Based on current data, I think it is very likely that my daughter Maya will grow up to be an entrepreneur/business owner of some sort.   What form this will take is anybody’s guess at this point, but she has so much of Joshua’s knack and interest in business that I can’t see her spending much time working for someone else, except as a stepping stone.

As for Ben?  At this point he thinks working as a Lego designer might be fun, and I think whatever he winds up doing it will be spatially creative, if you get my meaning.

Of course I would love it if my kids became super entrepreneurs, following their passions and changing the world.

But what if their goals turn out to be kind of…well, normal?

It’s almost difficult to think about, because as parents all we can see is the amazing potential in our children (and every single one of them have it).    In addition,  I read a great blog post from 20 year old life learner Idzie Desmarais, who wrote that unschoolers come are held to a higher standard than their schooled peers.  Any faults they might have are due entirely to the fact that they are/were unschooled, and any assets are a fluke of their personality, whereas for their schooled counterparts it is exactly the opposite;  their achievements are due exclusively to the wonderful schools they attended and education they received, and any faults are theirs alone and never the fault of their schooling.

This is so accurate.  I can imagine that if my kids decided that they would be  happy spending their lives working at, say, Starbucks and pursuing their hobbies with passion in their free time, everyone would say (in loud stage whispers, of course)  “Well you know, they were unschooled,” as though their normalcy was a fault.    Never mind that 3/4 of the people working at Starbucks have college degrees.   Somehow their employment serving coffee is seen as not their fault.    Nonsensical, but there it is.

If, on the other hand, Maya & Ben grow up to be wildly successful financially, I can imagine the fact that they never went to school being downplayed;  they are clearly just extraordinary people.  In fact I already have people say this to me – even other homeschoolers!  “Well, your kids are different and that’s why you can unschool.”  I’m here to tell you that they are not.

This again brings me back to the real question, which I’ve touched on in the past, and which is what do we really want for our children?  Do we want them to be the kind of people who do well on tests?   Who ‘school’ well?   Or do we want them to be happy and engaged in their lives, no matter how it might manifest?

You already know the answer.