EU209: The Lovely Chaos of Unschooling with Shan Burton

Shan Burton is a writer, an unschooling mom and a recent widow. She kindly joins me this week to talk about her unschooling life, how the idea of Lovely Chaos (her website name) came about and how embracing unschooling healed her relationships and helped her family through the loss of their beloved husband and father. It was a lively, fun conversation and I’m so grateful that she agreed to join me and share so much of herself and their life.

Questions for Shan

Can you share with us a bit about you and your family? What’s everybody into right now?

How did you discover unschooling and what did your family’s move to unschooling look like?

I love that your online presence is woven around the idea of “lovely chaos!” Can you share how that came about and what it means to you?

I was so sorry to hear of your husband’s passing last year. I can only imagine how much that shook your family’s world—and continues to weave through your days. You mentioned before our call that you found unschooling principles to be helpful in times of trauma. I’d love
to hear more about your experience with that.

I saw a comment you made recently on your blog about Miah turning 18 and how one of your goals is to stop saying “the kids” to reference your adult children. That struck me because, with my kids in their twenties, I’ve been feeling a bit uncomfortable using that phrase as well. I’d love to hear your thoughts around that.

At this point, what do you love most about having chosen to embrace unschooling?

Things mentioned in the episode

Find Shan’s website here

Shan mentioned Sandra Dodd’s book, Moving a Puddle

Episode Transcript

Read the transcript