Unschooling My Children

 Originally written in 2006 – updated in 2011    Ron & Andrea over at atypicalhomeschool.net are asking unschoolers to answer these questions for the next Carnival of Unschooling. (A carnival is a collection of related blog posts). Update 2011: The Carnival of Unschooling moved to this blog after a while and was called Unschooling Voices. The carnival has retired but you can read the archives on this...

Unschooling Questions

I’ve had this saved for a while in my documents. These were questions someone asked Joyce Fetteroll on an unschooling info list. Can a unschooler go to college? Can a schooler go to college? Not all of them do. Not all of them can. Not all of them want to. I think it’s clearer to state that unschooling doesn’t get in the way of kids going to college. If they feel that college is a good way to explore...

So You Want to Unschool?

Check out this video series from the lovely Laurie A. Couture. Here’s video one of six. © 2011 An Unschooling Life Share Tags: Laurie Couture, radical unschooling, unschooling encouragement, what is unschooling, youtube Related posts What Is Unschooling? (5) Unschooling Interview (13) Unschooling Article From Education Week (0) S

Unschooling Is Not Hands Off

Unschooling is not hands off. It’s not enough to leave a child to fend for themselves when it comes to discovering new interests and the world around them. Unschooling parents should look for opportunities to expose their children to to a variety of people, new ideas, the community outside your immediate one and activities that don’t normally come up in your daily life. If your family life is rich and full, there...

Unschooling, TV And Trust

While clearing out some old files on google docs, I came across this and thought it would be helpful to share it. It was written by the very wise Pam Sorooshian, who helped me when I began unschooling more than she probably realises. Instead of putting our focus on whether or not the kids are watching too much tv, we can put our focus on supporting their interests and offering them lots and lots of possible experiences. If...

Dealing With Unschooling Criticism

Being an unschooling mom does have it’s moments of absolute frustration on many different levels. Not so much with the belief system that this philosophy of learning does work, and it does, but with the criticism from family members and society as a whole. Although the term homeschooling has been around for a long time, understood and supported by many families, churches, governmental institutions and the...

Unschooling: The Early Years

Note: I’m so excited to have my pal Stephanie Waldron as a featured writer here at An Unschooling Life. This is her first post here and she write about unschooling when you have young children. I believe that people are born with an innate desire to learn. Look at a baby eager to move, reach, bat a toy, roll over, sit up, babble, crawl, walk, talk etc… They are curious about their world and want to navigate...

Unschooling Is Not…

Quite a few years ago someone looking for unschooling ideas asked this question on the unschooling.com forums (which is no longer there); “What things have you found yourself explaining to others that unschooling is NOT? What commonly accepted notions does unschooling preclude or expose as nonsense?” Here are some of the many answers that were posted; It’s not school. It’s not...

Unschooling Teenagers

Have you every worried about unschooling your teen? As a parent of a unschooling teen, many questions and concerns can sometimes swirl around in one’s mind. Parents sometimes worry that their child will not be equipped to face the outside world and it’s challenges. But what many parents sometimes forget is that their unschooled teen has already been living in the real world and experiencing real life! The confinement of...

Letting Go – Deschooling For Parents

Most of the unschooling parents today have had to learn to trust and let go of our own “old school” conditioned beliefs on learning. It is very natural for a parent to have some uncertain feelings when allowing their child the freedom to learn and grow in an environment that they themselves never experienced. If we can achieve a level of trust, we as parents can relearn our own love of learning and enjoy this natural...