Our Home is De-Schooling

Let me tell you.

De-schooling is not for the weak.

It's been 2 full months now and as much as everybody talks about THE CHILD and what they will miss out on from not being in normal public school...

Baby listen.

No one talks about the emotions and feelings that come from/with making such a BIG decision on behalf of your child.

Keeping my son in school and watching him struggle would have been the easier route to take.

However, easier and better are not the same thing.

Excuse me while I try to break a few generational curses here...

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My son and I decided to begin our home-schooling / world-schooling journey with de-schooling.

At this point you're wonder what the hell de-schooling is right?

There's a whole world out there outside of traditional / formal education.

De-Schooling. Un-Schooling. Home-Schooling. World Schooling. SHEESSHHHHH.

De-Schooling is a period of time (set by you) used to allow your child to detach from traditional school functions and the 'normal' school day.

This time is typically unstructured and free (for the most part).

Warning: It's easy for children to get stuck at this stage with the increasing access to technology: PS4, XBOX and Youtube are their best friends and will turn into your biggest self induced critic if you let it.

That said, I highly suggest setting a timeframe on device use and the de-schooling period in general.

I also suggest adding extracurriculars to the mix; martial arts, trampoline parks, a sport, something. •Groupon is your friend•

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Now to get into those feelings and emotions on the parental side that I mentioned earlier.

Y'all,

Nobody told me that I'd feel like a failure when I made this decision.

Nobody told me I had to de-school and unlearn alongside my son.

Nobody warned me how much of a process this all was going to be on ME.

There are so many unconscious or subconscious agreements that we have made with ourselves about school and how learning is 'supposed' to look that even when we know school isn't a good fit for our kid we still second guess.

Its a psychological mess on parents who were groomed to think formal education was the only way for a child to succeed.

For us millennials who were taught to strive for good grades because college was the key; we already weren't doing okay with all these student loans that seem to not want to disappear.

Now we're not doing okay as we try to flip the myths of education when it comes to raising our children...

Because where is the balance.

I feel like I am in a constant state of anxiety and panic over the amount of formal learning my son is not doing.

If he were in school he'd be coming home with a note saying "XXX didn't answer a single question in class / on his quiz".

Even though the teacher and I both know he knows the information and he isn't a defiant kid...

Testing is not how he shows knowledge but it doesn't matter.

Good test takers is what schools need; making him a 'bad student' by default.

I know this and I still second guess the decision; daily.

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As long as his natural inquisitiveness and curiosity is being nurtured; he will be just fine!

This is a just a friendly reminder to everyone in the struggle with me; BE GENTLE with yourself.

These kids will be just fine.

If all they did today was play Roblox, Minecraft and watch a movie; ask them a few questions about each...

TADA; THEY LEARNED SOMETHING. You're good.

Us homeschooling parents will be okay because we decide what schooling looks like.

The de-schooling phase will not defeat you!

And baby look;

Don't let that family or them other people knock you off your square.

"Is he learning anything? Are you sure this was a good idea? What about his social skills?"

"What did you read today? Did you learn anything? Don't you miss school?"

Read this next part slow.....

It is not your job or your child's job to defend the decisions made in OR for your home - to anybody outside of your home.

And that's on PERIODT.