Too Emotional, Sensitive and Volatile for School

I admit it. I have been lazy when it comes to blogging as of late. I haven't felt inspired or maybe everything is going so smoothly that I have nothing to write about.  I wholeheartedly believe in unschooling. Why wouldn't I? It has worked beautifully for my nine year old...he is the poster boy for a successful unschooled kid.  He went from being a moody behavioral problem in school to being recognized as a prodigy only months after dropping out of school at the tender age of 8.  So, why is it that now with my younger boy am I questioning whether radical unschooling is right for him?  He is a handful.  As he should be.  

He has a strong sense of his own purpose and is not afraid to be who he is which is a combination of pure delight and demanding little manipulator.

I have had people recognize that there is no way we could send S to school.   He is so sensitive, emotional and volatile.  There is no telling what he would do. I would not put it past him to tell his teacher to go f%*k herself if she looked at him unsympathetically let alone asked him to do something that he didn't want to do. I would be sending him to the destination of conformity but at what expense?  Sure, he may be more palatable socially but what would happen to his creativity and individuality?

He is so connected to human emotion that there are no small slights...everything is a big deal.  Everything is the end of the world.  He is an emotional roller coaster and he is taking us all along for the ride. He is also a five year old boy. What do five year old boys need?  To move, to be loud, to be adventurous, to play, to imagine, to create.  In the land of conformity and obedience (otherwise known as school) he would likely get in trouble for experiencing his world in an authentic manner that is beneficial to his social, emotional and psychological growth.

The second guessing was coming back to me with this kid.  He was always young enough that I didn't have to send him to school prior to this age and though in my neck of the woods it is strange not to send your kid to preschool, it certainly was acceptable.  There were many reasons not to send him to preschool and I am glad I didn't. We also don't go to camp or do many organized activities anymore.  It just doesn't work for our family.  My kids are just so very different in their needs and desires that it always ends up being a waste of time and money enrolling them in anything.

So, I am back to not worrying...sort of.  S shows his giftedness in very different ways and many of them are not in traditional scholastic ways.  He is every bit the STEM kid like L but the environment and technology are different than just five years ago.  I witness S learning so much from iPad apps that it makes me wonder if that is just the ways my kids are wired to learn--through technology.  I had been trained earlier to believe that TV, technology and video games were bad for children and should not just be limited but should be completely lacking.  I have not espoused this belief for almost two years now.  In fact, I may be one of few moms who actually encourage more video games, tech and even TV/movies.    I see tremendous value in media and my kids are quite adept at self regulating in terms of mature media or just too much media.

Our journey unschooling has been ideal for L...we shall see how our lack of structure and curriculum works for S whose motivation and focus are very different.  I know each child develops at their own pace and having just turned five, there is certainly no race to the finish line.