Pam Sorooshian is a long-time unschooling mom of three, now adult, children, who continues to stay actively involved in the unschooling community. She’s also a college professor of economics and statistics.

In today’s episode, I ask her ten questions about her unschooling experience.

Quote of the Week

“Man’s mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.” ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

Ten Questions for Pam

1. Jumping back a few years, how did you first hear about unschooling and what spurred you to begin exploring unschooling with your family?

2. Let’s talk a bit about what learning looks like with unschooling. When one of your children was actively pursuing an interest, what are some of the things you did to support their exploration? And how did you weave together pursuing the interests of all three children?

3. One of the wonderful things about unschooling is the time we spend together. We get to know each other very well, strengthening our family’s connections and relationships, and part of that process, especially with siblings, is figuring out ways to move through moments when they are frustrated and angry with each other. When your children were younger, how did you help them move through conflicts?

4. I understand that your husband was a bit wary of unschooling for a few years, as was mine. How did you approach that?

5. One of the topics that regularly trips up newcomers to unschooling is TV watching. I’ve always loved your clear explanation of how restricting TV actually causes children to become more strongly attracted to it, the opposite of what the parent is trying to accomplish. Can you take us through that?

6. As an economics and statistics professor, you are pretty comfortable with math, but it’s an area that can be challenging for some people to figure out as they explore unschooling, especially since school has mostly boiled math down to worksheets. I have two questions for you about math. The first is, can you talk about how you see learning math through unschooling?

7. The second question is, can you suggest, especially for parents who are feeling a bit math phobic, some activities can they do with their children?

8. You’ve been actively involved with Homeschool Association of California’s annual conference for many years. What are some the benefits of going to a conference that you’ve seen for newer unschooling families?

9. All three of your daughters chose to go to college, and you see lots of schooled kids in your college classes. Have you seen any advantages in college from growing up unschooling?

10. Looking back now, what, for you, has been the most valuable outcome from choosing unschooling?

Links to things mentioned in the show

Pam’s blog: learninghappens.wordpress.com

Pam’s classic piece: “Economics of Restricting TV Watching of Children“

Read more about Pam’s daughters’ college experience: sandradodd.com/college

You can find Pam participating in discussions in these Facebook groups: Radical Unschooling Info and Unschooling Mom2Mom.

And you can find more info about the HSC Conference here: www.hscconference.com

Episode transcript

Read the transcript here