Kirsten Fredericks and her husband Carl have three boys—now young adults—who pretty much grew up unschooling. We have a wonderful conversation as we touch on how she found unschooling, the most challenging aspect of deschooling, supporting our children’s passions, moving from control to trust, what has surprised her most about how their unschooling lives have unfolded, and lots more.
Questions for Kirsten
1. Can you share with us a bit about you and your family?
2. What did your family’s move to unschooling look like?
3. What did you find to be the most challenging aspect of deschooling?
4. What did your husband’s journey to unschooling look like?
5. I’ve known you for many years and love how you dive in to fully support your children’s diverse interests and passions. My impression is that some parents think that if a child is passionate about something, they need to take care of all aspects of it themselves from the get go or else they aren’t really as passionate about it as they say. That hasn’t been my experience, and I’d love to hear your perspective on it.
6. What has surprised you about how unschooling has unfolded in your lives?
7. Can you talk about your journey from control to trust in your relationships with your children?
8. What have you come to value most about your unschooling lifestyle over the years?
9. As our children get older, we hear the conventional societal message loud and clear that “kids need to move out of the house to prove they aren’t failures at life.” Yet, you have older children who are living in the family home. Me too! And they definitely aren’t “failing at life” by any stretch of the imagination. I’d love to hear your thoughts around that.
10. Looking back, what, for you, has been the most valuable outcome from choosing unschooling?
Episode Transcript