Purpose

"Have purpose, don't just go through thoughtless motions." ~ Sandra Dodd

I always had hesitation with this, like I needed to find "THE" purpose. However, I'm realizing ANY purpose that feels good and speaks to me is worth having. I also realize at any point, I can shift my purpose, it's not a "forever purpose". 🙂 (and now purpose sounds weird in my head since I used it so many times, lol)

Yep, the thinking that we always have to have "PURPOSE" can actually get in the way. Now,if you consider "to be happy" a purpose, then I can agree. But sometimes getting locked into a purpose or goal that is unattainable or that you try to cling to even after your own circumstances have changed - that can be a not so good thing.

I tend toward thoughtlessness, so the message has meaning for me. :~)

I didn't say "live your live with a purpose," though. Not a singular overriding goal which would cause any other outcome to be failure. That's what some people mean when they say "a purpose," but I didn't say "a purpose." It makes a world of difference. I was talking about individual situations, projects, days, ways to decide. Not about a whole life.

People do that with decisions, too, sometimes. When we talk about making decisions within unschooling discussions, it's not something like "I made the decision to be an unschooler." It's small decisions in the moment, right before each action or response, about what to have for lunch, where and how and why.

Consciously making choices
Knowing WHY you want to make lunch can make all the rest of it a series of mindful choices. (Unless the "why" is a thoughtless sort of "because the clock hands pointed up".)

Choices in Parenting, Unschooling and the rest of Life

Not the kind of "I was unschooled one summer" or "We unschool science and history, but not math or reading" kind of so-called unschooling.

REAL, deep, committed, clear, purposeful, focussed, heartfelt whole unschooling.

If it moves from the realm of rules to principles, then how could one really compromise without also compromising integrity?

That's where I am with it, and have been for many, many years. I can't NOT unschool because it has become the way we live and think and treat one another.

Unschoolers who wanted to maintain their rules and discipline but to teach without a curriculum, didn't want the rest of us saying "unschooling involves more choices." So the term "radical unschooling" came to be used to refer to those who went all the way with it, seeing learning in all aspects life, and not separating academics from everyday life. I think of it as committed, clear, purposeful, whole-life unschooling.

"Radical" means from the roots—radiating from the source. The knowledge that learning is natural to humans can radiate forth from that point in every direction.

Lots of people, when they first hear of homeschooling or unschooling say (almost before they take a breath) "I couldn't be with my child all the time." School (and even daycare) can break the bond between parent and child. There are, and have been in the past, various culturally approved bonds-breaking practices, so one thing we're doing with unschooling is purposefully nurturing bonds, and these relationships.

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Mindfulness in Unschooling



Clarity



Why?
Why what? Why anything—why this. Why that. Why not?