Going Rogue: Unschooling Our Lives

Welp...I've made a decision to unschool. What I mean is, my 17-year-old son, who is supposed to be a junior, just doesn't want to "do school" anymore. And I'm tired of fighting it. So, I'm giving in to a whole new way of thinking about an "acceptable" education. And, instead of a traditional home school curriculum, we're going rogue. This is going to be my first post about the process of unschooling as we figure it all out.

To understand how we got to this point, some abbreviated background might help.

My son + school has always been a struggle. It began when Zeke's first grade teacher recommended he repeat the grade. He never made it to school on the first day of third grade because he got sick on the way. Zeke started sixth grade strong. In fact, at the first parent-teacher conference, my son's teacher told me that his life easier if he had 23 more students just like Zeke.

But soon, things took a turn when recess became "red-card" hell, which prevented my Zeke from earning the privilege of attending a week-long science camp with his classmates at the end of the school year. Then, we moved. And moved again. And...again. Through it all, school has never been a friend to Zeke. Unlike my own experience, Zeke doesn't view school as a refuge or a place to be somebody. For him, it's mostly uncomfortable.

However, when we arrived to Traverse City last year, we settled on a private Christian school. In the fall, Zeke played football and I was a proud mom who cried when he made a touchdown. I was involved with school events and fundraising. The school became a support system -- a family for us both. When the football season was over, Zeke ... deflated ... I guess is a way to describe it. He missed weeks of school. Thankfully, it was his principal that advised me on ways to help Zeke sort things out and get back to school. But Zeke never caught up and kept promising that he would "rock it" next semester. Unfortunately, it wasn't good enough for the principal and we weren't "invited back" for this semester. He said he didn't think the school could serve Zeke. And he suggested I homeschool. Ha! Me!? Ha! I scoffed. After all, I'm an extremely busy single mom who had just been told her support system was being cut off. Let's just say, that outcome was unexpected.

In the midst of trying to recover from that blow, we did some shuffling and shifting. Zeke's main objection to doing anything different was having to insert himself in a new social circle. And as much as I wanted him to be in the classroom, I agreed to online credit recovery. But on one condition: to also join a career tech program where he would at least have some kind of schedule and see people. Now, Zeke IS enrolled in a Film & New Media program at the Career Tech Center. I'm happy to say, that after a good six weeks, he's finally engaging in the program. He likes it! Woot! On the academics side, however, it's just not happening. Zeke just can't or won't do it. Whether it's can't or won't, either way...it's not happening.

A couple weeks ago, I saw a post from a Facebook friend about how she was loving the book The Teenage Liberation Handbook: How to Quit School, Get A Real Life & Education. And, after looking into it a bit, I thought to myself: Huh, maybe I should consider something completely different.

So, that's what we're doing - something different. We don't know what it's going to look like. But, I'll keep you updated as I learn more.