Unconventional Schooling
My mom pulled me out of public school after second grade. Why? First, the teachers were rude to my mother (and she did not like that), so homeschooling my sister and me was a middle finger to the school district. The other reason was I was constantly being put in remedial classes during recess and other activities. The school's reason was my reading comprehension wasn't at the appropriate grade level. I think they just gave us shitty books to read.
My homeschooling started in a structured manner using a borrowed curriculum, but for one reason or another, that didn't last, and my mom adopted a somewhat unorthodox approach at the time called "Unschooling."
Unschooling is built on the concept that the child determines the direction of their education based on their curiosity. The parent takes a supporting role in providing resources and aiding in that exploration.
This upbringing profoundly influenced how I approached learning and navigated the world as an adult. Not only that, it influenced how I experienced meaning in my life. Being free to explore however I saw fit, I learned all sorts of interesting topics, from orbital mechanics to stock investing, entrepreneurship, musicianship, and much more. I navigated with my curiosity, and I gained a strong sense of independence. By 16 years old, I had my driver's license in hand and was regularly shuttling myself to music lessons, rehearsals, and other activities.
Do I regret how I was schooled?
No, learning this way has several long-term advantages, such as creative thinking, a unique perspective on the world, developing self-motivation, learning how to learn, and avoiding unnecessary soul-crushing endeavors early in life. I had agency over my lifestyle and where I put my energy.
There are downsides, too; society doesn't take kindly to people who learn asynchronously, and it's hard to quantify it on a piece of paper. I deeply understood how the world worked and felt for someone my age, but I lagged on learning particular "basic" concepts in mathematics and English because I simply wasn't interested. Only later, once I had a reason for applying those math principles in business/finance and grammar concepts in my writing, did I develop an interest in learning those subjects deeply.
I also felt like the world was waiting to "expose me," or I would be discovered as a fraud, but unless I told someone I was homeschooled, nobody guessed it, and It didn't change anything, even if they did, and once I was in college, the stigma disappeared completely.
chasing a thread
I believe that living up to your full potential means following your curiosity; your interest is a flashlight in the darkness. As we fumbled through the fog of life, there are dim beacons that can be seen on the horizon, we don't know where they go or what they mean. We can't see the path right in front of us, but we see the twinkle of curiosity calling us to adventure. We can ignore the light, and it will fade and move on, but there will always a light, a thread to chase from where we are, to where we're meant to go. There is meaning in becoming and fulfillment in risking it for yourself.
