My Unschooling Journey: Exploring Alternative Learning Pathways

For over 15 years, I've been exploring the evolving landscape of education, schooling, and learning through an alternative lens. This journey has taken me from being a recent high school graduate to a university student, then a dropout, and now a parent of two children - one school-age and one approaching that "deadline".

My Early Education Experience

My early schooling evokes feelings of noise and overwhelm. I attended various schools before settling into Cape Byron Steiner School in Byron Bay from year 5 onwards, which provided a comparatively positive experience.

The University Dilemma

In 2010, I started university, but found much of the experience incredibly underwhelming. Despite getting stuck in a sunk cost fallacy, I eventually dropped out, realizing it wasn't the right path for me.

The Decision to Unschool

When my children were born, the topic of schooling became a complex decision. After much consideration, my partner Sandra and I decided not to send them to conventional school. This choice continues to shape our lives.

Resources That Inspired Our Decision

• Homegrown
• Free to Learn
• Raising Free People: Unschooling as Liberation and Healing Work
• A Thousand Rivers
• Natural Born Learners

The Triple Threat

I believe our existing schooling system is ill-equipped to prepare children for three major challenges:

• A Climate Emergency
• Rapid Technology Adoption and the rise of AI & Automation
• A rapidly increasing Youth Mental Health Crisis

The Sustainability Question

As we continue down this path, one question persists: How do we make alternative learning pathways more sustainable?

Challenges We Face

• The enormous burden placed on the primary caregiver
• The high cost of alternative learning programs
• The need for support infrastructure for distributed learning

The Open Campus Project

To address these challenges, I'm exploring the Open Campus project, which aims to:

• Champion open and collaborative 21st century learning within local communities
• Unite learning opportunities and initiatives within local communities
• Put the learner at the center of their lifelong learning journey

Key Questions We're Asking

• What if we redefined what a successful learning pathway looked like for children?
• What if learning acquired outside educational institutions could be recognized nationally and globally?
• What if children were free to follow their own learning journeys, not constrained by standardized curriculum?

Conclusion

Our unschooling journey is ongoing, filled with doubts and triumphs. While we don't have all the answers, we're committed to exploring alternative education pathways that prepare our children for the complex world they'll inherit.