Home Schooling And Unschooling; an Adult Retrospective, Part I: The Background

This being a community that often centers around alternatives and freedom, we hear quite a lot about "unschooling" and "home schooling" here on Steemit. In a sense, it seems to walk hand in hand with the whole idea of anarchism and generally thinking outside the proverbial box.

Of course, we hear lots of stories about the children and the approaches and various challenges involved in alternative education. What we don't hear so much about is the lives of those who grew up with alternative schooling... from the perspective of being adults with years of life experience and hindsight.

One might say "but why bother?" to which I'd respond that we should "bother" because perhaps hearing from someone about the way their life turned out-- 25 years "after the fact"-- could be a useful teaching tool, in and of itself-- both in terms of where unschooling succeeded, and where it failed.

So, in somewhat of a departure from my usual fare, I thought I'd talk a bit about how life turned out... through the eyes of a 57-year old.

A Bit of Background

I grew up with what can best be described as "mixed schooling."

My parents were basically "global nomads" in some ways, which meant we often moved from country to country, even though the answer to "where is home?" was routinely "Denmark" till I was 13 years old. Subsequently, Spain was home (13-16), the UK was home (16-18), then Denmark/Spain was home again (18-20).

When I say "mixed schooling," I mean the following: I was actually enrolled in regular schools in Denmark for the first five years of school-- BUT most of the time I wasn't actually there. I also went to boarding school in the UK when I was 16, for a couple of years. In between, my mother "somewhat" taught me by a curriculum, but I think she just "got tired of it" and let me switch to "figuring things out on my own," with fairly minimal supervision.

Let us keep in mind that much of this happened during the later 1960's and earlier 1970's, before there were a lot of standardized testing and regulations to follow.

Of relevance to this story, I will also add that I am very much an introvert by inherent personality, so spending days and weeks without social contact as a kid never felt like a "hardship" to me.  That most likely would not apply to everyone.

Understanding my Parents' Reasoning

I think it's also relevant to understand my parents' choices and motivation, in terms of my schooling.

There is no doubt I was a "bright spark" as a kid, and my parents' interest in teaching me probably started when I was three or so, already bilingual (English/Danish) and showing an interest in wanting to read. So it was a conscious decision on their behalf to start "schooling" me (essentially reading, numbers and geography/nature) long before I was of school age.

That said, my parents were actually somewhat conventional in the sense that they had no interest in "home schooling" or "unschooling" as any kind of social statement or rebellion against anything. These approaches were simply the only thing that "made sense," given their travelling lifestyle. 

In other words, my schooling was the way it was, purely "as a matter of logistics and convenience." My dad's job involved a lot of moving around, and in later years the moving around was also related to "tax avoidance."

Schooling, Supervision and Mental Health

I think it should also be said that my dad worked his "version" of a corporate job, albeit spread out across a dozen countries we made our way through. Which often meant that he had relatively little time to be an active participant in my education... with the exception of being eternally patient in teaching me anything I wanted to know about the geography and nature of the various places we lived. He also started teaching me about money and financial systems when I was maybe eight years old.

To the degree there was "teaching," it fell to my mother. I would have to say that she was "somewhat interested" during my earliest years of learning, but as I approached about 9-10 years of age, she sank further and further into a cloud of depression, alcohol and prescription drugs, and became what one might call an "absent/unreliable parent."

Books, however, were my friends (and "babysitters!") and I would have to say that my parents-- jointly-- did an admirable job of finding me and supplying me with interesting reading material that taught me about the world around us.

As a Child...

... I was typically quiet and withdrawn. I mentioned earlier that I was (and am) very much an introvert; however, I also lacked much of the curiosity, inquisitiveness and motivation of most young children. 

If my mom sat me down on a chair as a 4-year old and went off to do something, she could come back two hours later and I'd still be sitting on that chair, looking into space. From hearsay and family lore, I am told it was almost as if it didn't even occur to me to go anywhere else. Although my own memories are somewhat sketchy, it seemed like what was going on inside my own head was always far more interesting than anything happening in the outer world around me.

I bring this up because I needed considerable "intervention" and encouragement to start moving around and exploring. I wasn't particularly shy, I just had a docile temperament and liked being my myself, pretty much keeping to "low stimulation" activities.

About This Article Series

After starting to write this story (or "mini memoir"), I quickly determined that it would become far too long for a single post/article.

Thus, I decided it would be best to break it into four parts, which I will release on a daily basis, over the next four days. Part 1 is intended to offer a bit of a background view, mostly because my education wasn't exactly "boilerplate" anything, and I was hoping to present an account people could put in perspective. Part 2 (tomorrow) will look at what I retrospectively would consider the life benefits I derived from an "alternative" education. Part 3 (on Thursday) will take a look at the disadvantages and drawback — and yes, there definitely were some. Part 4 (on Friday) will look at how an alternative education played out and influenced a completely conventional college experience; along with a conclusion of the entire experience.

I hope some of you will find this useful, educational, informational or at least mildly entertaining! Comments, as always, are invited and encouraged, and I will do my very best to respond to questions and inquiries and requests for clarification!

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(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for Steemit)
Created at 180306 15:06 PST