"By our fourth year of home schooling, when I'm 13, Mom's work to return me to infanthood has become a part of our daily routine. Ever since she pulled me out of public school, she has been applying lighteners and hydrogen peroxide to my hair in an attempt to bleach it back to its baby blond. For months, she has made me crawl around on all fours whenever we're at home, claiming that a strict crawling regimen might somehow improve my handwriting."
"Like an infant, I spend nearly all day by Mom's side, mostly alone together, as my brother is off at school and Dad is off at work. Mom withdrew me from Brinker elementary school in Plano, Texas, in fourth grade, when I was nine. Four years into this experiment, no one from the state or school has ever once come to ask questions about what we study, or even to check up on me. For Mom, that freedom is thrilling."
"Mom says that I'm a creative genius and it's up to her to cultivate my gifts. She believes that for certain kids, like my brother Aaron, the structure of public school is necessary, but a global learner like myself needs a free-form education. Inspired by her educator hero John Holt, Mom calls what we do unschooling. For Mom, unschooling means that other than my correspondence math course, she wants me to spend my days pursuing my passions,"
A mother withdrew her daughter from public school in fourth grade and practices unschooling, inspired by John Holt. She applies lighteners and hydrogen peroxide to the girl's hair to restore baby blond and enforces crawling exercises, claiming handwriting benefits. The girl spends nearly all day with her mother while her brother attends school and her father works. The mother limits formal instruction to a correspondence math course and encourages self-directed activities like shopping, lunches, drawing, and reading by the pool. No state or school officials have checked on the girl's education. The girl sometimes yearns for peer interaction.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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