"Unschooling": Good term, or bad?

Many, many unschoolers have expressed their dislike of the word "unschooling". They say it's too negative, or that it's still using school to define their learning journey. Many unschoolers also say that they prefer to describe unschooling in a positive way to people, explaining what they do instead of what they don't do. However, I've found that if you explain unschooling only in the positive, the average person will simply assume that you do all those things in addition to regular "schooling", not instead of. I find it much more useful to first take away the preconceptions about learning, to say, for example, that I direct my own education, which means I don't go to school, I don't use a curriculum, I don't take tests or get given grades, and my mom (or dad) doesn't teach me. Then to go on and explain what you actually do! I learn from life, from books and the internet, from fascinating conversations with fascinating people, from following my passions, from thinking deeply about the world around me, researching, reading, discussing... Which brings me back to why I happily use the word unschooling. Labels are really only to inform other people about how you live, what you think, how you feel. UNschooling says that you're NOT schooling. To me, that's a very good first step in explaining exactly what you are doing!

Peace,
Idzie