My Unschooler's Homeschool Registration Visit
It seems like a very long time since I last wrote a blog post. Maybe you were beginning to think I’d abandoned my blog. Could I have gone off to do something completely different? No, I still here! I’ve just been spending a lot of time working on my unschooling books instead of blogging.
So how are my books coming along? The first book Curious Unschoolers is finished. But even though all the words are written, there are still other things to do before I can announce, “My unschooling book is now available on Amazon!” My daughter Imogen is in the middle of formatting the manuscript. Charlotte is working on the book cover. Soon, very soon, we’ll be able to upload the files to Amazon and then order a proof copy.
My second unschooling book, Radical Unschool Love is almost finished too. I’m at the stage where I’m changing a few words here and there. All the major writing has been done. I’m hoping to get the manuscript to the proofreading stage in the next day or two. Then I can hand everything over to Imogen for formatting. My bit will be done!
I’m sharing all my unschooling book news in my latest podcast. I’m also sharing some family news and the details of my daughter Gemma-Rose’s recent homeschool registration visit.
In episode 149, My Unschooler’s Homeschool Registration Visit, I discuss the following questions:
Can registered homeschoolers unschool?
How do we write homeschool plans when we don’t know what our unschooling kids will be interested in?
How can we fulfil homeschooling registration requirements without forcing kids to learn things they’re not interested in?
Is forced learning real learning?
I also talk about:
How we might be tempted to push our kids to use their talents or extend their interests.
How kids can surprise us. They’re often not like us. They do things on their own timetables and not ours.
Show Notes
Podcasts
Episode 27: The Tricky Business of Registering an Unschooler as a Homeschooler
Episode 45: How Registered Homeschoolers Can Unschool
Blog Posts
My homeschool registration and record keeping posts
Youtube
As well as sharing the registration visit in a podcast, I also posted a few thoughts about it on Instagram:
Did you hear that we had our final homeschool registration visit a couple of days ago? My youngest daughter Gemma-Rose’s application to continue homeschooling was approved without a problem. She’s now registered until she turns 17 (just under 2 years) and won’t need any more visits from our Authorised Person.
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After our AP left, my daughter Charlotte said, “You can now do what you like.” And then she added, “But I suppose you’ve always done that.” Yes, knowing that no one from the education department will be back to check up on us is not going to change anything. I’m not thinking, “Now I can stop ticking off boxes. I can stop making my kids do things just because I’m worried about getting through our registration visits.” Life here is just carrying on as usual.
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But what if we hadn’t been unschooling? What if I’d done things to satisfy other people and hadn’t put my children’s needs first? I might suddenly feel very relieved that homeschool registration visits are over. I wonder if I’d also feel regret that we hadn’t found a way to unschool sooner.
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Sometimes we’re bound by rules and regulations made by other people. It’s not always easy to do what we want. I realise that some parents’ options are very limited. But with a bit of clever thinking many of us can do more than we think.
Sometimes there are no legal reasons why we can’t unschool. The only obstacle is our own confidence and lack of courage.
So here we are nearing the end of our homeschooling journey. How am I feeling? Grateful. I’m glad I found a way to unschool despite having to fulfil homeschool requirements.
Of course, this isn’t the end of the story. Unschooling continues on!
So I’m wondering if there’s anything stopping you from unschooling. Fulfilling homeschooling requirements while unschooling might seem impossible, but there might be a way for you to do both. Perhaps we could share some ideas.
Thank you for listening to this episode. If you enjoy my podcast, please consider sharing the link so we can spread the word about unschooling. A quick review or rating would help too!
Please feel welcome to leave a comment about anything I talked about in this episode. You could share your own experiences of unschooling and homeschool registration. Or you could just stop by and say hello!