Missy Willis is an unschooling mom of two children and host of the website, Let ‘Em Go Barefoot, where she shares her personal experiences, thoughts, and research around unschooling. We dive into her journey from getting her master’s in Special Ed to unschooling, what she means by the phrase “ego-schooling,” how jumping in to help our children may actually get in their way, her favourite things about their unschooling days right now, and lots more.
Questions for Missy
Can you share with us a bit about you and your family?
How did you discover unschooling and what did your family’s move to unschooling look like?
With your master’s in Special Education and having worked in special ed classrooms, what did you find the most challenging aspect of the deschooling process to be?
You have a great blog post titled, ‘You Might Be Ego-schooling If …’ That was a new phrase for me, ego-schooling, but you described what you meant so well. Can you explain?
So, we’ve worked through the need control our children because we were defining ourselves by their actions. But there are still more layers to peel back, aren’t there. For example, we see our children trying to do something and we want to jump in and help them. It’s not about us any more; we really want to help them. But that can get in their way too, can’t it?
Your website is letemgobarefoot.com. I’d love to hear the story behind the name!
What’s your favourite thing about the flow of your unschooling days right now?
Links to things mentioned in the show
Missy’s blog post, “You might be ego-schooling if…”
Missy’s website and blog Let ‘Em Go Barefoot
Episode Transcript
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