Editor’s Pick. Written by Pam Laricchia. First, what do I mean by the word joy? Certainly it means happiness, pleasure. Most people can find happiness in response to good things that happen to them or around them. Yet when disappointing things happen, they are thrown into despair. It’s tough to be at the mercy of…
Tag: schooling
The Next School
Send him mail. “Insight for the Young and Unrestrained” is an original column appearing every Thursday at Everything-Voluntary.com, by Gregory V. Diehl. Gregory is a writer, musician, educator, and coach for young people at EnabledYouth.com. Archived columns can be found here. IYU-only RSS feed available here. Education is the process through which an individual mind…
Mindfulness and Unschooling
Editor’s Pick. Written by Pam Laricchia. I love the variety of words that express the concept of being mindful: observant, aware, attentive, conscientious, careful, cognizant, considerate, present, respectful, thoughtful, sensible. Living mindfully is another skill that I picked up as I played with creating a solid unschooling environment in our home. Being mindful walks hand-in-hand…
Foreseen Consequences, Politics, Music
Send him mail. “Finding the Challenges” is an original column appearing every other Wednesday at Everything-Voluntary.com, by Verbal Vol. Verbal is a software engineer, college professor, corporate information officer, life long student, farmer, libertarian, literarian, student of computer science and self-ordering phenomena. Archived columns can be found here. FTC-only RSS feed available here. Today, I…
Guiding My Children Responsibly Without Imposing Rules
Editor’s Pick. Written by Sue Elvis. We don’t make rules in our family, so how do my children know what is right and what is wrong, if they aren’t guided by clearly stated limits? Do I believe my own quiet example of appropriate behaviour is all that is needed in order to influence my children?…
How Interest Led Learning Works
Editor’s Pick. Written by Amy Milstein. The more I learn about learning, the less I understand why many educators believe all kids need to learn the same subjects at the same age and in more or less the same fashion. That’s not how true learning works. But, the critics say, if you let kids just…
Making Children Learn What They Don’t Want to Learn
Editor’s Pick. Written by Sue Elvis. My children follow their own interests when it comes to learning. This sounds rather indulgent, doesn’t it? Why should I let them direct their own learning? Hey, they’re only kids. How do they know what they need to know? I stop and think about these questions for a moment,…
My Shifting Vistas
Send him mail. “One Improved Unit” is an original bi-weekly column appearing every other Monday at Everything-Voluntary.com, by the founder and editor Skyler J. Collins. Archived columns can be found here. OIU-only RSS feed available here. One’s worldview as it concerns the political landscape shapes one’s angle of skepticism. Claims by governments and political leaders…
Our Own Measures of Success
Editor’s Pick. Written by Christopher Rowley. I have recently heard a similar sentiment across the various unschooling communities that I am privileged to have access to. The boiled down version of this sentiment seems to center on confusion concerning ideas related to goals and measureable successes. If I phrase the thoughts I have heard in…
Unschooling Isn’t All About the Kids
Send her mail. “Living with Wild Abandon” is an original bi-weekly column appearing every other Tuesday at Everything-Voluntary.com, by Breezy V. Stevens. Breezy is a long-time radical unschooler, an advocate for children’s rights, a crazy dog lady, a crafter in various mediums, a lover of all things tropical and beachy, and the designer of “EVC…