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Mosaic Senior Advisor
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Being flexible allows each day to look wildly different. Seeing the world through my son’s eyes allows us to connect.
“Typical Days” Are Hard to Find
We wake up. My son Kai draws or reads. We eat together. Kai hops on YouTube while I tackle housework and business matters. We talk over lunch and plan our day. We spend a lot of time outside and then head inside to start dinner. A few books, a movie or a game, and then back to bed.
When I compress our day to the barest elements it sounds rather...bland.
The Truth of unschooling
The truth is, being flexible allows each day to look wildly different. Seeing the world through my son’s eyes allows us to connect. Anytime I find us butting heads I realize I have neglected to follow these guidelines.
The truth is, that unschooling can’t be condensed to a typical day, but instead maybe a typical week or month. The rhythms of our lives ebb and flow with interests, the weather, upcoming events, the seasons, and even our headspace.
The truth is, so much goes on behind the scenes. I love being a sort of creative assistant for Kai’s interests. Not only am I adding my vision and insights to the conversation, but I am also:
- Requesting library books (a few he asked for; others adjacent to his current and past interests)
- Seeking out possible meetups and events (and creating our own)
- Thinking through how best to tackle each new interest (modes of engagement for said interest; relevant apps, games, communities; supplies needed and how to access them)
- Pressing myself to see where I can grow and what “rules” I can shed to live our best, most authentic lives (usually through related books, podcasts, journaling, and real life conversations).
And the truth is, when I mention “interests,” they can be as short-lived as a few minutes, as intangible as swimming only in his mind until they suddenly erupt, and completely unrelated to my knowledge base. In the end, he owns his interests as any adult would. And if I’m interested, I own them too.
Where might we find the time in our own lives to explore our own interests? How can we allow ourselves to be unschoolers, too?
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Daniel T. Moeller, M.Ed.
Having worked in and around early childhood education for the last 15 years, Dan stumbled upon the concept of unschooling. He found the practice and theory of unschooling to agree with all of the current research on early education he encountered in his master’s program while also disagreeing with a lot of what he witnessed in schools all over. With the full backing of his son and wife, Dan started unschooling his son. Early on, Dan’s son Kai came up with the idea to start a podcast. They made the idea a reality and “Unschooling with Kai” was born. Each episode centers on one of Kai’s interests (e.g. wild cats, Delta Force, tardigrades, etc.). Together, Dan and Kai research each topic and present the fascinating things they learn. “Unschooling with Kai” is now in season six and shows no sign of slowing. While not wrapped up in the intellectual world of unschooling, Dan enjoys reading, playing drums, skateboarding, all kinds of movement, enjoying nature, and spending time with his family.
