Lucas Land is an unschooling dad with three kids, and we have a wonderful conversation about deschooling, living in another country, trusting our kids, and lots more! He also recently started a podcast, We Don’t Talk About That with Lucas Land.
Questions for Lucas
Can you share with us a bit about you and your family?
How did you discover unschooling and what did your family’s transition to unschooling look like?
Was there a shift in parenting for them in that area, from control to connection?
What, so far, has been the most challenging aspect of moving to unschooling for you?
Were the kids excited to move to Bolivia? Is it a family decision, how you guys decide where you’re going to be going when you’re travelling?
What is your favourite thing about your days right now?
You recently started a podcast. I’d love to hear the story behind that!
As an unschooling dad, what piece of advice would you like to share with dads who are considering or just starting out on this journey?
Things mentioned in the episode
Check out his podcast, We Don’t Talk About That with Lucas Land
Books mentioned:
Respectful Parents, Respectful Kids by Sura Hart & Victoria Kindle Hodson
Deschooling our Lives, edited by Matt Hern
Episode Transcript
Great podcast! Our family unschooled in Venezuela for 10 years. Fortunately, we had more freedom in Venezuela at the time. They were still using apprenticeships as an educational method. Our daughter did apprenticeships with scientists through Earthwatch. She observed monkeys in Venezuela, horses in California, and homebirthing mothers in Bolivia.
Our mission board was the difficult hurdle. The cost of unschooling was greater than the purchased curriculum being used by the Mexican mission. Why couldn’t we use that? I thought I was doing a great job unschooling three children for less than the state of Colorado needed for one student, but I was wrong. It seems that workbooks are the cheap alternative.
We didn’t use the Venezuelan school system but since children only attended 4 hours each day (with three shifts per school) there were many social clubs to choose from. Our daughters belonged to an equestrian club and our son was in an artist club. Great places to learn Spanish.
I love the title of your blog, Lucas!
Hi Aleta!
Thanks for listening and sharing your experience! I love apprenticeships as a model for learning. It has been seen as outdated for a long time, but seems like maybe it’s making a comeback somewhat. Sounds like your kids had some amazing opportunities!
It is strange that the workbooks were the cheaper alternative. Was it because of an agreement they had? Did the apprenticeships have a cost associated? It is so weird to me that the way we structure our economy often makes things cheaper that should be expensive (like processed foods) and other things more expensive that should be cheaper (like organic whole foods). It’s a weird world we live in!!
Thanks again for sharing!