COMPLETE LIBERTY

2 Comments

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  by Suburban Voluntaryist 4 months ago

  Hey Wes, I just caught this podcast. I am the Debbie who gave the unschooling talk at Libertopia. (I'm "Suburban Voluntaryist" here on your site.) I just wanted to clarify a bit about what Joey said concerning the education panel. (Joey was awesome by the way.) Joey thought that lady in the audience was talking to him, but really it was probably me she was a bit unhappy with. Before Joey got there, I was having a great time interacting with her two kids and her. And then when I started talking about unschooling and our family's experiences, I think she became a bit defensive because she was worried. At one point, I said something and her daughter turned around and looked at her with a sort of "yeah, see?" as if she had been trying to do some of the things we did. And as I kept talking, I guess it just worried the mom more and more because she knew it was appealing to her kids. ;) I think both Joey and I tagged teamed pretty well in trying to calm her fears a bit and assure her we were not attacking anyone else's view, but only explaining ours.
  
  And I was hoping someone in your group was at my talk because I would have loved to hear their feedback. I don't really do that type of thing, speak in front of crowds, I'm a writer more than a speaker. But Sky found out about an unschooling talk I gave at the first Agora I/O that George Donnelly started and so asked me to come speak. I completely messed up my timing because I was on the 3rd principle of the 5 when my husband said I had 3 minutes left. WTH? Time flew by so I quickly hashed the other 2 points and then people wanted to ask questions and I couldn't get out of there and the other speaker was coming in.....It was complete anarchy. ;)
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  by Wes Bertrand 4 months ago

  Hi, Debbie. Thanks much for the note, giving the run-down of how it went on the panel. Parents who've been practicing conditional parenting and imposed things on their kids tend to take personally the counter-message of unconditional parenting and intrinsic motivation; sadly, they're prone to defend their actions and/or shelter their kids from an unschooling perspective. The kids of course, to the extent that they get out of the house and have access to the Web, will learn that traditional homeschooling simply doesn't meet many of their needs, such as choice, self-responsibility, independence, and creativity.
  
  Glad you got at least three of the unschooling principles out there! I'm sure you'll have many more opportunities to convey these life-enriching memes. :)