Robyn Coburn is an unschooling mom and her 17 year-old daughter has never been to school. I’ve known Robyn for many years online and have always enjoyed her perspective. We dive into deschooling fears, sleeping patterns, tips for handling meltdowns, the differing needs of kids and teens, unschooling conferences, and much more.

Quote of the Week

“It is so much easier not to be living in a state of siege and battle every day.” ~ Robyn Coburn

Questions for Robyn

1. Can you share with us a bit about you and your family, and how you discovered unschooling?

2. I’d love to hear a bit about what your daughter is up to. What is she interested in right now and how is she pursuing it?

3. When you were in the thick of deschooling, what was the biggest fear that was tripping you up and how did you work through it?

4. I recall, many years ago, conversations online about sleeping patterns and I felt a virtual connection with you because Jayn’s sleeping patterns seemed similar to Joseph’s. How did you approached that?

5. I came across a great response you gave to a mom asking about things to do during a meltdown. Can you share some of your insights and tips?

6. There’s another question I see pretty regularly that I’d love to chat with you about: can unschooling spoil a child? From the outside looking in, it might look like that would be the result of our actions, but in reality it’s really different, isn’t it?

7. I find it interesting how our children’s needs change between the child and teen years. I’ve found it’s not so much that they need us less, but they do need us differently. What’s been your experience?

8. I know you and your family attend unschooling conferences pretty regularly. Can you share a bit about your experience? What is it you guys love about them?

9. What has been the most challenging aspect of your journey to unschooling?

10. Looking back, what has been the most valuable outcome so far from choosing unschooling?

Links to Things Mentioned in the Show

John Holt’s books, How Children Fail and How Children Learn

HSC: The HomeSchool Association of California

Pam Sorooshian’s blog

Sandra Dodd’s email list: Always Learning

Robyn’s reply: Mothering during a meltdown

Robyn is on Facebook, her resume website is workinproduction.com, and her creativity website is iggyjingles.com

Episode Transcript

Read the transcript here