So your kids haven't won the spelling bee...

This voice came through the Unschooling Basics group a few days ago and I really like it. (Reposted with permission.)

So your kids haven't won the spelling bee, enrolled in college at 12 and found a cure for cancer? You are not hosting cow milking lessons while wearing your denim jumper? You and the kids did not build your home from the plans on the back of a cereal box?

And, yet, some of us manage to unschool. :)

A dear unschooling friend and I joke that nobody really suspects what we are up to. We look so white bread suburban it is ridiculous. She's driving around in her minivan and me in my (very used :) ) Volvo station wagon. The kids are being carted to this event or that activity. DH's both go to work and we Moms stay home. How "Leave It To Beaver" could we look?? :)

But the secret is that what things look like from the outside is not what matters.

My kids are being carted to things they chose! For instance.

When we are at home, we are not sitting around the kitchen table crunching math worksheets. We are online or DS is gaming or DH and DD are puttering in the yard or we are lounging with whatever book we picked up at the library or. . . etc. . . just glorious everyday life. In a loving home with mutual support.

We have not built any rocket ships in the kitchen sink but we do what we want to do and are happily unschooling. And you can too! :)

-Nance Confer