I asked everyone what in their educational past helped them to be an unschooling parent and here’s part of what E. Naomi Sandoval (Top Honcho, SoBeBabies.com, Inc) had to say.

When I was in my early 20s, I discovered I could audit courses at my university for very little money. I had so much noise in my head as an undergrad, it was difficult to enjoy much of the college experience. But a few years later, I found I was an excellent student because I wanted to be there. I participated fully and the professors graded my tests because they wanted to as they derived as much pleasure from my presence as I did (when auditing, it is not required to get any grades). I took up quite a few interests in my 20s and finally learned how to learn. I learned that I tended to immerse myself in a subject and gather as much information as possible. I studied gardening both through practice and reading books for years. I bought at least 30 books in that time period.

It is all of these experiences that gave me the confidence to unschool. My older daughter seems to learn like I do. She gets interested in one thing and focuses on it all day, for days, weeks, or months. She drops it out of the blue and I do not nag her to go back to it. It comes back at some random point and the cycle starts again.

I have a lot of trust that she will come out with the subjects she is "supposed to" have gotten by the time she is 17, but not at all on the same timeline that the school system arbitrarily has decided. My husband is getting it now. We do not live live in 45 minute chunks and then go home and do homework in 5 subjects, jumping one to the next. We immerse in what we are currently interested in doing and move on when it strikes our fancy or becomes necessary (like for me, learning faux painting techniques, for example, or what fruit trees grow in my climate).

What’s YOUR story?