Our unschooling support group meets in warm weather at Bear Mountain state park

Today was our monthly unschooling support group, and it’s probably the day of the month I look forward to the most.  It’s inspiring to spend a couple of hours talking to others who share the same values and can provide sensible, heartfelt insight into issues and ideas that we need to bounce off others.  I can definitely see the appeal of going to a conference where you’re immersed in an unschooling community for days.

Once a month is really not enough.  At least now that the house is on the market we don’t feel totally stressed and pressured, so hopefully we can meet some of our friends from the group before the next meeting.

One of the things that really strikes me at the group is how the kids of various ages tend to play together.  Today, a cute little 3 1/2 yr old boy (another J) and M were having a blast together, something that’s been steadily increasing the past 3 or 4 meetings.  At one point M asked him how old he was, they exchanged the info and were off.  How sad is it that many schoolchildren would miss an opportunity to play with someone because the notion that different ages are to stay separate has been internalized?

In some ways, the monthly meetings is what inspired this site.  Once a month ain’t enough, and it’s nice to be able to connect over interests beyond unschooling (ie topic-oriented groups), with unschooling as the common thread.  And to hopefully keep in touch as people move and travel.