Unschooling Lab Notes

First and foremost, unschooling is NOT listening to other people telling you how to unschool your kids.
If you’re going to Peter, Paul, Sally, and Suzie and taking their advice instead of listening to your kids… that’s schoolishness.
(Think: “I need an authority other than my kid to educate them.” Nope. Not unschooling.)

Perspective

If you go to Danii, Akilah, Sue, Esther, Melissa, or Meghan, come not for your kids. Come for:

Deschooling – breaking the old programming that says anyone knows more than you and your kid about what they actually need or want.
Adult unschooling & reparenting – because, let’s be honest, our co-workers are like tiny snot-nosed minis who need reminders seven days a week to:
- brush their teeth
- wipe their butts
- wear clean underwear
And one personal favorite: shirts are not napkins, especially the ones we’re wearing.

Yes, my kids are wild and free, but they don’t need to remain wallet-draining beasts of chaos. That’s my 2 cents.

The 1-Cent Rule

Ask yourself:

What’s your 1 cent?
What’s your child’s 1 cent?
What’s their other parent/guardian/guide’s 1 cent?

That’s the only narrative and negotiation that matters when asking:
"What is unschooling? What can it look like?"

Why I Tell 1001 Tales

Everything else out there is stuck in:

Kindergarten → Elementary → High School → College
Cookie-cutter marriage → kids → rinse → repeat

(Not reality. Not even close.)

In a world where Netflix is boss — yes, Netflix, call me — we can finally open the gates of what life can actually look like:

No shame
No blame
No bullies
No Joneses
No worrying that your kid will “suffer” without the status quo blueprint

Definitions

Unschooling is:
A way of life where your child’s interests, curiosity, and choices drive their learning. It’s less about “covering curriculum” and more about trusting the child as the expert on their own education. You provide resources, support, and guidance — but the path is theirs to create. It’s messy, unpredictable, joyful, and real.

Deschooling is:
The process of undoing old habits, societal programming, and expectations that tell us that adults, authorities, or institutions know better than our children. It’s rewiring both parent and child to let curiosity, intrinsic motivation, and natural rhythms lead. It’s slow, it’s challenging, and it’s essential before unschooling can truly take hold.

Worldschooling is:
Learning through real-world experience, travel, and cultural immersion. The world itself becomes the classroom — museums, markets, forests, cities, communities. Learning is hands-on, global, and integrated into life, not separated into subjects or schedules. The goal is perspective, adaptability, and meaningful context.

Homeschooling is:
A structured or semi-structured education at home. Parents choose curriculum, plan lessons, and often replicate the “school” model in a home setting. Learning is parent-directed, even if done with love and flexibility. Homeschooling can overlap with unschooling, but it usually retains the authority of an adult-designed framework.

Self-Directed Learning is:
The skill and habit of choosing what, when, and how you learn. It can apply to children, teens, and adults alike. This is the backbone of unschooling — learning driven by curiosity and purpose, not by mandates or external reward systems. It’s lifelong, portable, and infinitely adaptable.

Parents as Lifelong Learners

Parents can be unschoolers too — applying knowledge and life experience into endeavors that are not jobs.

Jobs: Services or goods provided on someone else’s terms.
Business, venture, endeavor, project: Services or goods provided on your own terms.

One feels like forced labor with penalties and punishments.
The other is hard work you can pick up and put down, with the benefit of rest, sanity, and mental health care.

You considered it.
You chose it.
You lived it.

Welcome to unschooling.