Q: I knew that you homeschool but I didn't know you unschool. Do you have experience with the "de-tox" phenomenon I've heard about in which children who have been in a regular school who switch to unschooling spend a couple of weeks doing nothing while they adjust to the idea? I was just discussing this with someone, but it's not something I've personally witnessed.
Me: Yes, rule of thumb is one month per year the child was in school.
Me: We call it "deschooling."
[Note that the questioner heard that it's "a couple of weeks" which is actually not close to the amount of time]
Q: This is your rule of thumb or this is, like, a basic statistic that every unschooler takes for granted?
Q: How would you characterize exactly what is happening in their minds during that time?
Me: Not my rule of thumb. It's an unschooler thing.
[Actually, it's a homeschooler thing, though not as well known amongst all homeschoolers as it in in the unschooler olam.
https://www.thehomeschoolmom.com/deschooling-vs-unschooling-whats-difference/]
Me: Basically, the kids are not succeeding in school so the parents pull them out. and the parent is choosing unschooling, which means that there is going to be a radically new approach to learning, where they are never again going to be forced to sit and learn something that they don't want to.
So instead of plunging right into that (because how can they even have any concept of what that would look like), they just relax. Like vacation. Do things they always wanted to do. Sleep late, watch lots of videos, read books, do whatever it is that they love to do for fun but never had time to do because they were busy stressfully unsucceeding in school. So the first thing you do is remove all that stress, all that worry, all that tension. and life becomes less pain and just the things they like.
Gradually, as they do the things they like and aren't pushed to do things that are painful and stressful and associated with failure, their minds open up. They become curious. joyful. Enjoy the world around them. that's the prerequisite for unschooling.
Fellow homeschooler: I don't think there is a thing called "every unschooler."
Me: Nor "every homeschooler." We are so into individual freedom. But not all of us
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