Jennie is mom to three children, ages 6 and under, and they’ve been unschooling for a couple of years now—or more specifically, deschooling. Jennie and I have chatted on and off over that time, and she is actively working to shed the control and punishment she grew up with and not pass it on to her kids. I had a great time diving into deschooling with her!

As she mentions in the episode, she’s interested in hearing other people’s experiences with their relationships with their spouse/partner as they are deschooling—please feel free to share in the comments.

Quote of the Week

“Our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world as being able to remake ourselves.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi

Questions for Jennie

1. Can you share with us a bit about you and your family and how you first came across the idea of unschooling?

2. What were some of your bigger fears or uncertainties as you first began unschooling? And what do they look like now?

3. What has your family’s move to unschooling looked like? Did you try to do it wholesale, or are you tackling a couple of changes at a time? Have you talked to your kids specifically about it? Or has the shift been more internal, with you changing how you respond to your kids and the expectations you have of them?

4. How has your relationship with your spouse been during this transition, or deschooling, period?

5. I think a big piece of deschooling for many of us often turns out to be shedding the control and punishment paradigm that we grew up with, and that’s definitely a process. When you falter, how do you recover? Have you found a pattern to those moments?

6. How do you handle the daily challenges that come with having three children of different ages, temperaments, and interests?

7. What are some of the little things you do during the day to release any growing frustration and recharge your own energy?

8. What’s been the hardest part of your unschooling journey so far?

9. What’s been the easiest part of your journey?

10. Do you think you’ll ever feel “finished”?

Links to things mentioned in the show

On Facebook: Jennie Gomes

Childhood Redefined Unschooling Summit website, updated for the next event

Transcript

Read the transcript