queenjane555

This phrase has been stated here and is also common in mainstream
society...."When you get out into the REAL world"....i think the
poster here meant "the real world" in which if you dont make money
to pay your electric bill you might be in the dark, or if you dont
have money to buy food you might go hungry.

But in the context of an unschooling family, is there really such a
thing as "the real world" set apart from the world in which our
children are already living?

I only have one 9 yr old, and i am assuming at some point (the
magical age of 18 i guess?)i am supposed to want him to leave, to
move out, to "make it on his own"...but honestly its a little hard
for me to imagine. The previous poster said something about having
very little money but not expecting the child to contribute to the
household at 16, only at 18...because he is a legal adult then? I
would think if i was really having a hard time putting food on the
table, that whoever had a job in the family (whether they were 12,
or 16, or 18)might want to contribute as much as they could. I
borrowed my son's birthday money to pay a bill, and he was fine with
that. I told him i'd pay it back in January when things are a little
easier....he even told me not to worry about it, i could keep it (it
was over $100!) Of course i will give it back to him, but he is very
generous.

So i dunno....is 18 just an arbitrary age, in an unschooling family,
or is there something especially magical and significant about that
age that i should prepare myself for?

Katherine