Except that I wasn’t allowed to have boys in my room. But I blame that on my individual family, and not on homeschooling.
Here are some of the ways that being unschooled is like being grown up:
You make your own choices.
You get to decide what interests you and then pursue that, or those things.
If you fail at something, you can start over, or start something else, or just decide to stop.
You make friends with adults.
You don’t have to pay attention to kid stuff (like popular teen level TV shows or pop stars or video games or fashion) if it doesn’t interest you.
Most of the stuff you do takes place in the “real world,” rather than in a training facility for the real world. If you want to learn how to act, you audition for and act in plays, you don’t take a drama class. If you want to learn about photography, you go apprentice yourself to a photographer. You learn on the job.
(How much fun would it be to be his apprentice? source)
You don’t have to raise your hand.
You’re responsible for your own progress. You can’t blame the teachers. You can’t blame peer pressure.
You often find yourself in a teaching role. You end up tutoring younger children, teaching workshops on stuff you’re good at. Teaching music lessons to make money.
As a result of all this, people always think you’re older than you are. So they treat you like an adult, long before you’ve reached an adult-sounding age.
You learn about the practical details of running a household, because you’re there to see it happen, every day.
You probably learn how to cook.
Disclaimer: Not all adults are the same. Many of them work jobs that don’t allow for much freedom, personal responsibility, or ability to pursue individual interests. Many of them do not know how to cook. I am using very general terms in this piece, and I apologize if anyone feels excluded, misrepresented, or incredibly annoyed that they are forty-three and working in an environment that requires them to raise their hand and ask permission when they have to use the bathroom.
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Wild fun list: Ice skating in Wollman rink in Central Park! Except not when it’s this cold. Nothing is good when it’s this cold, except blankets, clothing straight out of the dryer, and deep faith in the regularity of the seasonal cycle.
Check out my reworked piece “Not knowing how smart you are is more fun” over on The Innovative Educator!
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