Isabella's Comments as an Unschooler

Here is what Isabella from Hawaii wrote in her educational biography about natural learning:

     "It is amazing how much school we do in everyday life. You wouldn't notice if you hadn't been un-schooled, but every time we buy something, sell something, check the time, or do anything as simple as figuring out how many hours are left in the day, we are doing math. Every time we read something, be it a sign, a newspaper, a book, or a poem, and every time we write something, from our name to a novel, we are doing English. Standing in nature, observing wildlife, standing on the beach and watching the tide, feeling the wind in our hair, that's all science. I could take my dog for a walk and that would be PE, I could listen to the old men in my neighborhood talk about the pool hall in 1919 that they cleaned as kids for their first jobs, and that would be history. The point I am trying to make now, and the one my mom and I tried to prove years ago, is that there is a difference between being taught something, and learning something. That difference, no matter how small, was the thing that kept me apart from those with the ability to learn in the classic school setting."