Unschooling in WA-- Hello!

[Sarah B]

Hello all.  

I am an unschooling mama of 2 very active girls, 5.5 and 7.5.  We have been unschooling, well kind of forever, kind of not forever, and we've been transitioning to a more radical style as the girls have grown older.  Still have a ways to go before I can come close to claiming that we are radical unschoolers.  

We raise chickens, garden, the girls are planning their farms and a farm stand.  Ducks next year!  We just moved to the property dh and I bought 15 years ago-- so quiet, with forest and space for more gardens and orchards.  Hard transition, we've been so busy and it's been so stressful, but all the hustle and bustle of moving and preparing the old house to rent, getting ready for fair, family visits, weekend at the beach--August is so busy and this year it is phenomenal.

DD1 will be 8yo soon and we will be declaring our intention to homeschool soon.  Not looking forward to the rigamarole, but WA is a relatively easy state to HS and US in.  Not only are the state requirements not onerous, but the general community is very welcome of HSing and USing alike (as much as can be expected, anyhow.)

Since I'm not really a radical unschooler yet, I'll mostly be trying to learn from all your experiences.  

I'll see you around!

[Christine Wasankari]

Hi there Sarah! We have been homeschooling for coming up on 7 years now, my daughter is going to be 15 in October. We have been transitioning, or rather have accomplished the transition to unschooling over the course of about the last 4 years or so. That was about the time I discovered that there was such a thing as "unschooling" The more relaxed I got about it, the better it got. And of course, the better she got. I still have little twinges every now and again but mostly they are tiny and I realize it's my own shedding of the final bit of programming propaganda my own head was drummed with. Hee hee.

All of that being said :-) ---- We also have farm critters. Chickens, Rabbits, Goats, Garden, Composting Worms and way too many other dogs and cats. A micro farm if you will. We wish we would have had more foresight a few years back and bought more property. But we make it work.

I have to say, my daughter is much, much healthier for our decision to unschool. She is thriving and no where near as angry and frustrated as she was in public school. My instincts were right, it was the best thing for her.

Nice to "meet" you and enjoy the rest of this bit of summer we are finally being blessed with here in WA (western WA at least)