Early in 2008, Dumbing Us Down convinced me that unschooling was the way to go. But you still have to look inside yourself for compelling reasons to support unschooling. At least I felt that way, that the external and internal reasons needed to be combined to complete the big picture.

I also was concerned about saddling my kids with my baggage. Am I making a decision more for them? Or more for me? The whole process of going against the societal norms is daunting, with lots of Am I doing the right thing? worries. For the most part, I don’t have those worries now. They’ve faded over time, but I remember them cropping up quite frequently early on. Learning to trust my kids and myself has been a journey, and it’s not over by any means.

But I have looked inside myself for the compelling reasons. Like many parents, I’d like my kids to have it better than I did. The it is specifically the ability to be themselves and follow their dreams. Here are my personal reasons to be an unschooler:

1. My interests haven’t changed much in 25-ish years. When I was 10, I liked dinosaurs, mythology, Renaissance art and ancient cultures. At the time, I asked my dad for books on Michelangelo & Da Vinci. He was stunned but never followed up on it (I can understand – arts book are expensive, and we weren’t rich).

I added some more interestes since then, but just about anything on either of those 4 topics will hold my interest. I ended up studying Economics in college and hated every minute, a waste of time & money.

2. In some 16+ years of schooling, 3 specific things stand out as memories of wonderful learning or a point of personal pride. A high school paper on comic books, a college class on Hinduism and learning languages. They’re definitely reflections of personal interest. I don’t think the rest of the stuff was worth it – especially since I could have learned all of that without school.

3. Everything I do to earn money, I taught myself. I’m not talking about writing and math, but the specific skills that I use that result in my income: coding websites, IT stuff and all that. Realizing that my own interest led me to learn everything myself was a revealing moment.

4. (Caveat: this is probably baggage) When I was 11, I spent an afternoon considering the whole concept of college deeply. This was some serious thought. I knew that college was important, thought of what I liked to do and what I was good at, and I came to the conclusion that I wanted to go to art school.

I went down to my dad’s office in the basement and told him of my decision. The man blew up at me, railing about getting a job blah blah blah. I was crushed and gave up the idea of art school after that. The kicker is that it was his baggage being dumped on me – he went to art school and never did a thing with it. He was also foolish enough to not even try. I’m quite sure he could’ve gotten work as a commercial artist in advertising, but the loss is his. I bring out this memory on the rare occasions he pisses me off these days. Needless to say, I would not do this to my kids.