Lately I’ve been reading several books about unschooling and thinking about my stance on the matter. (Jury is still out on that one, but I’m definitely leaning in favor of it.) What I’ve mostly felt throughout the process is, “Damn. Wish I could just study whatever I wanted, whenever and however.” How lovely it would be to not worry about the rent or bills and just explore the world. Learn and live at my own pace. Carpe diem and all that jazz.
But as I read more about a typical week in an unschooler’s life, I realized my own pursuits weren’t too far off. Sure, I work and do responsible adult things, but I do have a lot of free time that I try to put to good use. Here’s what I have been doing as of late:
- Listen to podcasts on history and women’s issues (How Stuff Works)
- Read read read and read some more. Lately I’ve been reading about unschooling, organizing your library, choosing a career path, and lots of fiction.
- Go to museums (Fernbank, High, Tellus, Zoo)
- Get books from library and used books store
- Keep a running list of what I’ve read and want to read so I always have a great book lined up
- Learn Positive Discipline and child rearing skills through real experience nannying and babysitting
- ATLOSCon! I attended talks about effective communication, sexual ethics, the virtue of pride, and art appreciation.
- Have frequent discussions about wide variety of topics and issues (usually after a few glasses of wine)
- Book clubs (Atlas Shrugged, Ender’s Game, and next The Art of Non-Fiction)
- Movies and TV: They springboard me into other topics. For example: An Education/500 Days of Summer about relationships and first impressions, Battlestar Galactica about morality during war/extreme circumstances, John Adams about tough decisions during American Revolution, The Sound and Fury documentary about cochlear implant choices, and movies based on books lead me to originals.
- I’m learning leadership and planning skills through working with ATLOS (trivia night, book club, ATLOSCon talks, website, book swap)
- Graphic design principles and Adobe programs by working with Tori and doing my own independent work
- Cooking: learning to how to put different flavors together, follow recipes, and do weekly meal plans
- Budgeting with bills and income
And suddenly I feel much better about not being in college. Actually, I feel like I’ve learned more in the past year than any other time in my life. Cool!
