This has been a rough week.  I’ve been called an elitist, and told that if I want to improve education I should put my kids in public school.  (Can I just say, I don’t get that argument at all.  It’s like saying that if you want to improve conditions in prison you should GO to prison.)  My attempts at engaging teachers and those involved in public schools have been disappointing, to put it mildly.

Because of this, my motivation to film another video was not high.  It sucks to be told over and over that your ideas are all “rainbows and unicorns” (an actual quote from someone when I made a case for self-directed learning) and that they could never work in the population at large.

However.

Three things happened over the last 48 hours that changed everything.

I received an amazing message from a woman in Morocco with whom I’d been conversing regarding her son’s education. (It’s private and I’m not going to share it or use her name since I didn’t ask her permission, but it was lovely.)

I received a message from my friend Monika Hardy with a link to her latest work and reading it I felt the accumulated weight of all the week’s negative comments lift from my shoulders.

Topping it off was another beautiful blog post from Linda Wyatt titled “Quiet and Peaceful” which pretty much encapsulates how I feel about our home and life as unschoolers.

As a result my optimism returned and I filmed my next video, about socialization.

After completing it, I realized there is a lot more to say, so the next installment may in fact be Socialization Part Two.   Part One is more for those unfamiliar with or new to unschooling/homeschooling and who are anxious or have been told that taking their kids out of school is social suicide.    I hope you find it enjoyable, and you can thank its rather upbeat vibe (and the fact that I made it at all)  to Monika, Linda, and a dear woman in Morocco.