A Day in the Life of an Unschooling Teenager: Miles Brack

15 October 2016

From the outside, my day looks like this:

I wake up somewhere between 11 am and 1 pm

Play video games till about midnight.

And go to bed.

Very basic and boring to write about.

However on the inside:

This morning I woke in my bivouac which I built in the backyard, in order to test out my new folding bed which is going into my Andersen Shelter I am digging on our block of land.

The temperature was between 0 and 5 degrees Celsius which added a little spice to the adventure.

I lay in bed surrounded by two jerry cans I discovered at the recycling centre and resprayed, imagining I was in the Home Guard during World War 2.

At 5:30 am, after a surprisingly comfortable but short sleep (3 1/2 hrs!), I returned to the 21st century and the work of Slow Mo Guys filming glass shattering at 324,000 fps.

Porridge for breakfast called me indoors and I snuggled into my other bed to eat it with more Slow Mo Guys entertainment.

Returning to my favourite era of the 1940’s, I jumped on the computer to play Heroes and Generals enjoying the in-depth environment of the frontline. Including installing a new weapons pack on the back of my SdKfz (a 1944 half track German motorbike).

After lunch, I mostly watched Youtube videos of funny moments in Heroes and Generals.

Then I got bored and decided to conduct some experiments in my fish tank. ( It’s alright, there are absolutely 100% no fish involved.) I bought the fish tank last week at The Green Shed.

Various experiments were conducted with food colouring, cut in half plastic bottles, and tissues, studying flotation, water pressure, surface tension, vortexes, bleeding, filtration and oil leaks.

Mum videoed some of this for our vlog Natural Medley on youtube. (subtle plug!)

Various housework took place and writing of this article.

Now I’m off to have more porridge before going to bed in the am. Couldn’t do that at school…


About Miles Brack:

Miles Brack is a 14 yr old historian who enjoys the recreation of historic actions especially the eras of the World Wars. He also likes tennis, his dog Winter, and is looking forward to getting a boat licence.

 


Jazzy Jack and the Bracks blog at Natural Medley. Please visit!

 


I’d like to thank Miles for sharing his unschooling day with us. If you’d also like to guest post  on my blog, please contact me here.

And please leave a comment for Miles. Didn’t he write a great article?Image of Jerrycan: By Arche-foto, Burkhart Rüchel (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

11 Comments Leave a Reply

  1. I love the contrast between the outside and inside perspectives on your day, Miles. What an interesting way to experience history (you're very tough sleeping outside in those temperatures!). A fish tank sounds like a useful piece of equipment to have around when you like experimenting – I might look into getting one. Thank you for sharing your day with us.

    • Thank you for your kind words. As a matter of fact im trying out the bivouac again in SUMMER. Its bigger and better than the last one and ill be doing it in full ww2 uniform. Cant wait to try it out. My fish tank is going well, much more science has happened in it including the density of sand (which is going to be really hard to clean out)
      Best regards: miles.

  2. Thank you for showing my life on your blog. Sometimes it is quite tough to get people to understand that unschooling isnt just sitting at home all day. This post will just add a little bit more knowledge to the rest of the world.
    Sincerely: ( i cant put a hand written signature on here) miles

    • Miles,

      It was a pleasure posting your story on my blog. Thank you for letting me do this. I enjoyed reading about your day very much. You have a wonderfully engaging style of writing. I'm sure many people enjoyed your post as much as I did. It received a number of 'likes' and 'loves' on Facebook and I know it has been pinned a few times too.

      Yes, unschooling certainly isn't just sitting at home all day. Lots of people do have the wrong idea. Posts like yours are very important. They give the true picture. I hope you will consider writing more guest posts in the future. If you ever have something you'd like to share with my readers, please let me know.

      Thank you for stopping by! Sue

  3. Thank you for sharing! I learned A LOT about unschooling. It is just my cup of tea – I would be a great unschooler myself, though there was no such a thing when I was a kid growing up in the USSR. I think unschooling means learning how to be a leader of your own life. I am unschooling myself now. 🙂

    Much love to you and your lovely Mum and family!

    • Natalia,

      Thank you for visiting my blog and leaving a kind comment for Miles.

      “I think unschooling means learning how to be a leader of your own life.” Oh yes! You are definitely an unschooler!

  4. It’s great to be to see how unschooling works through the prospective of the students. I gives me confidence I’m doing the right thing. I am going to check into the Heros and General game. My oldest is also a fan of the World Wars.

  5. Being a teen is hard enough, being a teen in school is even worse….but it doesn’t have to be. Many unschooling teens feel a sense of liberation and freedom when getting to decide what their education looks like and following their interests. I work with a team that aims at providing resources to teen unschoolers and families of teen unschoolers. https://peerunschooling.net/

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