As my family has traveled the country and met or stayed with other voluntaryists and unschoolers, I can’t help but notice certain general customs among people and families of this kind. Without putting anybody in a box or limiting how it is expressed or experienced, here is the voluntaryist ethnicity as I’ve seen it.
Tag: family
Why Unschoolers Grow Up to Be Entrepreneurs
Almost by definition, entrepreneurs are creative thinkers and experimental doers. They reject the status quo and devise new approaches and better inventions. They are risk-takers and dreamers, valuing ingenuity over convention. They get things done. It shouldn’t be surprising to learn that many unschoolers become entrepreneurs.
Shooting Range Reflections on Guns and Firearm Skills
I grew up hunting and shooting guns often with my family, but (besides a spring skeet shoot) it’s been a while since I’ve done a lot of training with firearms. The weekend before last I visited a shooting range with friends and had the welcome privilege of getting some practice in after a hiatus.
“Progressives” Against (Economic) Progress
Most opponents of the sharing economy, the gig economy, the cryptocurrency economy, etc., posture as “progressives” even as they openly side with corporate dinosaurs and parasitic bureaucrats and against workers and the entrepreneurs who empower those workers. Let’s call these self-styled “progressives” what they really are: Reactionaries.
A “Red Flag” for Your Rights; Yes, They’re Coming for Your Guns
The latest scheme from the gun grabbers is called “red flag” laws and, unlike most their other schemes, even nominally conservative pundits and publications are getting on board with this attempt to disarm certain people. That’s the trick, you see, the classic divide-and-conquer strategy that has worked in so many other cases. They don’t want to take away your guns, oh no, they just want to take away that guy’s guns. He’s kind of weird, anyway, right?
German Police Are Cracking Down on Family Vacations from School – Is American Policy Very Different?
With Memorial Day Weekend here, many Americans have hit the road early to avoid traffic to their favorite holiday destinations, or catch a Thursday flight to make a weekend stay at Grandma’s less rushed. For some German families, who celebrated a three-day weekend last week, taking their kids out of school to get a jumpstart on the holiday ended with police airport interrogations and looming fines.
The Trouble with Abundance
Humans aren’t evolved to have or handle abundance. Our nature has a very hard time dealing with abundance. Our abilities, desires, motivations, tools, and everything about us were forged in an evolutionary history of extreme scarcity. What we are evolved for is the journey of survival in the face of scarcity, not the destination of contentment in the face of abundance.
Self-Discipline is Lame
My transition from pleasure seeker and work avoidance into a hardworking businessman did not go through an era of self-discipline. What changed was the systems I was in, and the values that I held. Any concept of excellence that I strive for today is rooted deeply in the escape from my parenting and schooling and a development and understanding of the values I hold today.
Don’t Let Loved Ones Become Cops
They may have been a good person before they became a cop, but they can’t be good once they are a cop. A cop in the family is nothing to be proud of– almost anything else (including a crackhead or a $5 hooker) is better.
Unschooling is not ‘Lord of the Flies’
In the book, the absence of adults to model and nurture responsibility is palpably felt. Adults matter to children. They guide, protect, tend, reassure, and mediate. The lack of calm, care, and stability that adults offer children is what ultimately triggers the boys’ downfall. Of course, the great lesson from this great book is that it isn’t just children who would descend into brutality when calm, care, and stability are missing; it’s all of us.