Mor Til Ni

Dear daughters,

I just watched a Danish program about extreme alternative lifestyles, and the family featured was one that had 9 children, all unschooled. And I loved it.

I saw in that family so many things that I want to see in ours. Hell no, you’re not getting 7 more siblings, BUT to live life away from a hamster wheel, with peace and rhythm, curiosity, capacity, closeness… yeah. More of that please.

You could tell that the journalist in the show had a very hard time stepping outside of her vision of what a normal life should be. She was quite critical of their choices, poking questions at whether the children were learning enough or had enough social interaction. Reading the comments on the video only amplified that there are a lot of people who not only question a lifestyle like this, but outright fear and condemn it.

That makes me a bit sad. That we can be so quick to judge what is unfamiliar to us. That we can be so conditioned to believe what’s normal – working hard, following the rules, staying on the usual path – that we can’t even see possibility in lifestyles that favor humanness.

We are considering unschooling you. We’ve been quite open about that. And yeah, there have been questions and fears we’ve been working through as we make this decision. I guarantee that if we choose this route for our family and our future, we will face a lot of criticism from a lot of people. That’s OK. I hope that I can be brave enough to stick to what we know is right for us even when others would disagree, and I hope that’s just the first of many lessons I can teach you, too.

But regardless of whether we end up unschooling, I want you to please remember this: how you live your life is your choice. Do what is right for you. For your family. For your soul. There isn’t one right way, no matter how many people will try to tell you otherwise.

Cheers to the life we get to choose!

Love,

Mom