The Innovative Educator’s Guide to Getting Started with Unschooling

I was introduced to the idea of unschooling by grown unschooler and writer Kate Fridkis who contacted me about submitting a guest post on my blog.  Before that, I had never heard the term. 


It wasn’t long before my fascination with unschooling became an obsession.  Learning without school? People did this? How’d they turn out? What did they do all day? How did they learn stuff?  Didn’t they need school to learn? If they didn’t learn things in the order and way schools said they should, how would they be prepared for life or college?

I had to know more! I bought book books, read blogs, joined discussion groups, went to meetings, listened to podcasts, and started writing about what I was learning. To date, I have written more than 70 unschooling articles which you can read at this link. 


What was most fascinating to me is that learning without school shattered every myth I’d been told was true about school. In fact I learned that you could learn to read without school, write without school, and ultimately pursue any interest imaginable all without school.  As I researched and studied what happened to grown unschoolers I found that these individuals had very desirable characteristics in common that schooled children often did not have the opportunity to gain.  For instance, they seemed to have a more clear sense of their passions and seemed happy and satisfied with their life path.  They also knew if they didn’t know something, it wasn’t a big deal.  They could figure out how to learn anything.  



If unschooling is something you or someone you know would like to know more about, I share below some of the resources I used on my learning journey.  

An overview of unschooling
Idzie Desmarais gives a comprehensive overview of unschooling in her blog http://yes-i-can-write.blogspot.com/p/new-to-this-blog-new-to-unschooling.html

Grown unschooler’s blog
Kate Fridkis Berring, the person who got me excited about unschooling and introduced me to the idea that people can learn without school is a grown unschooler and has a terrific blog on the topic called Skipping School which can be found at http://un-schooled.net.

Teen unschooler’s blog

Brycen R. R. Couture is an unschooled teen who is a child advocate / activist pursuing his passion of being a heavy metal rock star.You can like his page on Facebook here.  His blog, which you can visit at http://brycenrrcouture.blogspot.com, provides a teen’s insight into life without school.

Blogs from unschooling parents
Many unschoolers are blogging about their lives. Reading these blogs is a great way to learn about unschooling.  I have collected a compilation of several blogs here.  Find the ones you relate to and you’ll learn a lot from these families.  Some of my favorites not mentioned in other categories here include the following:

• Demand Euphoria: This unschooling mom unhappy with the current state of education, shares why that is and how she achieves a mission to provide a life for her family is not just one where there is happiness, but instead is one where she not only expects, but Demands Euphoria.  
• The Mahogany Way: This is Darcel Harmon’s blog. She is a wife and Stay at Home Mama to three children. She and her husband are a Christian Attachment Parenting Unschooling family.
• Penelope Trunk Homeschool: Penelope Trunk provides a raw and provocative look into what it is like for a mother new to home education. She’s not afraid to share her vulnerabilities and insecurities. Her blog inspires and enrages those considering, engaging in, and experienced in home educators.

Books

• Sandra Dodd has a book I love and recommend and a terrific website. Here is her website http://sandradodd.com/unschooling. Her book is called “The Big Book of Unschooling” which you can find at this link http://sandradodd.com/bigbook
• Clark Aldrich is the author of Unschooling Rules. He also has a terrific blog http://unschoolingrules.blogspot.com. Clark, Kate Fridkis Berring, and I did a podcast on a show called The Future of Education about unschooling which you can listen to here.  

Guides

• Teenage Homeschoolers: College or Not
• Teen Guide to Opting Out of School

Articles

• If the School Won’t Customize, Take Your Kid Out
• Mom's Story: When School Left My Child Behind...He Was Finally Able to Learn
• 15 Key Facts about Homeschool Kids in College
• How “Socialization” Happens in Homeschooling
• What Happens with Home Educated Adults?

Websites

• Laurie A Couture is an unschooling mom, author, parenting coach and much more. Her book, "Instead of Medicating and Punishing" has influenced numerous parents and helped them live much better lives with their children. Her site is http://www.laurieacouture.com/. You can find her book and blog there as well.
• Dayna Martin has a great website with a lot of informative videos at http://daynamartin.com/. She also was featured on the Dr. Phil show to explain more about unschooling.
• Wendy Priesnitz has written a ton of insightful books and articles on the topic and is a big thinker on how families, community and the planet intersect and positively affect life and learning. Here website is http://www.wendypriesnitz.com/
• Linda Dobson is the Parent at The Helm. Her site can be found at http://parentatthehelm.com/ . Linda is not afraid to speak her mind and does so intelligently and articulately. Here is one of my favorite posts from Linda http://www.parentatthehelm.com/6533/high-stakes-tests-everyone-has-had-enough/
• Peter Kowalke’s site, The Unschooler Experiment focuses on the stories and experiences of grown unschoolers themselves, instead of parents, and seeks to share information that's interesting and relevant to both grown unschoolers. parents of unschoolers.

Podcasts

• Unplugged Mom
  The Unplugged Mom podcasts are a great way to get started in getting a deeper insight into the folks behind home ed and unschooling. Laurette Lynn has done interviews with most of the folks mentioned above as well as people like John Taylor Gatto and Peter Gray. Here is a link to the podcasts.
• School Sucks
  The public school system sucks off the productive capacity of hard-working people. The system is coercively funded through taxation. In other words, whether public education succeeds or fails (spoiler alert: it fails) at providing real education to the public, the cost goes up every year. There are no refunds. Above all, this is a show about what one might do about the problems of school...

Unschooling thought leaders

Click each name for a collection of their works.

• John Taylor Gatto
• Ivan Illich
• John Holt

Unschooling conferences

• The unschooling conference I am most familiar with is The Alternative Education Resource Organization Conference (AERO).  The AERO conference provides a platform for dialog, movement building, and learning.
• Sandra Dodd lists her upcoming speaking engagements here http://sandradodd.com/speaking.
• Here is a listing of Conferences & Gatherings from the Unschooling Life site.

Keep the conversation going

If you want to keep the conversation going, I invite you to join my online group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/homeschoolingunschooling. This is a place where parents, students, teens, and teachers frustrated with traditional schooling can come together to discuss the more effective options they are interested in pursuing. The group is comprised of unschooling experts and authors as well as those new to, considering, or experienced with unschooling, homeschooling, uncollege or any DIY education.  

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