Send him mail. “One Improved Unit” is an original column appearing sporadically on 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. In my last column of this series, I shared my family culture and its evolution over the last two years.…
Tag: unschooling
Why Choice is Key in Learning Life Skills
Editor’s Pick. Written by Pam Laricchia. The unschooling lifestyle in support of learning life skills is a wonderful dance of everyday living, relationships, and choice: The usefulness of these life skills shows up in the everyday living—eating, sleeping, taking care of our bodies, taking care of our stuff, maintaining our environment etc. We live with…
To Embrace the Positive, it’s Helpful to Know the Negative
Send her mail. “Love Perspective” is an original column appearing every other Thursday at Everything-Voluntary.com, by Serenity. Serenity is the mother of 4 boys and both a recovering mainstream parent and statist. She seeks to share what she has learned along her journey to voluntaryism, radical unschooling, and living a counter-culture lifestyle. Archived columns can…
The Worry That Your Unschooler Isn’t Learning What He Should Be Learning
Editor’s Pick. Written by Leo Babauta. It seems that many parents here in the U.S. (and very possibly in other countries) are worried about how much their child is learning by a certain age. Does my kid know everything that a 2nd grader should know? Is my kid learning as fast as other 3-year-olds? Does…
Adding Up All the Little Things
Editor’s Pick. Written by Hilinda. All curriculum still has two things in common. One is that life is separated into subjects at all, and the other is that there is an order in which things are taught that is decided on by someone other than the person doing the learning. So how does the person…
My Family Culture
Send him mail. “One Improved Unit” is an original column appearing sporadically on 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. I read recently that, “If you change the culture, you change the people.” At first that seemed backwards. Don’t we…
Unschooling and Free Schools
Editor’s Pick. Written by Marike Reid-Gaudet. I’m interested in unschooling because it’s an applied philosophy rather than a teaching method. This philosophy, which I strive to use daily with my son, who is now 16 years old, is also the one used in free schools. For me, this approach to life and to children’s’ development…
Finding Joy
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…
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…
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?…