I was born and then handed to a nursery. My parents had bills to chase, like their parents before them.
I was sent to kindergarten. My parents' lives were a constant race, stealing moments of affection between meetings and deadlines.
Then came Primary school, with soccer games on weekends. My parents' faces showed the strain of endless demands. I learned to measure success by test scores and homework completion, while my natural curiosity slowly dimmed.
Secondary school brought bullies, while adults turned blind eyes to my pain. "Kids will be kids," they said, too busy with paperwork and protocols to notice the darkness growing in young hearts. I watched creativity die in fluorescent-lit classrooms.
College and University weren't hell, but my youth slipped away working double shifts to stay afloat. Midnight studying after serving tables, dawn shifts stocking shelves before lectures. We were all just running on a treadmill built by someone else.
I found love, married, and glimpsed happiness, but the grind of bills never ceased. We built our life on credit cards and overtime, promising each other that next year would be different. Next year, we'd have more time.
We had kids and started seeing the cycle through new eyes. We went to kindergarten registration day and we ...
I refused to let this cycle survive.
This isn't education - it's conformity. It's crushing spirits in the name of curriculum. It's turning vibrant, curious children into stressed, disengaged students who learn to chase grades instead of knowledge.
That's when I discovered unschooling. The radical truth that children are natural learners. That education doesn't need walls or bells or standardized tests. That learning through living, through curiosity, through real-world experiences isn't just valid - it's optimal.
The cycle breaks now. We're choosing unschooling because we refuse to sacrifice our children's natural joy of discovery on the altar of standardized education.
Because if we don't show our children a different way to learn and grow, how will they ever know it's possible?
