Everything Voluntary – Unschooling Resources

Table of Contents
Previous – Section Four – Chapter 23 – Grown Without Schooling by Jason Hunt

Unschooling Resources
Books

How Children Learn, by John Holt
“This enduring classic of educational thought offers teachers and par-ents deep, original insight into the nature of early learning. John Holt was the first to make clear that, for small children, ‘learning is as natural as breathing.’ In this delightful yet profound book, he looks at how we learn to talk, to read, to count, and to reason, and how we can nurture and en-courage these natural abilities in our children.” (Amazon.com)

The Unschooling Handbook, by Mary Griffith
“Did you know that a growing percentage of home schoolers are be-coming unschoolers? The unschooling movement is founded on the prin-ciple that children learn best when they pursue their own natural curios-ities and interests. Without bells, schedules, and rules about what to do and when, the knowledge they gain through mindful living and exploration is absorbed more easily and enthusiastically. Learning is a natural, inborn impulse, and the world is rich with lessons to be learned and puzzles to be solved. Successful unschooling parents know how to stimulate and direct their children’s learning impulse. Once you read this book, so will you!” (Amazon.com)

Life Learning, edited by Wendy Priesnitz
“Academics, parents and young people describe why non-compulsory, non-coercive, active, respectful, interest-led, family- and community-based learning from life is growing in popularity and will displace prescribed cur-riculum, standardized testing and the other regurgitation-based relics of our outmoded school system. This innovative way of learning through liv-ing not only fosters intellectual development and academic achievement, it allows children and young people to develop an understanding of them-selves and their place in modern society so they can create a better world.” (NaturalLifeBooks.com)

Weapons of Mass Instruction, by John Taylor Gatto
“John Taylor Gatto’s Weapons of Mass Instruction focuses on mechan-isms of traditional education that cripple imagination, discourage critical thinking, and create a false view of learning as a byproduct of rote-memor-ization drills. Gatto demonstrates that the harm school inflicts is rational and deliberate. The real function of pedagogy, he argues, is to render the common population manageable. To that end, young people must be con-ditioned to rely upon experts, to remain divided from natural alliances, and to accept disconnections from their own lived experiences. They must at all costs be discouraged from developing self-reliance and independence. Es-caping this trap requires strategy that Gatto calls ‘open source learning’ which imposes no artificial divisions between learning and life. Through this alternative approach, our children can avoid being indoctrinated – only then can they achieve self-knowledge, judgment, and courage.” (Amazon.com)

Education: Free & Compulsory, by Murray Rothbard
“In this radical and scholarly monograph, Murray N. Rothbard identifies the crucial feature of our educational system that dooms it to fail: at every level, from financing to attendance, the system relies on com-pulsion instead of voluntary consent. Certain consequences follow. The curriculum is politicized to reflect the ideological priorities of the regime in power. Standards are continually dumbed down to accommodate the least common denominator. The brightest children are not permitted to achieve their potential, the special-needs of individual children are neglected, and the mid-level learners become little more than cogs in a machine. The teachers themselves are hamstrung by a political apparatus that watches their every move. Rothbard explores the history of compulsory schooling to show that none of this is by accident. The state has long used compulsory schooling, backed by egalitarian ideology, as a means of citizen control. An interesting feature of this book is its promotion of individual, or home, schooling, long before the current popularity of the practice.” (Amazon.com)

Parenting a Free Child, by Rue Kream
“How do the principles of unschooling apply to television viewing, toothbrushing, and chores? How can we develop respectful relationships with our children? How do unschooled children learn to read? Parenting A Free Child addresses these issues and more in an easily accessible question and answer format.” (Amazon.com)

The Unschooling Unmanual, edited by Jan & Jason Hunt
This books features 11 essays by 8 writers on living and learning naturally, lovingly, and respectfully.

Websites

SandraDodd.com is home to one of the most influential unschoolers in the world, Sandra Dodd. Her website is a large, and growing, collection of unschooling and parenting wisdom from decades of experience, both her own and others. From the site, “Learning for fun is the most fun way to learn, and to live. I have gathered much and written some to inspire you to revel in your own learning, in your children’s learning, and in your friends’ curiosity and happiness in the face of a world of information!”

LifeLearningMagazine.com will “help you discover how to employ self-directed, life-based learning in your own life and/or that of your child. Read all about how other people just like you and your children have learned without being taught… what helps and what hinders, and what they have achieved in their lives as a result. Laugh, cry and identify with parents who are helping themselves and their children learn from the real world… and learning a lot about themselves along the way. Think about how we are limited by a society that believes in coercive education… and how we can transcend those limits in our daily lives. Find support and reassurance for interest-based, learner-directed education (for all ages) and non-coercive, natural parenting.”

Unschoolers.com is a “a website dedicated to providing detailed and helpful information on everything related to unschooling and home-schooling. You’ll find local support group listings, news, articles, book re-commendations, and links.”

Radical Unschooling Info is a Facebook group dedicated to supporting unschoolers throughout their journey. With over a thousand members, unschoolers new and old help each other navigate the wonderful world of unschooling and peaceful parenting. Found at http://www.facebook.com/groups/303347574750.

Next – Section Five – Chapter 24 – “Natural Born Bullies” by Robin Grille

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