We may have been unschooling pretty comfortably for years, connecting with our kids, having fun, actively supporting them as they pursue their interests, but then our eldest approaches the teen years and all of a sudden we start to feel a bit uncomfortable. We begin to worry. Is unschooling going to work through the teen years?

It’s a pretty common scenario and I’m excited to dive into it with you!

In this talk I gave in February 2021 at the Canadian Online Homeschool Conference, first we’re going to explore those voices in our head that start to bubble up when our child hits their teens. It’s not surprising because, until now, we’ve had no real reason to do the work and peel back the layers of goo that infuse the conventional wisdom surrounding teens. We’ll look at some of those messages we’ve likely absorbed about both the earlier and later teen years.

Then we’re going to talk about ways we can actively support our kids through the teen years. Unschooling with teens is often less hands-on day to day, but it’s not less time and effort on our part. It just looks different. And again, we’ll explore what our support and engagement might look like in both the earlier and later teen years.

Things mentioned in the episode

My full podcast conversations with Adrian Peace-Williams, Alec Traaseth, Sue Patterson, Phoebe Wahl, Anna Brown, Xander MacSwan, Michael Laricchia, Summer Jean

The full Grown Unschoolers series on the Exploring Unschooling podcast

The Practicing Mind by Thomas M. Sterner

Wired to Create: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Creative Mind by Barry Scott Kaufman and Carolyn Gregoire

Maria Popova’s essay, Wisdom in the Age of Information and the Importance of Storytelling in Making Sense of the World

Check out the Canadian Online Homeschool Conference to sign up for information related to the 2022 online conference, being held February 7-12. I’ll be speaking and my talk is called, Helping Kids Find Their Passion.

Transcript

Read the transcript

Video

Watch the YouTube video

The Living Joyfully Network community

The Network is a wonderful online community for parents to engage in candid conversations about living and learning through the lens of unschooling. Our shared goals are to embrace lifelong learning, develop strong and connected relationships with our children, and cultivate a thriving unschooling lifestyle in our families.

This month, our theme is The Joys of Unschooling and we’re exploring it through the lenses of presence and kindness.

If you’re curious to learn more, click here!

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