I have spent the last year reading and learning about “non-mainstream” schools, those schools that educate very few students, or even just one or two, with no intention of growing. I am also interested in “radical,” often referred to as “unschooling,” practices. I have found that I like many different types of things. As many do, I often have trouble finding a place in the middle where the ideal balance lies. Is it possible to raise a child with any of the available educational philosophies and still be a good parent? Or does one philosophy need to predominate? Is it possible to live in both worlds? Is there something missing? I want to share with you some of my experiences with education and discuss my plans for my child. I want to describe some of my personal philosophy of “education,” and what my future educational experiences with my child will look like. I also want to describe what I know about “unschooling,” and why it might not work for my family. I have a number of posts on our journey of adoption. I started this blog to share our journey and help others get through their experiences, even the not so fun ones. We have seen so many encouraging and even miraculous things, but it hasn’t always been like that. There were times when I felt very alone and overwhelmed. I wanted to share what I was going through, and hopefully help others feel less alone in their journey. I think that it is important to me, at least in the beginning, to share a lot of what we do in our home. We were initially met with a lot of resistance to our plans for our child’s education. That resistance has come from so many different directions. This blog is our little response to that resistance, which is why I want to share a lot of our lives at this point. I believe that sharing our life together will strengthen our family bond and show what our plans are for our daughter. The resistance, however, has served a couple of purposes. First, it is strengthening our bond as a family. We are experiencing a lot of the trials and suffering together and learning to trust each other more. Second, I think the lack of community can’t help but make us more creative, and to think of our own answers to our questions. I am hoping that this will make me a more knowledgeable parent and help me to help others in the future. I want to be less dependent on others. I want to understand my child, her needs, and her world. I think we are on the right track and would like to share that with you. I know that many of you are dealing with adoption. It is an incredibly powerful tool and experience. No matter what your experience has been, we are here for you in your journey. When I first thought about writing this blog, I thought that the world would be divided into the two camps of “traditional” or “progressive” or “free” education. I didn’t realize how right the first statement would be and how wrong the second two were. I did, however, realize how many parents I have encountered with various ideas about education, but have no idea what school my child attends. They don’t want to have to explain to others why their child is in “school,” they just want what’s best for their child. I know that they want to set them on the path to living their best life. Traditional schools: Some people consider this school to be Public School, Charter, Private, Private School, and also public school. I use this term as I learned most of my history and found most of my social studies in a traditional school. I learned a lot of good things there, but we also discovered that some “experts” can’t do their job either. We came to the conclusion that a traditional school is not the right path for our children and will not be for our daughter. I would not ever choose this style of school for my children, but it is clear that many parents do, and they spend years and tens of thousands of dollars in the attempt. We believe that the education process should be one of love and discovery. Progressive or Unschooling: I have heard the terms “unschooling” and “radical” used interchangeably. I think that they are similar. My daughter has heard people talk about unschooling and would like us to pursue this style of education, but we haven’t made that decision yet. We are still working it out for ourselves. What we want is for our daughter to love learning and thrive. We want her to go down the path that will help her to achieve her dreams. It is often the way people talk about this style of education that drives us away from it. We have been led to believe that when a child is unschooled, they will fail. Well, no one knows what the future holds. We don’t know what it is like to graduate from a traditional school and have done nothing with that education. We don’t know how much college tuition will cost in ten years. Most importantly, we don’t want to spend the time and money that “experts” are telling us is the only way to make our daughter happy. We are willing to try any style of education that will not require massive amounts of money or take years to accomplish. Some of you reading this might be unschoolers and I have only really scratched the surface with these ideas. It is clear to me that we have no desire to be part of the current educational system. It seems to me that what most people are willing to give up to educate our children, regardless of what kind of education we offer, is incredible. This world is full of so much that we don’t have to teach, yet we are willing to spend a significant portion of our limited income to educate our children. I am tired of this. I want to give our child the best education we can, but we want it to be a choice, not a mandate. We will sacrifice and work hard to create the life that is best for her. I am writing this post about schooling my child for a reason. We have two days left of summer vacation for our schools. I don’t think that I need to explain what we are doing. I am homeschooling my daughter and that is why we have some time for fun on this Friday and Saturday. I could say more, but I am going to give it to you straight. That’s what I have learned from all of the people who have come into our lives this summer. My sister-in-law has spent so much time and energy and all of the tools that she can buy on me, explaining why we need a college education for my son. She doesn’t believe in untraditional education for our son. What does that even mean? Untraditional? That’s a good question. She couldn’t tell you exactly why my son needs a college education, but she knows that it is important and, yes, necessary for my son. There is not much effort put into an answer of why. They know why they do it and they know that there are only a couple of ways to do it, so why change anything. The only thing I can figure out is that it might cost more to keep my child in her school than it will cost for us to homeschool her. That’s about all she thinks we need. I can’t say that I blame her. I would feel the same way if I didn’t have a child already. I wonder if she might even be right. But I do wonder why everyone is so adamant about giving us the “right” thing. We don’t need any of their advice. We are the right parents to decide for our child what she needs to have a great life, and if that isn’t an education, then it can’t be that. No college education is going to make my child a better person. If it