Maybe We Should Have Listened to the Critics

Two girls: Imogen and Charlotte. One car: their passport to freedom. Where shall the girls go? What will they do? The possibilities are endless. My daughters grin as they set off on a wild adventure.

Hours pass.

“I wonder what happened to the girls,” I say.

And then I hear the sound of a car pulling up onto the driveway. A moment later, two girls, weighed down with big bags, appear through the doorway. They still have grins on their faces.

“Had a good time?” I ask.

“Fantastic!” they say.

“Where did you go? What did you do?”

“We went to our singing lessons…” begins Charlotte.

“… and then on the way home we stopped off at the library,” finishes Imogen.

Charlotte’s eyes are sparkling. “We borrowed heaps of books!”

“They’ll keep us busy for a week or so,” says Imogen, as she empties the big book bags onto the floor.

“Did you go anywhere else?” I ask.

“We went to the mall and bought coffee…”

“… and iced finger buns. They were dripping with sprinkles.”

Both girls lick their lips.

“Did you walk around the shops? Did you buy anything?”

“We only went to Lincraft…” begins Charlotte.

“… so I could buy some wool to finish knitting my blanket,” finishes Imogen.

Singing, library, coffee, iced finger buns dripping with sprinkles, and multiple balls of wool?

I wonder if we should have listened to the critics. Maybe they’re right. You never know what wild things our unschooling children might get up to when we’re not around.

“It sounds like you had a wild time,” I say to my girls.

“Oh yes!”

“We sure did!”

Sometimes I wonder how I cope with this wild unschooling life.