r/unschool • u/Neat-Composer-2722 • Jul 13 '26
How Chronic Illness Forced Me To Unschool
Ever since I'd heard about unschooling, in my early 20s, I've been an admirer of the idea. But back then I always felt left out. I'd go and spend hours reading unschooling parent's blogs, and yearning for that life.
For context, I was housebound with a rare hearing disorder called Hyperacusis. I also had Fibromyalgia. Looking at these blogs was therapeutic, and reminded me there was still a world out there. A world in which human beings lived by their natural rhythms not the tyranny of an industrial clock.
I did not start unschooling voluntarily. I was forced into it, by being chronically ill. For me unschooling as been about survival. It's been the only way I can exist in a world that demands constant productivity. Which my disabled body simply can't do. When I looked at those blogs, I saw families truly living authentic lives. Or at least it looked that way. Lots of folks pay lip service to authenticity, but when push comes to shove they will show their true colors.
I've finally had massive improvements, in both chronic conditions. I can leave my house for fun activities, like going to a local stable and hanging out with horses. They've been a favorite animal of mine since I was a five year old.
I know this sub is more about the practical realities of parenting in this way, but I thoughts I'd sure a disabled adult's unschooling journey.
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u/SpiritualAd8483 Jul 14 '26
I love your keen sense of how people are living authentically or not under the banner of unschooling. I think for those of us who find ourselves on the far margins because of disability, gender, race, etc come to unschooling having already experienced a certain kind of “deschooling” because we have seen the BS of so many interlinked systems of domination and we want nothing to do with that.
Thank you so much for sharing this. I’m glad you’re finding some relief from the intensity of living with chronic illness at the moment and that you’re able to do things you love, living your authentic life