning principles instead of rigid, which helps students stay motivated doing/learning things. When Meghan stated that she should learn things to use it in her career instead of learning it to be tested (21:23), I thought her attitude/approach towards learning was more positive, which is likely one of the largest markers for successful learning.
Not saying that everyone from a traditional high school will be unmotivated to work, but unschooled person, by definition, will approach topics when THEY want to, which means the aforementioned markers will always be high.
One personal concern regarding unschoolers is the concept of grit. I'm glad you included this in your list of questions (43:57, Resilient to failure). Here, Meghan stated that she's never really had a sense of failure/shame but that might be from her innate personality + her parents' outlook. Her personality is pretty easy-going in that she does not worry too much about results (e.g., no worries graduating college within 4 years). And I do agree with this -- in general, progress-oriented thinking will help you learn much faster than results-oriented thinking. However, there will be times where results will matter more than the progress, and results must be achieved at the expense of any resource. There will be topics that you will have to learn by force to achieve a goal that you want, to get to the things that you want to do. I have concerns that the unschooled kids are less equipped to deal with situations like this as they have always shifted towards what they wanted to learn. (EDIT: I understand that Meghan had to learn math and other topics once she had to reach university, but I'm talking about instances when there is an optional goal that a person wants to reach, but chooses not to because they are content where they are.)
Furthermore there are topics that provide value to society but unanimously disliked by the population (Who likes doing taxes? Heh. All my CPA friends hate it). As we shift to a more personalized/individualized teaching (as I believe it's not a matter of if but when), I wonder how this will change the job market and society's perceptions in general. Maybe it won't matter in the face of even more rapidly changing world, with technology becoming better and an earth where humans need not apply.
Regardless, it already looks quite promising and I wish it was more looked at by the general population. Conventional High School currently seems like an efficient method for society to churn out the most amount of mediocre-ly educated people to contribute, but it's not the best for individual needs. Whether it's unschooling or other methods, personalized learning will likely bring out better results in individuals because that's what it's meant to do. It also takes that much more resources since it's tailored to a person's needs. My hope is that as society improves and becomes more efficient, learning can be more personalized so that all individuals can strive for their absolute best. I have no idea what I'm saying anymore. I rambled on for far too long. Thanks for reading if you did.
Haha it was a good read
This was a great video and she was a delight to watch. I would love to see an interview with her brother after he graduates from nursing school.
Wow. This is me the past year. I’m 33 this year, I felt I was ready to start college. I had to start from scratch with math and English. I was never taught math past the basics same with english. I’m all caught up on everything I need. I really didn’t think I could do it but here I am and I start my lab tech degree in the fall. My sister just got here cosmetology license in May. So all in all we think we are turning out pretty good.
Thank you so much for sharing your experience! I'm currently unschooling 2 children. Can you tell me how you felt about your life growing up? Did you feel free, lonely, etc? Thanks!
Unfortunately my parents were motivated by fear and did it for religious reasons in a highly controlled environment. I didn’t miss the school environment as far as learning went. I always made friends all through Elementry school. Before I stared middle school my parents took us out. They didn’t really have a plan, just née-jerk reaction to the school telling them that I really need to be in special education classes because my comprehension on across the board had never been good and I was going to be held back. For my sister being at home, she hated it. She was thriving in public school. She was given a scholarship to a private school for super smart kids. Her being home killed her drive completely because she wasn’t being challenged at all. She begged to go back to school. But my parents said no. We weren’t free to peruse what interest us in are hearts. We did what are parents told us we wanted. I am a loner by nature so I didn’t get lonely. But my sis was more social. They taught us to function in that bubble only. We had a very hard time functioning in the real world. My parents hoped we’d marry young and have a good Christian man to take care of us. Me and my sister left the religion at the same time and married none believers so it was a major culture shock living out the bubble. It took a decade to find are feet.
With that being said, looking back had it been about us and them being are allies between us and the world, setting us up to take care of are selves and not about their religious agenda I think it would have been a great experience for me. Not my sister. I think after trying it out for a year and getting the feedback of not liking it for my sister, they should have listened. We were angry about are up bringing for many years after but we have come to terms that it wasn’t malicious, they really thought they were doing what was best for us. Didn’t make it less frustrating but helped us move on.
Give it a try and see what works. If it works great keep expanding on that, if not don’t dig your heels in with the “it has to work” even if it clearly isn’t.
Today compared to 20 years ago. There are a lot more resources and families to turn to. Go to meet ups in your area. Talk to other mom and dads with similar circumstances and ask a ton of questions and see if the lifestyle will work for your family.
thanks so much for this! so helpful!! i would love to hear an interview with her brother and her parents!!! i have 3 boys and i want to know more about how to help them as we unschool
Hi I loved all your video ... we r from India and unschooling our 4yr old... yes we have hear a lot of success stores from unschooler but would also want to watch unschooling gone wrong ao that we don't repeat that.. but I am sure if u trust the child and trust the process everything ll be fine ..
I liked this interview , excelente questions ! And for me as a mom who is starting this journey with my kids , was great timing ! Thanks
Thankyou Andrew for having this channel.thankyou Meghan for sharing your stories
Great Interview! Please do more because you actually do a really great job and ask all the right questions! Also entertaining :)
Love this
Great perspective provided by great questions! Hoping to start this journey with my kids very soon
I was unschool in the negative way.
All the things you mentioned
I love this, but wish she stopped saying fake diploma or transcript, because they’re real, just not received through traditional schooling. 🎉 Unschooling for the Win.
Where did she learn the math is there a link or anything?😢❤
It's interesting--I've watched a bunch of unschooling videos. Might be some "lazy parents' (though even then I see them going on picnics and outings). But reading comments--" if we could see these kids 10 years later.." they seem to think that the kids will be sweeping streets (though not sure this is so terrible either). I think they'd be REALLY surprised. There's a lot of info about kids who graduated from Summerhill and similar schools.
Sounds like her family is fairly wealthy... I wonder how well a lower income family could do this...
Probably very badly. This thing only works if one of the parents is available at all times. Poor families need both parents working for money.
I think this is where school is clearly a better choice - you know that your child is safe in school (maybe not so much these days)
We make 62k a year and have 5 kids, we unschool and my 13 yr old who is my oldest is reading at an 11th grade reading level and she also is wanting to become a vet. You just need to involved, I have found many free or low cost resources out there it just takes effort and time though and you have to ask around and make connections
It's not a fake diploma 😂