Bringing God into the Unschooling Picture

A few months ago, I wrote a post called Why This is the End of the Line for Me. I decided that I’d explored unschooling from every possible angle. What more could I write about? It was time for me to move onto other things. Let my kids tell their own unschooling stories and find something else of my own to do.

I’ve spent weeks trying to work out what that ‘something else of my own’ is. Should I blog about a topic other than unschooling? What else do I know about? Perhaps I don’t need to blog at all. Blogging isn’t all good. At times, I struggle to find the right words to write posts. It’s hard work. Why would I want to continue blogging especially when I seem to have come to the end of what I want to say? Perhaps it really is time to disappear. I could do something in the ‘real’ world instead.

But despite the struggles, something keeps drawing me back to my blog. I’m like a singer who wants to perform just one more song. And then another. And another. She waves goodbye but can’t quite leave the stage. Not that I’m basking in the success of being a popular blogger and am wondering how I’ll survive without all the attention. I know I’m fortunate to have so many loyal blogging friends, but I can’t really call myself popular. (I gave up looking at my stats a long time ago because they were discouraging.)

The other day, I felt like writing. A thought was revolving within my head, and despite being an almost-ex-blogger, I decided to share it as a post. I was thinking about how we can’t make our kids learn. This might not, at first glance, be obvious because kids learn stuff they’d rather not know about all the time. Anyway, I headed to my blog, clicked on ‘new post’ and began writing. I’d typed only a few words before I got stuck. It was very frustrating. Just write down what you want to say in whatever words come to mind, I told myself. Then you can start pushing them around, changing a few here and there, and before you know it, you’ll have written a post. This good advice didn’t work.

Later, I pondered the question: Why couldn’t I write a simple post? Why were all my words so heavy and uninteresting? I had trouble because my words lacked passion. I was going over old ground. I’ve written that blog post before. Multiple times. I’ve spoken about this topic in podcasts as well.

This failed post made me realise, once again, that I’ve written unschooling to death. And if I continue writing more of the same, you’ll probably die of boredom reading my posts. I need something else to explore. But what?

After recently making some new Evernote videos, I contemplated the idea of creating a blog just for Evernote. I was very excited about this idea for a few days. Then I realised something: Although I love Evernote, this digital note-taking system is just a tool. It allows us to do some fantastic things, but on its own, Evernote isn’t important. If I’m going to spend hours sharing it, I need to write and speak about it in association with something that really matters to me. Like unschooling.

So I’m back to unschooling.

The other day, I began thinking about Catholic unschooling. I didn’t want to think about it. You see, what will happen if I decide I should explore unschooling from a Christian viewpoint? I’ve worked hard at including all my readers, regardless of beliefs, in the unschooling conversations here on my blog. If I wrote more openly Christian unschooling posts, would some readers feel alienated?

I love having readers from many different backgrounds. We can learn from each other even if we don’t always agree on such matters as religion. That’s why I try and write posts everyone can relate to. Oh yes, I mention Catholic things from time to time. I’m not afraid to talk about God. I’ve even written a few obviously Christian posts such as Can Unschooling Be a Christian Thing to Do? But this blog (and my podcast) can’t really be described as particularly Christian. But despite appearances, it is a Christian blog. Although I don’t often mention God, I talk about Him all the time. Between the lines.

“Our kids have been given gifts that they have to use. These gifts are part of their missions.”

Where did our kids’ gifts come from? And their missions? From God, of course.

And who gives us the perfect example of unconditional love and forgiveness? And what about trust? Then there’s the value and dignity of every person, and free will, and self-giving love. Yes, even though I don’t always come out and say it directly, our unschooling lives are built upon a foundation of faith.

So is it better to continue writing about unschooling using language we can all share? Write about faith in a less obvious way? Or is it time to be more openly who we are? Catholic unschoolers. If we bring God into the unschooling picture, a whole new conversation might begin. And that could be very exciting.

If we do start some Christian unschooling conversations, where should we meet up? Where should I publish my posts? Here on this blog? Should I create a new category? Or would it be better to begin chapter two of our unschooling blogging adventures somewhere else? Perhaps I need a whole new blog.

Lots to think about. I love to hear your thoughts!