Jae Williams recently decided to leave his teaching job and stay home to dive into unschooling with his two young children. Leading up to this choice, he spent the last year immersed in podcasts and books, exploring natural learning and questioning many mainstream paradigms about children, schooling, and success. We talk about his experience as a sixth-grade teacher and the frustrations he felt within the school system. He describes his excitement and the big aha moments that have come from exploring unschooling, and how it has impacted his parenting and relationships with his children.

Jae also shares his thoughts about the accessibility of unschooling and his vision for a better school system, as well as the challenge he’s feeling right now around finding a balance between pursuing his interests and being present with his children.

Jae’s excitement and passion about learning and life made for such a fun and engaging conversation! It will be fascinating to see where his journey leads as he approaches unschooling with an open and curious mindset.

Questions for Jae

Can you share with us a bit about you and your family? What is everybody interested in right now?

You recently decided to quit teaching and move to unschooling. I’d love to hear that story! What inspired you to make this change?

What has been your biggest a-ha moment so far?

What unschooling-related question is most on your mind right now? How are you playing with it?

When we connected, you mentioned you’d love to talk about whether unschooling is a viable option for single parent families and/or poor working-class families. What are your thoughts?

You also mentioned society’s shifting views on schooling and careers as a path to happiness and whether that may be reaching a tipping point. I’d love to hear your perspective! Are you seeing these conversations bubbling up more often?

As you settle into unschooling, what has surprised you most so far?

Things mentioned in the episode

Jae’s YouTube channel, BlackDad

Most Likely to Succeed documentary

Free to Learn by Peter Gray

The Self-Driven Child by William Stixrud and Ned Johnson

Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey

Unschooling on a Budget podcast episode

Pam’s book, The Unschooling Journey

Transcript

Read the transcript

Video

Watch the YouTube video

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