Sue Patterson returns to talk about unschooling and the teen years. We are both rather passionate about the topic and our conversation ended up lasting almost two hours! I decided to split it into two, and it actually worked out quite well, with Part 1 covering the transition into the teen years, and Part 2 diving into the later teen years. So, this week we dive into the conventional messages that surround the early teen years, supporting our kids through the transition, leaving school for unschooling in the teen years, and approaching additional challenges.
QUESTIONS FOR SUE
To start, I think there are typically two periods during the teen years that unschooling parents can find challenging—even if we’ve been unschooling reasonably comfortably for years. The first one is the transition into the teen years. And I want to talk about this transition from both the parent’s and teen’s perspective, but let’s start with the parent’s perspective. This is our personal work to do. What are some of the conventional messages we can find bubbling up and how might we shift to see them through the lens of unschooling?
What if we find our child seems to be struggling some with the transition into the teen years? What might this time look like through their eyes? And how might we support them through that?
There are also some teens who choose to leave school and transition to unschooling—how might we help them?
Sometimes the questions I get about teens involve additional challenges, things like anxiety or rebelliousness. What are your thoughts around approaching those kinds of situations?
THINGS WE MENTION IN THIS EPISODE
EU129: Starting Unschooling as a Teen with Noah Tetzner
EU061: Book Chat with Emma Marie Forde
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