Meet Lifelong Student of WRA, Anastasia Tegheni

Meet Lifelong Student of WRA, Anastasia Tegheni

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We had the freedom of expressing ourselves through art, poetry, science, music and, mostly, just being in nature.” – Anastasia Tegheni

Anastasia Tegheni has been enrolled with us since she was 7 years old, along with her older brother Damian, who graduated from West River Academy in 2021. Blessed with parents who understood the importance of childhood exploration, they fostered an environment where curiosity roamed freely and passions were pursued enthusiastically.

In their early years, Anastasia and Damian found solace and expression in sketching the beauty of the natural world around them, from the intricate patterns of insects to the serene majesty of the local flora and fauna. As Anastasia matured, her artistic talents found a new canvas in acrylic painting, where she discovered a penchant for capturing not just images, but emotions, within her work. National recognition soon followed, with Anastasia’s pieces earning accolades in esteemed art exhibitions.

Enjoy some of her work.

However, her artistic talent was just one part of her diverse interests. During her teenage years, Anastasia discovered a passion for competitive marksmanship, where she found herself excelling in focus and determination. With the support of a dedicated mentor, she flourished in national competitions, showcasing her abilities beyond the realm of art. During our conversation in this interview, she shared how that period in her life held significant importance, as it marked the beginning of her deep appreciation for patience, conscientiousness and discipline.

Then at age 14, Anastasia’s vocal skills took center stage when she WOWED her Music History teacher with a moving performance of Angela Gheorgiu’s “The Tree.” Anastasia faced a crossroads at this time, where her growing passion for opera clashed with the demands of her firing practice. The shooting range was on the opposite side of town from where she had her music practice. That’s when she made the decision to put her ALL into her dream career as an Opera Singer. In November 2023, she clinched First Place in the National Opera Competition, scoring both a prize and a scholarship offer. With her graduation from West River Academy set for May 2024, she’s eagerly anticipating the start of her next chapter!

Here are some pictures about her Opera career

Please watch the video interview below to hear Anastasia’s story straight from the source.

Interview on Wild Life – The Unschooling Podcast (Alexandra Kons)

Interview on Wild Life – The Unschooling Podcast (Alexandra Kons)

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Listen to a fascinating interview with Alexandra Kons and Peggy on the Wild Life Unschooling Podcast. If you are new to unschooling, you need to hear this; if you have been doing it for a while, this will be the refresher you need.

About Alexandra Kons:

In the bustling world of journalism, there are those who not only report the news but also carve paths of innovation and inspiration. Meet Alexandra Kons, a remarkable journalist from Spain whose journey is as diverse as it is captivating. Beyond her journalistic endeavors, Alex is also a devoted unschooling mother, weaving her passion for learning and empowerment into every facet of her life. With a Bachelor’s Degree in Oriental and Asian Studies from the Friedrich Wilhelms University of Bonn and a Master’s in Arabic Studies from the Free University of Berlin, her academic prowess is undeniable.

Alex’s professional trajectory is equally impressive, spanning roles as a crypto-journalist, editor-in-chief, marketing expert, and podcaster since 2017. However, her latest venture as the Head of Education at Freeth’m since 2023 truly showcases her visionary spirit. In this role, she spearheads the creation of self-sustainable, decentralized towns worldwide, embodying a bold vision for the future where education and community intertwine harmoniously. Alex’s story is about her achievements and the boundless possibilities when passion, expertise, and a commitment to change converge.

You can read the transcript HERE if you speak Spanish and don’t want to miss this incredible interview.

“Umbrella School” West River Academy’s Peggy Webb on Helping Worldschoolers Get into University

“Umbrella School” West River Academy’s Peggy Webb on Helping Worldschoolers Get into University

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Peggy was interviewed by a worldschooler mom, Lizz Quain, and she wrote the following on her Youtube Channel:

Peggy Webb is the founder of West River Academy, an “umbrella school” which many homeschoolers, unschoolers and worldschoolers, in over 50 countries, have used since the late 1990s to convert their learning into courses with credits and grades. They offer annual enrollment, official transcripts, and high school graduation from an accredited private school. This conversation is part of my new interview series with worldschooling veterans, families and service providers (schools, worldschool hub leaders, travel insurance CEOs etc.). There will usually be Facebook Lives in my Facebook group   / trailblazingfamilies   on Tuesdays and/or Wednesdays. Please join us there so you can participate in future FB lives. Replays will be posted on this Youtube channel. Stay tuned for more inspiring conversations with fascinating worldschoolers, make sure to subscribe to this channel, invite your friends and family to the FB group or this Youtube channel and let us know what kind of inspiring worldschooling and family travel content you are eager to watch! 🥾✈️🌍👪

Worldschoolers

Enjoy the interview:

You can see other interviews here, as well: https://westriveracademy.com/en/peggys-interviews/

Point of View on Curriculum at West River Academy

Point of View on Curriculum at West River Academy

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  Undoubtedly, a curriculum organizes and greatly simplifies the student’s life. Having a guide of what to study according to age sounds logical since humans usually evolve similarly; we do so at different rates and depths. Find out how we view the curriculum at West River Academy.

The school, as we know it, came to solve a global problem: the massification of education. Only a few had access to theoretical knowledge just over a century ago. Time and time again, entire communities came to the same conclusion in different eras, which was inefficient in an increasingly connected and globalized world.

Humanity has continued to evolve, and this problem is in the past. More and more families know that they can ask themselves the individual question: “How do I study?” At first, it is just a concern, and sometimes just an unfulfilled desire: to be able to personalize your children’s education according to their interests and time. And this is where our point of view comes from.

Pila de libros coloridos

Curriculum

In an adult-centric world, it is expected to believe that the adult should guide their children’s education. At West River Academy, we believe that adults should only act as a companion, mere observers at the service of their children. Why? Because it is the individual who knows his vocation, his talents, and his purpose. No matter how old he is.

Routines tend to develop naturally when our toddlers are not in school without an external entity dictating 100% of it. These routines are structured by the parents’ available time, the needs that arise within the family, and even shaped by the culture of the geographical location of each family.

Without realizing it, these routines are study plans. Observing that our children love art and buying materials so they can doodle everywhere or a plastic musical instrument to emulate what they play is a study plan since it is taught to them. It gives our children the opportunity to explore their abilities through play.

niños estudiando en su cocina con mantas

How does a child who doesn’t go to school study?

Then school age arrives, and we wait patiently for the institution to give us a list of materials and books, and we trust that the study plan or curriculum is appropriate for our children. It’s the way that worked for our parents and that worked for us.

As this process is foreign to our planning, we feel the impulse to create a curriculum outside of our children’s planning, acting as the institution that offers knowledge, which entails a period of uncertainty if what they are learning is sufficient. And then bombard our children with information. It’s much simpler than this.

The first year can be the most overwhelming, and doing so alone usually takes longer to unschool. When you sign up with us, you have one-hour personalized consultations. Also, we have monthly meetings with other families and monthly zooms with the WRA director, answering common questions, which makes the process much more bearable and faster.

In our article “Students who do not fit into the traditional education system,” we share several links to websites with study plans as support. At the same time, you can unschool your adult brain and create a study plan with the flexibility your children need to know themselves and achieve their individual goals at every stage.

niña usando una computadora

Study plan and workload

This is why you will not find a pre-established study plan at West River Academy because we want to keep all beings from following another’s or the mass path. We only demand that you present to us at the end of the year report what the learning process was like, what you learned, and how it went from the family experience.

With us, you will find endless tools to assemble your study plan, whether planned or emerging as your son or daughter lives. Each family is different and knows what is best for each member. That is why we encourage natural education, whether respecting an entire period of 3 months in a single activity or diversifying several activities during the week. Observe with patience and trust. Remember it as a mantra: Patience and Trust.

Portada del libro de E. D. Hirsch

BONUS: Books in English by E. D. Hirsch.

If you are still not convinced by natural education and want to be covered by what your children should know in each grade according to the traditional educational system, the author E. D. Hirsch made a collection of books that are currently only in English. These are titled like: “ What Your Second Grader Needs to Know,” and there is a book for each grade, from preschool to high school. You must replace “second grader” with the degree you wish to investigate.

We hope this article has been helpful to you and you have been able to answer your doubts about which study plan or curriculum to choose when unschooling. We invite you to read other posts on our blog to delve deeper into the unschooling topic.

How is unschooling different from homeschooling?

How is unschooling different from homeschooling?

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Many times you have read on our blog and throughout our website the word “Unschooling,” and it is possible that you approached us to do “Homeschooling.” You may have thought that they are synonymous. They are not, and each one has its particularity.

Homeschooling is usually the first approach to changing the traditional educational system to adapt to their lifestyle. This does not leave aside the subjects, grades, and evaluations. The content is dictated by the educational system, with a mixture of interests. All this is learned at the student’s pace and from home.

As we go through homeschooling, it is normal to lose a bit of the structure and the rhythm to become more and more lax. We start to worry if our children are being educated correctly. This period of family readjustment can be very uncomfortable for all family members, and the fear of the future and doubts about having made a good decision settle in family dynamics: Conflicts begin.

At this point, some families ask for outside help and hire tutors to help them maintain the pace with which they came, others return to the traditional educational system, and others opt for unschooling. All options are valid since only families know what is best for their children’s education.

Dos puertas de dos colores distintos

Homeschooling and Unschooling

Unschooling is about education without the curriculum established by the traditional educational system, without grades. At West River Academy (WRA), we feel comfortable with both systems and even dual enrollment if the family decides to continue with the traditional educational system and certify their other activities with us.

The fundamental pillar of unschooling is natural learning. This speaks of the promotion of the innate qualities of the individual, expanding the space for experimentation without rigorous study plans or excessive care. Giving rise to the spontaneity and curiosity inherent to the human being.

For many years we have been told that it is impossible to have a functional life if we do not have the same schedule every day; we share with a number of people and that someone else must bring us knowledge in a structured way. In reality, this type of education is one of the many that there are to offer. 

Choosing the traditional educational system is an option, but other alternatives can be accredited. At WRA, we pride ourselves on welcoming all those who do or do not fit into the established educational system. There are as many ways to be educated as there are families!

dos tipos de paredes, una de ladrillo y otra frisada

What is the difference and similarity?

The fundamental difference between homeschooling and unschooling is that in homeschooling, the school is transferred to the home, with all its elements. In contrast, unschooling is based on natural learning, and there are no subjects or evaluations but life. This is why our slogan is: “Turning life experiences into academic credit.”

In both systems, education is considered, one in a schooled way and the other in an unschooled way. It is common to confuse education with schooling when one contains the other, and they are not synonymous. Unschooling doesn’t mean being uneducated.

We hope we have clarified all the doubts regarding these two concepts with this brief explanation. Now that you know if you are homeschooling or unschooling or plan to try it, you know the difference.

Setting limits in parenting and in everything else is necessary.

Setting limits in parenting and in everything else is necessary.

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When we think of setting limits in parenting, the first thing that comes to mind is the negative connotation that has fallen socially on the word “limit” and its derivatives: limitation, limited, and so on. This article will clean all the external emotions of the word and associate it from today with Freedom.

Limits never speak of being an obstacle or locking an individual into an idea. It talks about boundaries and that space that belongs to each individual or group of people and that not only helps us to respect others but also to respect and make our personal space respected.

Once this parameter is established, we can realize that limits are necessary, not only in parenting but also in the healthy development of any group of people of any age and any field.

Two fundamental factors for the limits to be effective are setting and enforcing them. It is only helpful to set limits with sustained accompaniment. Setting boundaries is not pleasant when the situation reaches a hostile point. It is always possible to do it.

niños jugando libremente en el bosque

Norms and limits in parenting

When we place limits on our children from an early age, these limits are usually given in a more conciliatory way. Another word associated with boundaries and with negative emotional charge is “authority.” We must also clean this word to make more helpful use, and we will do it in another article. We want to clarify that limits do not have much to do with authority. They have to do with Freedom and Respect.

To place healthy and practical limits, these have to be drawn from the natural consequences and not from the whims or fears of our wounded inner child. We have a guide to spot the difference. Once detected and healed, setting limits will be the most coherent and straightforward thing that has happened to you.

Practical exercise in understanding limits

In respectful parenting, the fundamental pillar is always to put yourself in the other’s shoes. It is based on empathy. That is, place ourselves at the same height as our children and do the exercise of feeling what they would experience, of being in the same place.

Today we bring an exercise that will change our perspective on how limits look, feel, and are needed and how they bring us a healthy coexistence.

mujer le habla a un hombre con mochila al aire libre

Let’s play with the imagination. First, we need you to get into character:

You decided to spend this year backpacking from one country to another. You don’t know what to expect from this first meeting with your host. You have never met them in person. 

 

Let’s play!

You arrive in the town with all your luggage, with the typical exhaustion of a train journey of hours and a walk to find your destination. When you finally find the address and knock on the door, your host opens with a big smile, but you can tell he’s in trouble. He quickly explains that an emergency arose, and he was waiting for you to come out. He hands you the keys to his house, tells you you’re at home, and leaves. He doesn’t give you the opportunity to accompany him.

Please take some time to reflect on how you feel and what your next step would be.

What could you do while your host is away? What would you do while you wait?

BREATHE — IMAGINE — FEEL

esperar

Possible answers

  1. You enter the house, visualize the clearest corner to leave your things, and disturb as little as possible, you hang around the house a bit, but you always end up next to your things and entertain yourself with your things to pass the time.
  2. You enter the house, leave your things at the entrance, and since you have the keys, you decide to go out and see the surroundings and come back when you think there will be someone at home.
  3. You enter the house, leave your things and go straight to the kitchen. You decide to please your host by receiving him when he returns with a typical meal from your country, plus you are hungry from the trip.

What is behind each answer

  1. You placed limits within ignorance and uncertainty, which made you fall prey to the situation. Much of your freedom is paralyzed until the host returns. Counterintuitively, someone else has control, even though they told you you are at home with the best smiles and intentions. This scenario benefits the one who does not set limits.
  2. You decided not to belong to the group, to continue until you could adequately interact with someone individually. In the best scenario, you arrive a few minutes before your host and start over. On the other hand, in a not-so-nice scenario, your host returns to look for something quick to return, he had given you the only key, and you are not there. The host seems aggrieved and shifts the blame to you.
  3. You are at your peak of freedom, happy with the surprise that your host will get, and when he arrives, you find out that some of the ingredients you used, he was going to use for something that he promised to bring the next day, and it is too late to replace it. Although your intentions were good, you added something else to your host’s day of emergencies. You feel responsible for the discomfort.
familia de tres integrantes, uno señala mostrando algo

Transferred to parenthood

The world of unschooling can be overwhelming at first, and one of the reasons is precisely not knowing how to set limits, confusing freedom with the absence of limits when in reality, it is the other way around.

Let’s switch roles. You are the host, and your son is the backpacker. Only now, you are the mother/father/tutor, and the child or adolescent is himself. In most cases, kids who have dropped out of the school usually start with option three, and if some punishments or rewards do not obey natural consequences, they turn to options 1 and 2.

The absence of limits could cause a lack of creativity due to fear of failure. Distance from the family so as not to disturb them. And three, in confusing behaviors, which are done with the best intentions, only the results are not harmonious with the family group. Does it sound familiar to you? Once this is known, everything is repairable. Limits are fundamental.

How to set boundaries in parenting

Following the same line as the backpacker, let’s play imagining again. You are again that person who travels and arrives at a stranger’s house, and your host receives you with a big smile, even though you notice he is in trouble. This time the situation has something different:

This person explains that they have an emergency, that everything is ready in your room, which is the one with a red and black duvet, and your bathroom is the yellow one on the right when you leave your room. He gives you a copy of the key and tells you that everyone has their own, that there is food already made in the kitchen, and that you can walk around the house except for the room in the back, which is blue and, above all things, you can’t touch the law books on the shelf. He says goodbye and leaves.

What could you do while your host is away? What would you do while you wait?

BREATHE —- IMAGINE — FEEL

esperar

You likely sit in your room, rest, bathe, eat, and feel completely free since you know the rules and how far you can go for the good of family life. We still can’t read minds, nor can your son or daughter.

Compared with situation 2, if your child understands the rules, he will be able to move freely and be authentic, without fear, as long as those limits are consistent and protect personal and group well-being.

Another important aspect when setting limits is that once established, the reason behind them is explained, but when reminded, they should be directed without needing further details. A long argument in a risky situation can lead to confusion and loss of the sense of limit.

As they demonstrate responsibility by taking specific actions, the boundaries will loosen as their purpose will be understood. Sometimes the limits will still exist, but we will no longer be responsible for enforcing them because it will not be necessary. Our children will understand and use them. 

This does not imply that in the future, we will once again have the responsibility to enforce it, remember that the second important factor of the limit is implementing them.

Don’t be afraid to set limits again

When we repeat behaviors that we were told are part of the role of a mother or father and do not question them, we likely believe that it is a weakness to set limits again since it is a lack of authority. How many times did you listen to others or hear yourself say? How many times do I have to repeat it to you? ”; the answer is: as many times as necessary, and it will also be done in the same way as the first time, calmly, in a conciliatory and firm manner. Click here to read about an exercise that avoids repeating behaviors without question. 

An example of this can be seen in the field of cooking. When we start teaching our children to cook, a straightforward and typical rule is that they do not use sharp kitchen utensils. These are reserved for adults only. Over time, this rule is relaxed, allowing them to use them under adult supervision until they reach the point where they can handle the cookware without supervision.

However, at some point, they invite their friends over and, excited by the visit, begin to take the kitchen utensils as toys. In that case, it is necessary to take back the responsibility of setting limits and explain to them that their behavior was not responsible or safe for themselves or themselves. For this reason, “you will not be able to use the utensils again when there are visitors since you have shown that you cannot handle the situation with an additional variable.”

Over time, they may be able to use utensils with complete autonomy, but it is crucial ALWAYS to set limits. This is the way to accompany and care for our children.

madre colocando limites verbales a su hija en la cocina

Setting limits applies to children, adolescents, and adults, whether they are our children or not, as long as we are in a group with a common goal. This applies to a backpacker and host, at work, with friends, or in a sports team where you perform. In short, in every group of your life.

Setting limits and respecting the limits that others establish are essential to coexistence as long as they safeguard your safety and that of everyone. With this in mind, you can prepare your children to know how to act when faced with unfair rules that only benefit a particular group or person.

The key is to be consistent and live how we want the world to be.

I hope this walk through the limits has served you and knowing what to do lovingly and naturally.

Students who do not fit into the traditional education system

Students who do not fit into the traditional education system

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Some students do not fit into the traditional system and have a characteristic feature that distinguishes them at school: they get bored and do not fit the mold. This mold is designed to carry out perfect harmony within the educational system. At West River Academy (WRA), we are pleased to receive these types of students because of their indomitable spirit.

In our day-to-day, as an educational institution, we receive emails, requests, and inquiries from parents who are concerned about their children. They worry they cannot fulfill themselves as human beings, as they are labeled within the traditional educational system.

These parents feel the pain of their children and their frustration at not being able to help them and ask with great sadness that we help them end this situation expeditiously; They ask us to advance years and certify degrees together so that their children can graduate from the educational system as soon as possible.

At WRA, we understand these family situations and discomforts very closely. This is why we are a solution for these demands; only it is impossible to do it the way said parents want. The good news is we have a much better counteroffer: Convert Life Experiences into Academic Credits.

Take a breath and stop to smell the roses

Knowing oneself, doing it at our own pace, and enjoying life are the fundamental pillars of our school. It is learning and educating yourself with your study plan and doing it in the order and rhythm you want: as each family feels and decides.

We do not recommend advancing years, certifying degrees together, and graduating early, because, being an institution established and legalized in the United States, this option can only be possible for early admission to the University or Technical School. Otherwise, it is not possible to advance degrees. And with our proposal, it is not necessary to promote years either.

We offer you to enter our institution with open content, we do not have a study plan, so your son or daughter will not have to get bored with pre-established content; instead, they can study what they want at the level they enjoy and not settle with the curricular design imposed by the traditional model.

Do your children love math and science? , at Khan Academy, the curriculum of studies up to Calculus II will be at your disposal. It’s even a great idea to encourage them to start with what they want to learn and realize that they could review and study previous content to reach their goal: at their own pace, in the order he wants, and as many times as he likes!

Do your kids love the arts and language? , in Kubrio, they will find endless artistic expressions, clubs, intensive courses, and study groups with this dye. In Kubrio, there is also space for the sciences, only that its members have taken it more towards the artistic, learning science through debates and creative expressions as projects. With people from all over the world!

Do your children love sports? In your town, there are thousands of options at different levels. The body is a machine that is forged, and sports need muscle memory, and this takes time. We have many students who train 12 to 18 hours a week. They are holistically focused on reaching their goals!

Do they love to delve into everything? They have 24 hours a day to choose what they want to learn. With video games, books, movies, and live. Why rush this extraordinary time?

At WRA, we focus more on helping you do what you love rather than on completing a list of knowledge to go from one grade to the next and then forget it. Each person has a gift that is accompanied by one or more interests. And that’s what we’re aiming for.

Mano levantando un birrete de graduación

How to certify without the official curricular design?

One of our benefits as an educational institution is being able to certify a school grade each year, respecting the official subjects, and adding, in the case of high school, some elective subjects. 

Parents can request a transcript of grades each year and thus certify each year from preschool. If the educational goal at home is to graduate from high school, they can wait for the last four years of high school and certify only those four years. 

The four years the student must accredit to graduate from high school must be equivalent in your country to the 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grades in the United States. And these four years must be completed in 4 different years.

Said transcription of notes will be the equivalent of what the student experienced. By making an annual summary or report of what you have learned, you will realize that you have covered every aspect of it: math, language, science, biology, etc., only with your curriculum, time, and depth.

 

Our proposal to students who do not fit into the educational system.

We live one year at a time. We don’t have a remote control that advances us years at will. We live them all and learn accordingly. At West River Academy, we encourage families to live their education through natural learning. It is unnecessary to advance years when you find a proposal so human and adapted to your day-to-day. There is no need to rush to live.

In addition, you can hear a very thoughtful podcast about this topic from Peggy Webb, Founder and Director of West River Academy:

 

We hope this article has brought the peace of mind and certainty you sought when contacting us. If you still have questions, schedule a free 15-minute consultation or read more on our blog.

Enroll with us if you don’t need anything else to start your educational freedom.

A simple way to do unschooling: deschooling the adult brain

A simple way to do unschooling: deschooling the adult brain

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When we start the path of unschooling, it is almost always through our children; for a long time, we think this is for them. The reality is that our children are just the excuse to be able to unschooled ourselves.

Unschooling the adult brain is an idea that comes to mind abstractly. It is an intuition and a feeling that we do not say out loud since we do not know how “correct” that phrase is. This feeling is the first indication that you started your journey to freedom.

Unschooling as a Philosophy of Life

It is typical to feel embarrassed by the idea of ​​taking the reins of family education since part of our schooling starts from being ashamed of being free and feeling special and unique. Just thinking about it would be ridiculous and even selfish if we were to feel it. If you thought this way or are feeling this way, I hug you, and today we will take one more step toward that feeling.

Our children have spent less time in school, and in some cases, they have not been in school, so they are not the ones who have to adapt to their new life. They have to adjust to you, the schooled adult, to adjust to their new life.

This article is written so that you can embrace your adaptation as an adult towards unschooling, give yourself permission to go through your process as long as you need it, and not bring your children into your process.

Once we understand that unschooling is not an educational method, but a family lifestyle, you will see how everything flows at home and have the calm and freedom you were looking for when the idea first entered your brain. It takes time and is uphill after a year or so of trying. It is normal. Furthermore, it is part of the process.

Desescolarizando el cerebro adulto 2

Unschooling the adult brain

The first thing to know is how the brain learns. It does through external incentives, whatever they may be, and it also has such plasticity that it can adapt to any new motivation, which allows us to learn and unlearn with or without awareness of it.

The neurons receive the information, make it travel through the synapse, and if this same stimulus is repeated several times, then memories are forged.

Memories are not always forged by repetition. The brain needs to be excited to learn, and a strong emotional experience, whether pleasant or not, can fix specific learning in our brain just by feeling it once. Both schooling and unschooling provide and are enriched by this same process.

Unschooling stages

It does not matter if we start unschooling in our children’s adolescence or when they are two years old; our unschooling process is usually activated in the same order.

Throughout our school life, they have imbued us with different levels of fears and requirements to meet according to the stage we live in the school. We will transmit these fears to our children without the need to place them out loud but transform them into exacerbated security and protection.

For this first stage, which is ours… as adults, we will continuously scan our fears. Why continuously? Because the vast majority of our worries linked to school are unconscious and only surface when an action activates them; then there will be many, many fears that you will not be able to work on by only sitting in the living room of your house and with a coffee contemplating the horizon; it is more likely you will do it at the moment in which you interact with other people, mainly with your children.

West River Academy

The two levels of guilt and the limits

To start unlearning, learning, and relearning to forge our new lifestyle, we must be aware of our beliefs and how they govern us. To eliminate the guilt that unconsciously seeds fear in us.

To do this continuously, we have to realize that we took our children out of the educational system because several things did not resonate with us, and one of them is how far the system is from the personal reality of its students. 

A reality not seen in the educational system is that adults have feelings, emotions and that we are not perfect. In fact, for the traditional educational method, showing our feelings and doubts in front of our children symbolizes weakness. The way to do this exercise is by showing our children that we are exploring this path with as many uncertainties as they are and that sometimes we can feel overwhelmed and do not understand why. 

In this exercise, we are going to investigate two levels of guilt through these three questions: 

  • Do I do it because they are my fears?
  • Do I do it because I am repeating patterns?
  • Do I do it because I set limits?

It is continuous, and although simple, it can be challenging to apply. With practice, it will come automatically.

Exercise to Unschool the Schooled Adult Brain

There are plenty of opportunities to put the exercise into practice. Whenever we feel the need to scold, punish, force, or guide our children without taking a moment of introspection about whether they need to be taught, it is the right time to start the exercise. 

We have been told that we must act immediately; otherwise, the purpose of the correction is not understood. This is half true; if no explanation precedes the action, the child will not see the connection. Today, you will learn how to create that connection. This is all you need to do this exercise organically.

A characteristic example of the perfect moment to start the exercise is the following:

You go to the park, your kid goes up on the opposite side the game was designed for, and he is doing it in a hazardous way.

The first natural reaction of a schooled brain is to yell for him to get off and call him to tell him never to do that again, that it is very dangerous. A list of possible scenarios invites him to reflect so he never does it again. Does it sound familiar to you?

I invite you to do it differently, do not feel bad if you only think about it the first time (or first times) and do what I stated before. It is a process. Be nice to you. What I invite you to do is the following:

You call your child’s attention, maybe by shouting, maybe not. Trust the process, as it comes out instinctively. When he gets to you, explain to him that this makes you very nervous, that you haven’t been able to figure out how it makes you feel, and that if he can do his best not to play like that for today. Later, when you know how it made you feel, you explain it to him. 

It is feasible that he will do it again after 15-20 minutes. You simply remind him of what you talked about. Children are very open and compassionate; it’s just that they still place their desires above other things, and their memory fails them in those cases. They don’t do it on purpose; that’s how human beings develop, don’t take it personally.

Desescolarizando el cerebro adulto 4 / deschooling the adult brain

In a reflective moment, that you don’t have to be in their care, either when bathing or before going to bed or waking up, ask yourself why you don’t want your child to use the game like this:

Do I react like this because it is my fear?

Try to visualize how your son maneuvers his body at home and how aware he is of his motor skills.

If at home he never does anything physical and you don’t know how he handles his body, or you have seen him being an enthusiast, but he always ends up falling, then your fear is for his safety and not for transference. You can go to the next question.

Now, if when you visualize your son, you realize that he is the miniature version of spider-man and that he is fully aware of his body and the rest of the objects; then the fear is yours, and you are adding to his backpack beliefs (who already has his fears and will have other worries as he lives) that are not his and that has nothing to do with his capabilities. In this case, you don’t need to continue investigating and talk to your son; tell him what you felt, and the conversation will be different, it will be about safety, about preparing before climbing a new object, and not about an a priori prohibition of an innate ability.

Do I react like this because I repeat patterns?

If you proceed to the second question, try to visualize yourself, your role as a mother/father, and what is expected of your position. Is this your way to protect your child unconditionally and no matter what? We can answer it quickly with these two options: 1) That unconditionally includes his personal decisions. 2) Or, on the contrary, you know you are there to accompany him.

Travel back to your childhood and remember a similar situation, whether as a child, adolescent, or adult, where you wanted to try something new and were forbidden because your parents did not see your ability to solve this new challenge together. 

If you found that episode and it struck a chord within you, first allow yourself that moment to internalize the discovery because deschooling the adult brain moves many internal processes that were very comfortable resting in our psyche. Another way to know if you are about to encounter the episode and you are not yet ready to face it is that you will respond in your mind with “because it was always done that way,” “because it should be,” or “because there is no other way to do it.”

If so, you do not need to skip to the next question. Once you are calm with your process, call your son to talk about why he decided to get on like this, if he saw it from someone else, if he wants to try lower and go up, if he felt good doing it, or if when he attempted to it, he realized that it was not his thing or if he wants to try again with supervision to see how it goes. Let your child decide to do or not do an activity anymore.

If you didn’t find that episode, or if you found it and it gave you a lot of strength, and you feel good about that episode, go to the next question. 

Do I react like this because I set limits?

If your child has never shown the ability to climb anything and there is no “should be” or “because it was always done that way” in your reaction, it is because you know when to set limits. Now we will work on how to set them. 

Call your son and tell him that even if he wants to try new things, he always has to be prepared when he increases the difficulty of things. That he has your 100% support and that you want to be present and warned every time he tries something new, so you can assist him and be present as his security and support team. If it is his passion, he will do it with more and more skill; perhaps at home, he has yet to have the opportunity to try this type of activity. And if he is uninterested, he will leave him and have better self-awareness.

Desescolarizando el cerebro adulto / deschooling the adult brain

Final Recommendations

Added to this is not pushing our children when we know they have an innate ability. We only sometimes want to eat our favorite dish every day. There are times of exploration that are as rich and vital as having discipline. 

You always have to ask about the cause of their decisions and not force them at once or the opposite, to let them resign just by asking. Always call to feel and raise awareness of what drives us.

If it is your passion, he will return to it. If not, it is a tool to face the next activity. It is never wasted time when freedom is respected.

Once you begin to face this exercise with each situation (or almost with each case), there will come a time when you will not stop to ask yourself the questions, and you will directly know what it is about, and you will be able to act at the moment. It takes time: it’s very satisfying and healing once you get it.

Other stages of unschooling have to do with the adult brain. We will publish them. Check out the newsletters if you are part of WRA, or visit us regularly to discover new content if you are not enrolled yet. Remember to clear doubts before signing up with a free 15-minute call.

Top 5 Online Homeschooling Resources

Top 5 Online Homeschooling Resources

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We know there are many doors that open once you step into the world of homeschooling and the variety of options can seem overwhelming at first. Now that we are living in a time of “crisis schooling”, families are scrambling to quickly make a plan for the school year and are doing their best to absorb as much information from the internet as possible right now. As advocates for the natural learning approach to homeschooling, the first thing we encourage parents to do is to have an open dialogue with their children to find out how they would enjoy spending their time in a fun and productive way.

 

West River Academy is very unique because we encourage each family to create a routine and learning flow that feels good to them. We ask them, “if you didn’t have to think about standardized testing, what do you think is important for your children to learn? How can you incorporate life lessons into your conversations, and ignite their love for learning again?”.  These questions prompt a new way of thinking and re-introduce the child to a world where learning is fun and exciting again!

 

Once you have figured out where you land on the spectrum of learning styles, it will be easier to narrow down the resources that will fit your family best. We have compiled the top 5 of our most popular online homeschooling resources directly from the recommendations of our families enrolled in West River Academy.

 

Enjoy!

 

Galileo is the new, innovative, self-directed online school for students aged 8-18 who are world schoolers, homeschoolers, and/or unschoolers from all over the world. They provide opportunities to collaborate with other students on projects, with groups that do projects together on STEM subjects and electives like Coding and Robotics, Foreign Languages and International Cultures. Choose your own adventure by mixing and matching a variety of topics!
Cost: $240/month or $2000/year
Age Range: 8-18

 

They offer a huge variety of classes and options. From phonics to AP Physics to Minecraft to Piano. Outschool feeds your kid’s curiosity and elevates their learning with a variety of 50,000+ classes.
Cost: $10-$600/ class
Age Range: 4-18
 
They offer tuition-free online classes with high school and college credit for grades 6-12. Includes Financial Education by Dave Ramsey for teens, and college courses from Grand Canyon University. 300+ Credit-based courses.
Cost: Many classes are tuition-free
Age Range: 10-18
 
The main things homeschoolers want are high-quality resources and flexibility, and they offer both. Lesson plans consist of in-depth powerpoints with images and videos to enhance the material. Plus, they offer a wide range of optional supplemental activities so you can customize your child’s educational experience based on their individual learning style.
Cost: $60-$175/class
Age Range: 10-18
 
They offer personalized learning of all core subjects. There are modules that the student can do at their own pace, they offer scholarship contests and they are popular worldwide.
Cost: Free
Age Range: PreK-12th grade

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If you would like to talk more about finding a learning style for your family, feel free to schedule a phone consultation with Peggy Webb, the Founder and Director of West River Academy, here.

Homeschooling Global Summit 2020

Homeschooling Global Summit 2020

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An influx of questions has flooded the internet in recent months regarding homeschooling and we are thrilled to address an array of topics in this virtual event called the Homeschooling Global Summit!

There will be ten days of expert interviews, from the likes of Sir Ken Robinson, Pat Farenga, Peggy Webb, Lainie Liberti, Melissa Church and many more! With hundreds of millions of kids around the world learning at home for the first time ever due to Coronavirus, this knowledge is needed by parents more than ever.

We will be interviewing some of our currently enrolled families, as well as West River Academy graduates. Learn how self-directed learning can be an advantage to navigating this rapidly-changing world.

Event Calendar:

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As this is the second annual event, anyone who is interested in watching the 40+ hours of footage from the 2019 Homeschooling Global Summit is now able to do so for free!

Visit https://hgsummit.com/ to get your FREE premium pass.

We are so grateful to all of our families and graduates who are participating in this event with us this year. We hope you register for it and share it with your loved ones!
~ The West River Academy Team

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