I was home schooled or unschooled on and off through sixth grade, then completely unschooled after that. My parents at one time or another had me enrolled in j

I was home schooled or unschooled on and off through sixth grade, then completely unschooled after that. My parents at one time or another had me enrolled in just about every structured education scheme you can imagine, from reputable urban public school to shitty urban public school to expensive Catholic school to quaint small-town school to rural one-room schoolhouse to formalized home-school curriculum. I found them all stifling, boring, and wasteful of my time. Unschooling, on the other hand, was very liberating. I got to study whatever I wanted, however I wanted. I dabbled in chemistry, electronics, literature, even carpentry. Once we got our first computer when I was 13, I dove into computing and programming utterly. It worked out wonderfully for me. I had a paying job as a programmer when I was 15, and haven't looked back. I was always introverted, so school was not a positive socializing experience for me; in fact it was quite the opposite. Despite concerns to the contrary, I've socialized myself over time through professional and personal relationships with co-workers and friends. The most appealing outcome of my unschooling experience is the autodidactic learning style it reinforced. This comes in very handy as a software engineer, where the ability to independently pick up a new language, tool, technology, or architecture quickly and completely is a real asset. I am the oldest of five children. All of us were homeschooled to some extent, with the proportion of homeschooling to structured education declining from oldest to youngest. We are all fairly bright, but the difference between those of us with more homeschooling and those with less is striking. The home schoolers are more eloquent, more insightful, more responsible, more disciplined, and more politically active (although not politically homogeneous, which makes for tumultuous dinner conversation at family get-togethers). There is no doubt in my mind that unschooling had a massively positive net impact on my life, and would encourage any parents able to make the necessary time commitment to try it as well.