It’s the first day of school and my seven year old son Easy and I were up. When we heard the school bus roll into town he told me his thoughts. I wrote them down as best I could and had the dictation approved by him. I really enjoyed his insight.

I don’t really want to go to school because then I can only learn about a limited amount of stuff. I like learning on my own cuz then I can learn what’s important to me. I like video games, I can learn new words, like charisma. I like to learn about guns and zombies. I have learned about about trees, lots of kinds of tools, how they work and what they do. I learn a bunch of math like 100+100 is 200 and 200+200 is 400. And 2+2 is 4. Its patterns.
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There has been a lot of controversy about radical unschoolers in the public eye. Some think that we shouldn’t put ourselves out there, we are misrepresented by mainstream media. Others say it is a step in the direction of cultural understanding.

I see great benefit to having radical unschooling understood and assimilated into our culture. I am hoping to see more and more outspoken radical unschoolers getting the word out, even if people don’t always understand.

Dayna’s words on Others Response to her family’s segment on ABC.

More of Dayna’s Thoughts on The Truth of the Nightline Report

Julian Baptista

Can you tell us a little bit about your life growing up?

I was born in Portland Maine, and moved to Salem Massachusetts when I was three. I grew up with two moms, and actually worked for and organization to keep gay marriage legal in Massachusetts.

I went to school from kindergarten and finished the third grade before starting to unschool. After leaving school I began learning guitar at 11, and started to take courses through Harvard Extension at 13. I’m now splitting time between working to become a professional musician, and finishing my senior year at Goddard collage.

Julian Baptista

How did the music come into your life? When did you start playing and how did that flow?

I have been involved in different kinds of music for most of my life. My first experience performing in front of an audience was during a group singing performance through my church called the Yuletide Festival. I started performing at these festivals when I was four, and began singing solos fairly soon after.

I started learning guitar at 11 with the teacher that my mom Beth had been going to for violin lessons, who also taught beginning guitar. This was shortly after I began unschooling, and probably never would have happened if I had been in school.

What does unschooling mean to you?

Unschool is why I am able to do what I am today. If I had been in school I most likely never would have picked up the guitar, and I would not have had the freedom to put in the time needed to do many of the things I have been able to over the years. Because of unschooling I have been able to develop my musical abilities, take college courses I wouldn’t have been able to in school, and worked in a number of jobs that I would not have considered had I been going to school.

I know you have been involved in some other interesting stuff, would you like to share some of those things with us?

Besides what I’ve said already, one of the most interesting things I’ve done was working for MassEquality over two different canvassing seasons going door to door convincing people to contact their legislators in favor of gay marriage.

What are your plans for the near future? or dreams for the future.

Right now my plans are to pursue a professional career in the music industry. I recently released my first album Lost in the Crowd, and have begun performing at a number of local venues and house concerts. I plan to keep developing this musical career, by building my connections and performing as much as possible. I have already accomplished a great deal in the last few months, and with the support of my fans, I hope to continue to bring my music to more and more people.

Listen to one of Julian’s songs, “Take Me Home”, here:

Note: This post was written for our April blog carnival, Darcel just has a sweet new baby (boy) we’re printing it as Darcel’s first column. Her column, The Mahogany Way, will be a regular feature on this site.

When I first saw the theme for this months carnival. I also thought of the word free. I can honestly say that we have transformed as a family this past year. One thing that I love, the girls feel free and confident enough to correct us when we’re wrong. They also feel free to share how they feel with us, if we’ve said or done something to upset them, they have no problem telling us.

The other day Charles was talking about something and he said the word stupid. Nakiah was quick to correct him “Daddy we don’t say that word, it’s not nice.” This afternoon My dad took something out of my hand, and he wasn’t snatching it, but again Nakiah corrected him. “Peepaw you need to ask first. You can’t take it away.”

Another example, I was in the kitchen cooking, and Ava was looking for her shoes. I couldn’t leave the food yet, so I told her I would help her in a few minutes. I told her the shoes were upstairs. I must have sounded annoyed, or raised my voice, she said “Mommy, I don’t like when you yell at me like that.” I told her I was sorry, and she said “that’s ok!” hugged me and went to get her shoes.

Our kids keep us honest. I love that. Even though it may be hard to hear that I’ve hurt their feelings, I’m glad they know they can come to me. They know that how they feel, and what they think really does matter.
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