I had a friend email me recently asking about how we homeschool our kids. Long story short, well, short story short, we don’t. We unschool, and there’s a world of difference between the two. I sent him this in response: Here’s what you and your wife need to do: Step 1: Read this page under…
Category: Unschooling
Natural-born Scientists
The Child-Driven Education
Guest post by Sugata Mitra.
The Anti-Educational Effects of Public Schools
Guest post by Gennady Stolyarov II. With so many state governments’ budgets now under severe strain, there are serious discussions throughout the country about whether or not to cut state funding to public education — an expenditure that, in some states, consumes more than half the budget. Unfortunately, because of extensive resistance by teachers’ unions…
Seven Sins of Our System of Forced Education
Guest post by Peter Gray. The question worth debating is this: Is forced education–and the consequential imprisonment of children–a good thing or a bad thing? Most people seem to believe that it is, all in all, a good thing; but I think that it is, all in all, a bad thing. I outline here some…
Advice for Our Children, Circa 2012
Guest post by Karen Kwiatkowski. If liberty is the natural orientation of mankind, then we can trust that our children and grandchildren will turn to that light, seek the warmth of freedom, and always resent their chains. I hope our children will innately remember liberty, and somehow understand that it is indeed their birthright.Read the…
Can a Single Parent Unschool?
Guest post by Jan Hunt. These days, many parents find themselves alone, whether by choice or by circumstances. Many of these parents assume that unschooling is not an option for them, but like many other assumptions, this can be self-fulfilling. Happily, unschooling in single parent families is easier now than it has ever been. With…
Living an Unschooling Life
Guest post by Pam Sorooshian. Unschooling is both easy and difficult to describe. The easy answer is that unschooling means “not schooling,” but it is a lot harder to explain what we do instead of schooling. Unschooling means not depending on the usual school methods. It means no lesson plans, no curriculum, no assignments, no…
Freedom or Control
Guest post by Wendy Priesnitz. Life learners trust kids to learn. We believe that learning is innate and doesn’t require teaching, texts or tests. We know that children are not blank slates or raw clay, to be written on or molded into shape by adults. We allow kids to learn by living. And our trust…
What is Unschooling?
Guest post by Nicole Olson. Asking, “What is unschooling?” is a little bit like asking, “What is love?” or “What is happiness?”. It means different things to different people. But within its broad framework, there are some fairly consistent themes and basic beliefs that most unschoolers embrace.What is unschooling… Belief #1: Children are hard-wired to…