Hello! I am writing this blog to give you a little background about myself and how I came to be an unschooling and respectful parenting advocate. I am taking inspiration from Iris Chen (from the FB Page Untigering) because she recently did a post like this; and since I don’t post too many personal photos of my family because my teenagers have asked me not to. When I do get to post something with them in it, I have their permission. I wish I could share everything about them because I think they are pretty amazing. But I respect their decision and their privacy – you know, the whole respectful parenting thing.
So, a little background in a speed-dating format. I grew up in the mid-west. I met my husband at college in 1993 when I was 18. He and I moved to the east coast the following year right after he graduated from college. I flunked out (gasp! it happens). I started cosmetology school and got my license. We got married when I was 20. I worked as a hair stylist while I went back to college. I earned my Bachelor’s with a double major and then a Master’s degree.
We moved further south and I started working in marketing and public relations. We had two kids that are 15 months apart and I decided to stay home full time to raise them. We started out with all the typical parenting rules, they went to public school, we were tied to the system’s schedule, and I was always stressed.
We started homeschooling which naturally and organically turned into unschooling. We moved a little further north again but are still in the south. We still had some rules and restrictions with things other than education and that also naturally and organically turned into following respectful parenting practices.
I was in a year-long mentorship program with radical unschooling advocate and pioneer, Dayna Martin. The program was designed to support me in becoming an advocate for the movement as well. I feel so passionately about children’s rights and freedom to choose their own educational path and my ultimate goal is to help as many people as I can see this truth and get there too.
Some other random facts about me: I enjoy Olympic Weightlifting and have a personal gym in my garage; I earned my black belt in Tae Kwon Do when I was in my 20’s; I enjoy reading but right now I am in a Netflix phase; I volunteer for both of my kids’ scouting programs; I am afraid of heights and spiders; our dog is from the Humane Society and her name is Mango; I started taking piano lessons a few months ago and I love it!