19 June 2014

Interviewing Charlotte (16), an Unschooling Teenager


Ten Minutes on Thursday

“Can I interview you for one of my unschooling videos?” I tentatively asked my 16 year old
daughter Charlotte.
“Okay.”
Okay? I smiled. I was surprised. I didn’t really think Charlotte
would agree. You see, she’s quite happy living a quiet life without telling the world about it. Oh
she’s not shy. She’ll happily sing solo in front of a whole church full of parishioners
on a Sunday morning. She’ll take great delight in stirring up (in a friendly way) a complete stranger
with her witty tongue. But vlogging, blogging, Facebooking…? She needs to be persuaded to join in. They don’t seem very important to her.
So I put together some interview questions. I set up the camera, and we started talking.
We chatted about Charlotte’s interests and what she does in a day. We discussed the future. Should learning get more structured during the last few official homeschooling years? How will she get into university if that’s what she wants to do? Will she be prepared for tertiary learning?  We also talked about the role of parents in an unschooling teenager’s life.
There’s a bit of a problem with this video: My voice booms
out loud and Charlotte’s is very quiet. I hope you can cope with the differences in voice volume. Charlotte was much more subdued than
normal. Maybe she was feeling a little uncomfortable in front of the camera? She’s
not really such a quiet teenager. She is just as confident and full of
ideas as Sophie is, but you might not realise that from my video. 
So onto my latest video. I hope you’ll watch it!
Another Interview with an Unschooling Teenager: Charlotte 16
PS: I’m hoping to interview my adult son Callum for next week’s video. I hope we can talk about the transition from homeschooling to university and work. Was he prepared? What were the challenges? What are his plans for the future? Does that sound interesting? I just hope Callum and I can find a mutually convenient quiet moment to have a chat.
In case you’re interested…Charlotte blogs erratically at Charlotte’s Web and Mother, Daughters, Sisters

She also has a Facebook page for her artwork: Charlotte Mary Elvis

You can also find me on Facebook. I have a Sue Elvis Writes FB page for all my blogs where I post news, photos, links to resources and stories and anything else possibly interesting. If you haven’t already done so, please come and visit!

Sue Elvis

I'm an Australian blogger, podcaster, and Youtuber. I write and speak about unschooling, parenting and family life. I'm also the author of the unschooling books 'Curious Unschoolers', 'Radical Unschool Love' and ‘The Unschool Challenge’. You'll find them on Amazon!

6 Comments

  1. I'm loving these video interviews you are doing! I'll say it again……I would to meet you guys in real life….sit down & chat & visit together. You have a beautiful family!!

    • Amy,

      It's so good to chat with you again! Thank you for watching our latest video. It's been fun putting the videos together and I'm glad you're enjoying them. I guess videos add an extra dimension to blogging. It's not quite like meeting in person but closer than only looking at photos. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could meet in real life as easily as we can online?

      Thank you for your kind words, Amy. They made me smile.

    • Emmie,

      I'd love to meet you too. Thank you so much for watching our video and for your very kind words. I suppose you can now 'hear' my voice when you read my words. It's always such a pleasure exchanging a comment with you. I'm so glad you stopped by!

  2. I liked that very much, I thought Charlotte came off as quite confident and well organized. I think that unschooling involves a lot of what we call "gradual release of responsibility." I would think it will be a much smoother transition to adulthood because she is already making meaningful choices about her life (something many kids in the US don't get to do until college, often with disastrous results).

    We (my 15 year old daughter and I were watching together) really liked seeing how Charlotte organizes her day and works toward her goals. Great video!

    • Wendy,

      Charlotte is very independent. I think it's got a lot to do with her personality. She knows who she is and what she needs. In some ways I think it's me that's had to deal with the release of responsibility! Yes, I sometimes think it would be nice to be needed more! I guess our kids do need us even if it doesn't always appear that way.

      Thank you so much for watching our video. It was lovely your daughter was interested too!

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