Unschooling and labels

We were at Target the other day and Jude was chatting it up with the cashier. Like most adults who Jude strikes up conversation with (which he does with just about everyone he meets) she asked him what grade he was in. I suspect they ask him this because of his ability to hold a mature conversation. One lady, another Target cashier coincidentally, told him once that he had a really big vocabulary for such a little boy. Anyways, when Jude is asked this question he always replies, "Oh, I'm homeschooled." Most people then ask something like, "Well what grade are you homeschooled in." I know this is an innocent question because most people can't grasp the idea that a kid isn't labeled by what grade he is in.

I think school is a great place to send your kid if you want him labeled and categorized. Popular, gifted, ADHD, dyslexic, nerd, learning disabled, athletic, bully, wimp. Think of the damage that can be done to a child's self-esteem once he receives one of these negative labels. Even positive labels can be bad. Take my husband for example, he was a valedictorian and in the gifted and talented program in high school. He whizzed through school thinking that because he was smart college would be a breeze. SHOCK!!! College takes hard work and high school labels don't follow you to college.

So we take our kids out of school and then look for labels as to what kind of homeschoolers we are! And there are lots, Montessori, Waldorf, classical, religious, school-at-home, eclectic, distance learning, cyber schools, unschooling, free schooling, the list goes on. I don't like labels, obviously, but that doesn't keep me from calling ourselves unschoolers. Mainly because it best describes our style of learning and is somewhat easier for other people to comprehend when I explain our method of "homeschooling." People already look at me like I'm crazy when I explain to them that we don't use a curriculum and that we just let our kids lead the way when it comes to their learning. At least when I give them the term unschooling, they can put a label with our radical method which is still beyond their comprehension.

Maybe instead of Jude telling people he is homeschooled when they ask what grade he is in, he should tell them he isn't in any grade because he is a life learner. That would really freak them out, ahhh where's the label? This kid is an alien, he just learns about real life all day long and at his own pace to make things worse! There is no teacher or parent telling him what he must "learn" everyday, whatever will become of him?!?!?