Hi from Queensland, Australia

[Cas McCullough]

Just popping in to introduce myself. I found this forum through a couple of other unschooling mums in my area and also went searching for a support forum through Google after finishing Rue Kream's book. The book raised a lot of questions for me about the way I've parented and has helped me to let go a bit. That's hard for me because I'm a total control freak!

Anyway, I am an Aussie mum of three busy, intelligent boys. My eldest was dx with Aspergers Syndrome last year but my middle boy was dx with Autism (classic) when he was 3 and he is currently part home educating and part in an Autism therapy centre here in Brisbane. He'll be finished up there in June and is enjoying himself for the most part. I've just skimmed the discussion on unschooling special children and feel our experiences could probably be of use to some. I might post there later. My 4 year old is feisty and artistic and I'm loving the variety in our family! Never a dull moment here!

We haven't had an easy journey into unschooling and even now we're dealing with ignorance and discrimination towards son no. 2 within the home ed and greater community (not from unschoolers though). It breaks my heart. He had started grade one at school this year but that lasted about 4 weeks. They called me and said they couldn't manage his behaviour and had no one to supervise him, asked me to come get him. When I saw him sitting in the school secretary's office alone, that was the final straw. There was no way school was going to work. He just beats to a different drum and why shouldn't he? We took him out of school and joined a local unschooling group earlier in the year. At the moment he's into the alphabet in a big way. We're having fun creating new games around the ABC's so it doesn't get boring. I took son no. 1 out of school in June. Son no. 1 is loving the freedom to persue his own interests and has a strong focus on Club Penguin at the moment. He even has a blog that he's created from scratch!

In terms of background, I've a Masters degree and have worked in PR for many years. I just resigned from a non-profit I was producing a magazine for because I need to focus my time and energy on my little ones. I don't want to miss a thing!

My dh is kinda spun out and is tolerant but not all that supportive of unschooling so that is proving tricky but otherwise we're loving the unschooling life.