A Day in the Life of an Unschooled 11-Year-Old Something Beautiful for the World

So we're going to the Sunday market and we're going to take these rabbit skins here. We're going to do some trading. The skins came from a local farm, Yandalt Farm, and me and Dad went and hunted the rabbits here. This one here is the hare, so that's quite a big one. How many would you like? Well done. Thanks so much. So I'm Blackwood, but everyone calls me Woody. I probably refer to Woody too. I'm 11. I'll do this one here. You like the wormwood, don't you? So this is Blackwood, and this is wormwood. Yeah, it's for worming. So, yeah, it's really good for their tummies. I'm setting the fire for, probably light it at Bush School tomorrow. So we usually have our check-in here and then go and play some games. Or we go to... We've got a place called The Village. It's a chance for homeschool kids to get together. We do, like, lots of fun games. It's another chance to play with other kids around my age group that ages from 8 to 13. I'm homeschooled, but I do have a teacher. I have a class twice a week with him, so, and the rest of the week, I just do basically similar things to what I'm doing today. I don't decide what to learn. I just discover things. If I'm interested in something, Mum and Dad will call up a friend that I know who does leatherwork or metal. Like, same with, like... I was interested in blacksmithing, and the same guy who actually did the leatherwork, I went and did blacksmithing with him. Mum and Dad have always given me the option whether I wanted to have lessons. I decided I wanted to, like, learn how to read and write when I was nine, and I've been having two lessons a week since then. Usually you don't see many on the outside, but as soon as you look under, there are heaps of them. Oh, wow, look, that's a massive one. Look at that. This is my lunch. This is, like, my favourite lunch. So this is cucumber, and these are snow peas, and cherries, apricots. Can you drop that down? Careful not to get tennis in. Ow, crap, I've got to not drop it on Daddy. The goats and sheep are in here. The goats aren't in at the moment, but the sheep are, as you can see down there. Bleh! My chainsaw. I'm going to grab one of the drills. When I was nine, I learnt how to use the chainsaw. Dad and Mum initially said when I was ten I could get one, but because I proved to them that I was capable to use one, I got one when I was nine. You always go, like, cut the bit of wood, like that, cut through that, and then as soon as you've finished, put the brake on. So that's a safety feature. When I was younger, I always really liked watching Dad using it, and I was always paying attention to how he was using it safely. A lot of rocks around here. You want to dig that through? Yep. So put some of this in? Maybe with what's loose. Oh, yeah. Oh, that's great. Oh, yeah, that's perfect. Yeah, so what we're hoping to do with this tree, it's an Aussage Orange. So they're really good for bow making. So in maybe 15 to 20 years, we'll be able to make bow and arrows out of it. So me and Dad go and get these barrels from our local tip. They usually give it to us for either 40 or, like, 50 cents each, and we get the star pickets. Like, we get two for, like, a dollar, two barrels, and that makes such good tree guards. We make a bow each? Yeah. Can this be yours, the yellow one? Yeah, the yellow one's mine. I'll take the other one. The white one. Well, maybe we'll get two bows out of the same tree. Yeah, maybe. Do you think we'll need to come back and prune them up so they grow nice and straight? Yeah, because otherwise they'll go all wonky. I help Dad with the goats and the sheep, and they do, and the goats and the sheep do, bushfire mitigation. We don't own any farmland. We put the animals on, like, this is public land and neighbours' land. Put that one in. So last week, me and Dad went to the tip and got the star pickets and then put the netting up, some old tree netting, and then put the wickets there, so it's fun. I can come here every day and bow. I'm making chopping boards. This is probably quite a small one, but most of the ones I make are about, like, that kind of size or that kind of size. So once I've got a finished board, I take it to our friends who have got an online website. They sell bread at our local Sunday market, but they've got a website online. I started selling kindling at the market and then saved up for a whippersnapper and then did our neighbours', like, edges with my whippersnapper, and then I got, with that, I saved up for a chainsaw, and then I did, with the firewood money from that, I saved up for a mower, my mower. With the money from that, I saved up for this. Yeah, can you please take some things to Bob? Yeah, sure. Got some raspberries and yoghurt. Very kind of you guys again. Thanks, mate. Just hang on. I've got to get something for you. Oh, thank you. Oh, wow. No worries. Thank you so much. You're welcome. Do you want to read it to me? Oh, sure. Today, Jordan came over and he filmed me going to the market, picking raspberries, going to the quarry, playing cricket and moving the sheep. Excellent.