Older Homeschoolers--March-April 2002

Perspectives on homeschooling through the High School years.

Home Unschooling
by Benjamin Soderstrom

My name is Benjamin Soderstrom, I am sixteen years old, and for most of my life I have been home unschooled. This is an alternate way of home schooling, that involves a very relaxed environment, where my sister and I (which I will refer to as the children), would be allowed to do almost anything(in an educational sense), in the hopes of creating a situation where the children can learn about whatever interests them. Most of the time it allows kids to find what they want to do in life, and to help them achieve it.

A lot of people would consider this a poor decision on my parents part (and so does my mother, although she supports me fully.) But in the long run, for all of the ups and downs it has to offer, I am definitely grateful that I have been home unschooled, although my education lacks in things that I do not feel will help me in my life, and in some things that will. One of the things I regret is never having learned the importance of motivating ones self to accomplish the hard parts of things, that will in the long run help one achieve what one strives for.

I think overall, my understanding of this world is far greater then what it would have been, had I been brought up a different way; and I think that is a very important thing for anyone to have.

Almost all my life I have loved doing art, which has made me somewhat of an observer; and it has made me see our world in many different ways. And through what I've seen, I know I don't want to fill my mind with things I don't have a passion for learning, so I can get a job strictly for making money, until I retire. I know what I want to do, and what I seek.

What I seek is truth, in all its purest forms, where ever I go, and what ever I do, and I ask you:

What is more important than that?

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