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.