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Self-education in reality, beyond theory.

To begin with I wrote a proposal, per the suggestion of Grace Llewellyn in The Teenage Liberation Handbook. I'd been working on convincing my parents to let me unschool, not satisfied with my entry into ninth grade. Included in it was a point-by-point overview (a "curriculum") of what I wanted to learn, some legal issues to clear out of the way, and an essay on my motivation for doing this.

• Unschooling Proposal, December 2006 (HTML)
• Unschooling Proposal, December 2006 (PDF, takes longer to load, printable)

I considered the matter further, researched and wrote, but was not out of school at this point. What could I really do when I unschooled? How could I prove to myself that it was a suitable option? I reassured myself that my interests were important, not frivolous, and I questioned my own beliefs about education.

• A List of Questions, January 2007

By the beginning of tenth grade I had sorted out an arrangement with my parents and the school. I would take three classes at the schools, which were Honors Spanish 3, Latin 2, and Other Voices (an independent-study English elective class). This year I'm attending these classes. I'm working on a "mixed-media" writing project for Other Voices, completing the work needed for my other courses, and also doing some unschooling projects at home and elsewhere. Among these projects are:

• Changing the non-discrimination policy of the Newton Public Schools to include gender identity and expression
• Getting a basic handle on the ancient Egyptian language
• Working as an intern (accepting/rejecting manuscripts, editing, opening mail, filing and sorting and data entry) at the magazine Teen Ink
• Using the Life of Fred Beginning Algebra book for math because it doesn't take itself seriously at all
• Writing my fifth finished NaNoWriMo novel
• Learning to write long substantial academic essays. Not the kind you do for school, the kind you read in academic journals. Not that I stand a chance of getting my stuff published there, but I'm working toward it.