EU103: The Gift of Time with Milva McDonald

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Milva McDonald unschooled her four now-adult children starting back in 1991 and this year she published a book of essays about their experience, Slow Homeschooling. We have a great conversation, diving into her family’s unschooling journey, how music has woven its way through their lives, unschooling’s gift of time, college, and lots more!

Quote of the Week

“The things that they chose pursue when they were older are very connected to the playing and exploring that they did when they were younger. And I feel like even as adults, that’s when we get the most joy out of life, when we’re getting that spirit of play into whatever we’re doing.” ~ Milva McDonald

Questions for Milva

Can you share with us a bit about you and your family?

What did your family’s move to unschooling look like?

Music has been a big thing in your family. I’d love to hear how it has woven its way through your lives over the years.

I really enjoyed reading your book, Slow Homeschooling. In one of your essays, ‘The Gift of Time,’ you share that your kids benefited hugely from the simple availability of time. I found that as well—I think that turned out to be one of the most valuable aspects of our unschooling lifestyle. Can you share some of the benefits you saw?

Similar to the gift of time, but still distinct, solitude is also so valuable, isn’t it?

Over the last decade or so, homeschooling has grown enough in popularity that we’ve become a market for a wide range of educational products, beyond the typical curriculum-in-a-box. And while increased options are wonderful, I think they can also prolong our deschooling, including the philosophical journey to appreciate the remarkable value of large swaths of free time in our family’s lives. Have you seen this as well?

I really enjoyed your essay, ‘Do Kids Have to Go to College?’ and I’d love to chat about that a bit. I think my favourite line was, “There’s a certain amount of irony in play when homeschooling parents expect their kids to take a traditional path.” Can you explain what you mean by that? And how has college woven into your lives so far?

You’ve co-written a fiction book called Unschoolers. What inspired you guys to take on that project?

Links to Things Mentioned in the Show

Milva’s book, Slow Homeschooling

And the fiction book she co-wrote with Sophia Sayigh, Unschoolers and their website, unschoolersbook.com

Milva’s website, apotlucklife.com

Episode Transcript

Read the transcript here