Happiness

I've been thinking a lot about about the answer to one of the questions I gave on the Radio Free School blogs interview a couple weeks back.  Here's the question and answer:

"Going against the middle class/mainstream entrenched believe that to have a successful life you have to get higher ed can you define your idea of what success means?"

To me it's quite simple: success to me means nothing more or less than being happy. I find it pretty hard to comprehend how EVERYONE can not see this! Nothing really matters if you're not happy, or working toward finding a place in your life that brings you happiness.
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Now, to me, happiness is a BIG word.  When I think of happiness, and of living a happy life, SO MANY things come to mind: sharing passions, following joy, becoming personally empowered through self and community reliance (versus reliance on only authority and experts), helping others become empowered through self and community reliance, being a part of a community...

Photo taken fall 2008

But of course, I made the mistake of using such a vague word, one that means many different things to many different people, and which doesn't encompass, for most people, all of the things that come to mind when I think of it!  When people read that original answer, from comments I got, I think many people interpreted it as being entirely....well, self-centered.  As missing all the bits about simply being a good person.  To me, all that was packed into the word "happy": all my dreams and goals and hopes.  As social creatures, humans generally love being  good people.  I feel great happiness when I know I've helped someone, or affected their life in a positive way.  But let me put things in a better way...

On Formspring (a site where you can ask and answer questions), where I finally decided to jump on the bandwagon and get my own account, I was asked this question:

What's your goal in life? Aside from happiness, what important thing do you want to do before you die?

And I answered...

I want to be able to look back on my life, and know I did the best I could, by my ethics, beliefs, etc. Basically, my life goal is to have as positive an impact on the world, and on the people around me, as I can. That would make me very happy indeed. :-)

Does that explain things better?  I hope it does.

I also invite you to check out the other two interviews with grown unschoolers who skipped college that Radio Free School has done:

Cameron Lovejoy: "Is this what I want to be doing the day I die?"
Eli Gerzon: "I love my life."

Peace,
Idzie

The AQED/QAHBE Conference 2010

Yesterday, my mother, sister and I got up at 6:00 am, which is nearly unheard of for us!  Usually we'd much prefer to stumble out of bed at a much later hour of the morning.  9:00, 10:00, 11:00, 12:00...  But I managed the early time without even feeling grumpy about it, because we had to be up bright and early to be at the AQED/QAHBE homeschooling conference in time for our talk on unschooling, which started at 8:30!
I was kind of nervous.  I'd only written my speech the night before (at least it was short.  Our plan was always to just give a fairly brief introduction to unschooling, then just answer questions), and I worried about not being prepared enough.  Luckily, I've found that public speaking generally only scares me ahead of time.  Once I'm actually up there, with everyone watching and waiting to listen to me, right when you'd think I should be feeling nervous, I tend to relax.  I'm not sure why it works that way, but I'm not about to complain!

So we did our speech, said our piece, then started answering questions.

Ahead of time, I wasn't sure what to expect.  How would people react?  Would they be interested, skeptical, excited...?  But as I looked at the faces of the people in the audience, as we listened to the questions, I found that virtually everyone in the audience had come because they were truly interested, and truly open to what we had to share.  I've found such joy in unschooling, and I really want to share that joy with other people, to help them if I can, with my family's experience, on their own unschooling journey.  And it felt so good, I was so happy, hearing peoples comments at the end of the talk, seeing their smiles.  I think that our words, and getting to meet my sister and I, really did help some people, and that made us SO happy!!  That was the whole point of stumbling out of bad at such an ungodly hour after all. ;-)

We stayed at the conference until just after lunch, and in that time we kept running into really nice people and getting into discussions about unschooling.  Even people who hadn't come to our talk really wanted to hear more, and seemed genuinely interested!  I wonder if I just have a different perspective now, or if the homeschooling community really is more accepting of unschooling than when I was younger...?  Maybe it's just because Emi and I are now walking "proof" that older/grown unschoolers are neither illiterate nor rude. ;-)

One of the nice people we met was a school teacher who's doing an anti-school, pro alternative education documentary.  He was so passionate about alternative education, and so eager to share it's benefits with others!  I greatly look forward to seeing the finished project, and my mother and I gladly headed outside in the beautiful sunshine to do a short interview on unschooling.  I was happy with what both of us said for that as well!

The whole conference was just such a positive experience.  Every encounter was so open and genuine.  People were friendly, interesting, and interested.  We had good conversations, and it's also much easier explaining unschooling to homeschoolers!  With a random traditionally schooled person, you have to get through all the assumptions, stereotypes, and misinformation about homeschooling before you can get to explaining unschooling properly.  With homeschoolers, you can just get straight to the point!

It was just a really rewarding day, and I'm so happy that we were invited to speak at the AQED conference!

Peace,
Idzie 

"What Do Unschoolers DO?"

One of the most common questions that I see being asked around the internet after the lousy segment on Good Morning America, that only focused on what unschoolers *don't* do, is quite simple: "what do unschoolers DO?"

Here's my answer: I wander, explore, read, write, discuss, laugh, play, run, hike, create, grow, garden, identify, search, talk, listen, swim, hang out, organize, breathe, gather, touch, work, participate, watch, help, ask, meditate, daydream, wonder, connect, think, learn.

I'm fascinated by: people, earth, sustainability, writing, food, learning, unschooling, anarchy, freedom, art, community...   

"No, really, what do you DO?"

I live my life.  For most people, the concept of "education" being a separate part of life is so ingrained that they can't see things working any other way.  But for me, and for other unschoolers, learning really is nothing more or less than living my life as fully as I can.  Life and learning don't have to be separate things.  As I wrote a while ago, "Learning IS living, and living IS learning, so why differentiate between the two? If I'm living, I'm learning, and obviously if I'm learning, I'm living!".

"I am learning all the time. The tombstone will be my diploma." -Eartha Kitt   

And I'm quite happy with that, thank you very much.

Peace,
Idzie

A Day in the Life

Got up at eleven-something, after going to bed fairly late last night.

I checked the computer as I usually do when I first get up.  Answered emails, messages, comments, read some new blog posts and articles (I follow over 70 blogs), got up to date on the whole unschooling media freak-out that's been going on.  My mother and I shared a few different articles with each other, and talked about what's been going on... 

While I continued to do stuff on the computer, my mother went out to get some fresh bread from our favorite bakery, which I happily ate when she got home.

At four or so, Emilie finally stumbled out of bed after pulling yet another all nighter, getting up just in time for our good friend Nick to show up at the door!  We let him in (for some reason, we usually do) and in talking about gardening, growing your own veggies, and stuff like that, we finally did what we've been talking about doing for days: start some of our own seeds!!   

We planted kale, and sunflowers, and beans, and sage, and tomatoes, and lettuce...

Emi and mom rushed out the door as soon as we were done planting, since they were running late to a musical and cabaret they were attending!  Meanwhile, Nick and I headed over to his house where we cleaned out all the dead stuff from his garden, and did a bit of weeding.  Gardening like that is so relaxing: getting your hands dirty, seeing the improvement from start to finish... :-) One of the things that we pulled up from the garden were dandelions, roots intact, so I decided to bring them home and eat them! 

I love my father.  After hanging out with Nick for a little while more before meandering home, I cheerfully tramp into the house with a handful of grubby dandelion plants, and he doesn't even bat an eye.  I think he knows me by now... :-)

I haven't experimented in cooking for way too long, even though I really love coming up with my own recipes, or severely modifying an existing recipe...  But my mother had left a bowl of batter for crepes, and inspired by the fresh dandelions, I pulled out a cookbook to see how dandelion greens are usually prepared...

What I ended up doing (after cooking the crepes and setting them aside), was sauteing the dandelion greens, kale, and garlic in olive oil, adding water instead of more oil when needed, and adding slivered almonds and tamari soy sauce when the greens were partially cooked.  When done, this mixture was wrapped up in the crepes (crepes are eaten with savory fillings quite often in Quebec).  The recipe could use some tweaking, but not bad for my first try!  And dessert?  Crepes with maple syrup! :-)

As for the dandelion roots, I've wanted to try those as a coffee substitute for a while now.  So I washed them, roasted them, then ground them up and put them in the coffee maker.  Sadly, that was a bit of a fail.  Flavour wasn't bad, but I needed about three times the amount of root that I had.  Next time, I will harvest more dandelions before trying that... 

I wish I had pictures of my cooking adventures, but I'm afraid I didn't take any this time! :-(

Oh yeah, and I even cleaned up every single bit of mess I made while cooking (and trust me, when cooking, I make BIG messes!).

And that's been my day so far!  Emi and mom just arrived home, so I think I'll go hang with them for a while...

Peace,
Idzie 

Unschooling Gets Publicity...In a BIG Way!

If you're an unschooler, or a homeschooler, or interested in alternative learning, and are even *slightly* involved in any of those communities online, you've most likely heard about the Good Morning America segment on unschooling.

Unschooling has been moving steadily into the mainstream awareness in the last few years.  I've seen a marked increase in people talking about unschooling since I started paying attention to that type of thing a few years ago.  But never have I seen this level of attention.

In case you haven't seen it yet, here is the ridiculously biased, negative, and over-edited segment that appeared on Good Morning America yesterday:



I didn't even finish watching it the first time I tried to.  I just kept cringing at how horribly ABC was slanting things, and just imagining the reactions it would get...

Sure enough, if you read just a few of the 830+ comments on this piece, you'll see just what I was afraid of!  There are multiple lovely unschoolers commenting positively in the comments section, but there are also a huge amount of ignorant, uninformed, and downright nasty comments.  I always attack schools, never people who go to, or went to, school, but even if I did think schooled people were "losers" (discounting the fact I don't think life is about competition, and don't believe you either "win" or "lose", PLUS know a large amount of seriously awesome schooled folk), I can't imagine ever making such vindictive and cruel comments!  Why do people feel a need to do that??  Do they feel better in their mediocre life choices if they can believe firmly and with great smugness that there are people out there who chose MUCH worse paths in life than they did...  Is it because, if they admitted that there were better, more joyful ways of living life, then much of their own life has been wasted?

Today the Bieglers, the family in the first clip (whom I've met, though don't know well.  What I have seen of them has led me to believe that they're intelligent, kind, and caring people!), where given a chance to speak briefly live on Good Morning America, without all the editing.  It was MUCH better!!  They were articulate, passionate, and just did a great job.  I wish they'd been given longer to speak.



Sadly, I'm afraid the feedback from the general public was just as negative.

The first video was on Yahoo homepage (not sure if it still is?).  Twitter and blogs are abuzz with talk of this new-fangled thing called "unschooling" (I keep patiently pointing out to people that it's not new at all!).  I have never seen this much attention paid to unschooling before.

And I have to say, it's kind of scary.

I've been watching hits come in on my blog from people searching stuff life "unschooling cons", "unschooling negatives", "unschooling sucks"...

Suddenly the masses are being exposed to something that challenges everything they've always taken to be The Way Things Are (and The Way Things Should Be).  Many people don't seem to be reacting well. 

Yet, at the same time, I think that publicity is important.  I liked reading some comments from Wendy Priesnitz on Twitter, one of which reads: "In the 70s, people were scandalized by idea of homeschooling; now [they're] scandalized by unschooling. This will pass. Evolution happens."  I really do think that publicity is good.  I WANT more people to know about unschooling, I want more people to understand it, I want more people to accept it, and I want more people to do it.  So how can I be against publicity, even if it isn't as positive as it could be?  At least we're getting the message out there!  And for better or for worse, the message is most certainly out there now.

The Bieglers are going to be on the Joy Behar show on CNN tonight, so you might want to tune into that.

Several unschoolers have written great responses to ABC's portrayal of unschoolers, so I want to share those:

Unschooling Stephanopoulos: Good Morning America Fail From Swiss Army Wife
Unschooling: How Good Morning America Got It All Wrongfrom the Huffington Post
Unschooling on GMA from Child's Play

What do you think of the segments?  What do you think of the huge amount of publicity unschooling is getting?  Does it make you excited to know more people are finding out about it, or scared it just opens things up for stricter government regulations?

Peace,
Idzie

P.S. I'm going through old blog posts and comments and putting together an Unschooling FAQs page...  I figure I've answered so many questions, I should gather it all in one place to make things easier!

Guest Post: My Suburban, Backyard, Food Revolution...Sort Of

I'm thrilled to present the first ever guest post on this blog!!  In this post, Genevieve shares her adventures in being part of the Food Revolution, also known more simply as having your own veggie garden! ;-) I give you:

My Suburban, Backyard, Food Revolution...Sort Of

I think the fact that I live in the suburbs (of Montreal) still surprises me, even though I’ve been here for almost 6 years. I’ve always felt strongly about issues regarding the environment and peace, but most recently, and perhaps most of all, food. I mention this because suburbia never seemed like the place I could live with a clean conscience with regards to the environment and food. But after university and living in and around downtown for four years, I needed green space (read: yard), clean air and wanted to be closer to the schools where I would be teaching (another story altogether).

So after buying a house and spending time making it our own, we (my partner and I) thought we should spend some time on the yard. So how do you ‘green’ suburbia? Slowly we got rid of some of our lawn, planted perennials and built, drum roll please...raised vegetable beds! For me, it felt like a revolution was happening in my own backyard. I felt empowered and I was really going to stick it to the proverbial ‘man’. However, that first year, the vegetable garden wasn’t quite the picture of success we had imagined (we really didn’t know what we were doing), though we did harvest tomatoes, beans and lots of various lettuces. In subsequent years, we varied the types of seeds we sowed and focused mainly on heirloom and organic ones. Thankfully, our harvest has been slightly better every year since.

Then, almost 2 years ago, I got pregnant with not one, but two wee ones. So, as you can imagine, last summer’s garden was virtually non-existent (the kids being about 6 mths old at the time), though I did plant an apple tree to commemorate the birth of our lovely babes. Having kids has reaffirmed our need for good organic home-grown food, and the need to get rid of more lawn to grow that home-grown food (not to mention the positive environmental implications of growing your own stuff). We have plans to build a cold-frame using reclaimed (we are proud trash-pickers) to extend the growing season. There is also the dream of owning some chickens and goats and moving to a larger piece of land one day, to expand on this dream of ours to be more self-sufficient. This year we’ve planted or started indoors, so far, 7 varieties of tomatoes, lettuces, sunflowers, melon, peas, broccoli, onions, okra, cabbage and eggplant. If all goes well (and space allows for it) there will be many more seeds planted when the soil warms up.

I wish I had the time to dig up the entire yard and care for it in such a way that I could grow food year-round and feed all of us almost exclusively on what I grew, but that is not realistic. The temperature doesn’t allow for that and neither does time. So, we grow what we can, on the land we have time to till. At this point, we’re not saving that much money by growing some of our own food, but anyway, I don’t think that’s the point. Honestly, I think what I love most of all, is that I know HOW to grow food. That, to me, is just amazing. Maybe the second best thing is that, one day, my kids will know that potatoes grow in the ground and cucumbers on vines, not trees J

So, what is everyone else planting and what are your reasons for claiming parts of your yards for food? Are your motivations political, environmental or romantic perhaps? What does your food revolution look like?

Thank you for this, Genevieve!

If YOU have something you'd love to write about (or make art about!), something cool you want to share, I strongly encourage you to submit it to the DIY Life Zine.  It's a project I'm really excited about, and I'm so looking forward to seeing all the great stuff people come up with for it!

Peace,
Idzie 

Monsters, Gods, and Youth Empowerment

I've loved teen fiction for a long time (also labeled as fiction for Young Adult or Young People, depending on the library, bookstore, or publisher in question).  I've been reading books written for teens before I was one, and will most likely continue reading them long after I've left my teenage years behind...

And a couple of days ago, I realized something interesting: in the specific sub-genre of teenage fantasy, the main characters are usually resourceful, very independently capable, yet also able to function well as a part of a group, brave, and just generally a person to respect.

This finally clicked with me after reading a wonderful book this past week, entitled Runemarks, by Joanne Harris.

Our heroine, Maddy, makes no effort to obey the arbitrary rules of her elders, or to follow the norms of the very controlling culture she's born into.  When at age 7, she finds someone she considers to be an appropriate mentor, she demands to be taught how to use her magic, and years later, at age 14, she goes behind the back of that same mentor to go on a dangerous journey in an attempt to save his life.

This book told a great story, but more than that, it was a perfect example of the respect for young people often showed in young adult fantasy fiction.  Not by any means always, but certainly often.  In how many young adult fantasy books do you find the (young) main characters being constantly shadowed and guided by their parents, teachers, or other guardians?  How an Adult Used a Teen As Their Puppet to Save The World wouldn't make a very engaging plot now, would it?

So this leads me to something else: if so many people can happily write about teens as such responsible, strong, and interesting people, and if so many adults can cheerfully buy these books for their teens, and if so many teachers can reccomend them, they must, on some level, realize that real life teens can be just as responsible, and strong, and interesting people as those in books.

Because even when set in the most fantastically unbelievable worlds, all good fiction has a feeling of authenticity to it.  Good fiction has to feel *real*.  If the idea of teens doing such amazing things seemed entirely unathentic, wouldn't people comment on it more?  Wouldn't the sheer impossibility of it turn people off?

I feel like the knowledge, the knowing, is out there, and adults just need to get past that block in their heads that causes them to think that, although *some* teens out there might be capable people,  the real life teens in *their* life certainly aren't!  At least there's lots of great teen fantasy novels out there getting the message out...

Peace,
Idzie

Guest Post, Anyone?

I love writing on this blog, but sometimes, I just don't have much to say.  And there are so, so many wonderful people out there with terrific stories, opinions, and ideas to share.  So why not have my very first guest post?  I find that idea pretty exciting!

So are you interested?  Here are a few things you should know:

• What to write about?  Something that you think will be relevant and interesting to the readers of this blog, and very importantly, something that's relevant and interesting to YOU!
• Anyone, regardless of age, political opinions, educational choices, etc. is free to submit something, I just ask that you keep the subjects things that will fit with this blog (unschooling, sustainable living, spirituality, lots of different things, just as long as it's not something that would seem out-of-place on this blog!  Email me with questions: open.eyed.slave@gmail.com)
• This is open to you whether or not you have your own blog.
• If I get more than one entry, I'll choose the one I think would work best for this blog.  I also reserve the right to turn down any posts that I just don't think would work well.  I may do basic editing on the chosen post, but if I change anything more major than fixing spelling mistakes or adding a comma or two, I'll send it to you first for approval before posting.
• It must be a post that has not previously been published anywhere online.
• Send all inquiries and posts to open.eyed.slave@gmail.com!

EDIT: Keep in mind that if there are multiple people interested in writing guest posts, any post/idea for a post that doesn't end up as the guest post, can be included in the next issue of the DIY Life Zine instead (I'm looking for lots of stuff for that. :-))!!  Or, it can be saved as a future guest post, if you'd prefer...

Wow, that seems like a lot of guidelines for a simple guest post, but I'm just trying to answer as many questions as I can before they come up!

This most likely won't be a regular thing, because I feel that if it was, it would be cutting into the submissions I get for the DIY Life zine, and I don't want to do that.  But I definitely like the idea of having the occasional guest post, as long as it works out this time...

So, what do you have to say? :-)

Peace,
Idzie