Schooling & The Many Forms Of Learning: Bringing Kids into the Conversation with Lily Oberdorfer

As a mother of three very unique adult children, I have been inspired by John Holts Unschooling philosophy. As a parent, I sought to encourage child-led learning. Witnessing the burgeoning of my children’s soul tasks and observing each of them flourish as happy, independent adults has been an inspiring process. My approach has always surrounded the concept of tracking…tracking myself, my partner, and each of my children in order to support emerging ideas that reshape our lives and futures. I invited my youngest daughter, Lily, to bring her unique adventure in learning and schooling into this conversation. She has graciously accepted…

Lily has been involved in unschooling, homeschooling, charter programs (local and remote), and standard public school. She created her own curriculum, used pro and con lists for making important decisions (such as attending high school or community college), and completed her bachelor’s degree in 1.5 years. When she was accepted to UCLA for undergraduate studies, she was honored but chose to track what was most important to her: attending a much smaller, private university. This eventually led to her decision to attend a prestigious Medieval History MA/Ph.D. program in St Louis, MO with a full-tuition remission scholarship and teaching assistantship stipend. While studying in St. Louis, Lily found, purchased, and renovated a rowhouse. After earning her master’s degree with distinction, Lily returned to California to begin a 3-year MFT-track counseling psychology graduate program where her previous research on the origins of punitive confinement merged with her interest in forensic psychology. She recently graduated with a master’s in counseling psychology after completing an intensive clinical internship at Santa Clara County Juvenile Hall. As Lily writes, “My educational path has not been linear; however, an unwavering theme has been my commitment to social justice.”