Lately I have been frantically reading as many unschooling books as I can possibly get my hands on. It's been so inspiring as well as reassuring - realising that, at the end of the journey (when is that?) children who are unschooled turn out to be successful in whatever they choose for their adult lives without the pressures put upon them that the majority of schooled kids feel. Phew - what a relief!

The first book, "The Unprocessed Child" by Valerie Fitzenreiter (if you haven't read this book, it's a must)gave me an amazing insight into the real world of Valerie's daughter, Laurie. Not only how unschooling worked for them and where Laurie is in life now, but also loads of really informative stuff on putting the theories of unschooling into practice.

The other, which I'm still reading, is "Summerhill" by A.S. Neill. This man was so ahead of his time when he set up the school in England called Summerhill. The first edition published was in 1962! Summerhill, although a school, is based on 'freedom'. Children at this school were/are free to learn, express themselves, communicate as equal participants in all that goes on in the school, free to simply be. The school is still going and is based on the same free principles as when it first began way back in the 1920's.

I have learnt so much more about freedom and self-regulation since reading these books (as well as heaps and heaps of articles on the net and long discussions with other wonderful unschoolers online and in real life!). From now on my aim is to give Lewi lots more freedom:
- to learn
- to be who he is regardless
- to make decisions
- to take responsibilities
- to express all feelings
- to problem solve
- to choose even if his choices aren't ones I'd make or ones I'd like for him. (See an up and coming post on Pokemon!)


Although I have always parented in an attached way and have given a fair amount of freedom and choice to Lewi I think there's room in all of the above areas for much improvement. To trust in him as a person in his own right by allowing him to be who he is and regulate his own life as much as possible (within the boundaries of family needs) will surely give him a great foundation for being a life long lover of learning and a happy, well adjusted man.

I'm still learning about self-regulation and I'll post on this in the future as it's something I'm slowly coming to grips with. But, it seems to me, that freedom and self-regulation go hand in hand. The boundaries for me are the tricky things to work out. Where does freedom stop and licensee begin? (licensee being that children take their freedom to a level where they think they can do whatever they like regardless of those around them). I guess the boundaries are based on the feelings and needs of others. Freedom is fine as long as it doesn't interfere with the freedom and rights of another.

Hmm, more learning is required. I love unschooling...I'm on the journey too!