Michelle Conaway joins me this week. Michelle is an unschooling mother of three and grandmother to one! She also runs the Texas Unschoolers group, coordinates their annual conference, and was gracious enough to share her journey and some wonderful stories and insights from their unschooling lives.

Questions for Michelle

Can you share with us a bit about you and your family? What’s everybody into right now?

How did you discover unschooling and what did your family’s move to unschooling look like?

I think one of the big misconceptions people have when they first hear about unschooling is that it’s “all about letting your kids do whatever they want.” I mean, on one hand, it’s true, we help our kids do the things they’re interested in doing. But it’s so much more, isn’t it? They aren’t doing these things in isolation; their actions are woven into their world.

I think one of the most valuable paradigm shifts of deschooling comes when we’re able to distinguish between who we think our child should be and who they actually are. Truly seeing our kids and the gifts they have to bring to the world is life changing. But it can take a lot of personal work to get there, can’t it?

You run the Texas Unschoolers Conference, which is happening in April this year. I know a lot of work goes into organizing these kinds of events and I’d love to know, what is your favourite thing about the conference?

What has surprised you most about how unschooling has unfolded in your lives?

Things mentioned in the episode

Find Michelle on the Texas Unschoolers website or Facebook page

Find information about the TexUns Conference here ( April 16-20, 2020)

Ryan Holiday’s book, The Obstacle is the Way

Episode Transcript

Read the transcript