"I want to unschool to give her more freedom. I can't start the journey by forcing her out of school... you can send your kids to school and still be an unschooler in my view. The point is they have the choice”
Italy may be Ilaria’s country of origin but she well and truly calls our nations capital home. She and her husband (who fatefully met on the day she arrived in Australia over 23 years ago) are raising their two daughters (ages 14 and 8) on a small farm, that she lovingly describes as a geriatric retirement home for animals. Their unschooling experiment began during the covid pandemic lockdowns and they haven’t looked back.
SUMMARY
- Growing up Ilaria's parents described school as her job. They went to work, she went to school. Her duty was to make the most of it and do a good job and she did.
- The idea of homeschooling began as a joke when Ilaria was deciding on which school to send her daughter to and none of the local options were overly impressive, but it was lockdowns that opened her eyes to the real possibility of adopting an unschooling lifestyle.
- Because her kids were home, she started observing them and thinking - if she let them do whatever they want, what would they actually learn?
- Once she saw first hand that they were naturally ticking off the curriculum, they began their unschooling adventure in earnest.
- Social connections, just like learning, are different in this lifestyle. Navigating teen friendships has been their greatest, but only challenge. Everything else has been a joy.
- Ilaria loves that her kids ask a tonne of really amazing, left field questions as she herself remembers never asking questions in class because she was so terrified of saying the wrong thing.
- "For the first time in my life, I'm learning because I want to. You know, I think maybe that's secretly the best part of it."
- Ilaria and her family are a tech family, if they are not out and about in the world they tend to be on screens at home.
- Other resources that contribute to unschooling for their family are Chat GPT, the wildlife sanctuary where her daughter volunteers, musical theatre, boardgames, science kits, podcasts, audiobooks and social media.
- The Canberra Homeschool Open Day organised by Ilaria will be held on May 20th 2024 and you can find out more information about it via their website.
- “I do have hobbies. Like I love to sew and I make soap and all of that. But really, at the moment, my main hobby is homeschooling my kids. It sounds pretty, I don't know, weird. But I'm having a ball doing it.”
INSPIRATION
Unschooling Mom2Mom podcast
CONNECT
Instagram - @unschooling_adventure
Canberra Homeschool Open Day website - homeschoolopendaycanberra.weebly.com
NOTE: This is an abridged version of the show notes.
Follow the link below to find a more detailed summary of what Ilaria shares in this episode.
FULL SHOW NOTES HERE
Connect with us:
Instagram - @australianhomeschoolstories
Substack - Australian Homeschool Stories
This podcast is recorded on the lands of the Bunurong people of the Kulin nation. I pay my respects to elders past, present and emerging and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded. This always was, always will be aboriginal land.