- Jan 21, 2019

Freeschoolin': Burned Out!

Homeschool Burnout. Sound Familiar?

Over the last week or so, traditional Homeschool circles are beginning to talk of the dreaded "homeschool burnout".

This perplexes me. I watch the methods traditional homeschoolers use, the patterns, sometimes expensive curriculum, tools and required classes and wonder, if it's so stressful, why do they do it? I'm sure it's not out of a sense of the need to suffer. I'm sure these families would rather homeschooling be fun and exciting for the whole family. I am saddened there is a expectation to acclimate to the idea that homeschooling is inherently draining; that there is nothing you can do to escape the fate of burnout. It stunts the need to look for more joyful ways to home educate; asks that you give up before you have even begun. Which is a big reason why we share our Unschooled life. We want everyone to know that life learning is easy.

knife and mushrooms illustration by Wendy Elizabeth Hart

Life isn't easy, but the learning part can be just something you do, like breathing. It's school that convinces us that it's the most educational place in the world. The world is the university we're all attending. And you can't escape it's classes.

Unschooling brings attention to this life university and has us eagerly studying all the time. The whole family. Together and independently. Instead of learning being something we have to do, it's something we love to do. When life is learning, there is no homeschool burnout. Sure, we get life challenges. We learn from those too, thanks to our unschool/Freeschoolin' perspective.

Unschool Your Life Illustration by Wendy Elizabeth Hart

Facebook Groups for support and information on Unschooling: Global Peaceful Parenting/Unschooling Support Freeschoolin' Community Creative Unschooling Ontario, Canada The Un/Homeschool Club of Ontario (Page) The Un/Homeschool Club of Ontario (Group) Ontario Unschooling Families Ontario Radical Unschoolers Ontario Homeschoolers

This Week

We did a lot of planning, purging, healing and thinking. We planned a fun meetup for our Un/Homeschool Club in February, got our car fixed at our amazing garage, Craft Auto, and visited a thrift store to spend some holiday money we were gifted. Hope exchanged her coin savings into bills at the bank and we visited a local skate pond with an outdoor fireplace. We also did on a DIY Disney Cruise movie night where we pretended to be on the Disney Cruise (a family dream vacation we are trying to manifest), watching a movie with room service in our cabin. We decorated with Disney Toys and Hope even made a magical porthole just like on the ship! We had homemade tacos in our family bunk bed and dreamed of what it would be like on the real cruise. (Check out the video linked below for footage!) Subjects #math #art #nutrition #food preparation #planning #creativethinking #safety #timemanagement #moneymanagement #roleplay #writing #reading #homemanagement #responsibility #spacialrecognition #imagination #patternrecognition #physed #bodyregulation #socialinteraction #exploration #outdooractivity #somuchmore