Unschooling Links and Resources

Much of the information below and more is listed on the “unschooling” page on the Maine Homeschooling Resources and Ideas Blog: http://homeschoolingresourcesandideas.blogspot.com/

What exactly is unschooling?

Unschooling is a form of homeschooling in which parents facilitate and support their child's interests by providing a rich, interesting and stimulating environment.  Parents act as facilitators and partners with their children and help them to do more of what they love.  Unschooling allows children to learn and grow in their own way and time, supports the continued love of learning, and enables the parent/child relationship to flourish.  Fmi: http://sandradodd.com/unschooling 

 Sandra Dodd explains unschooling (5 minute video): 
http://sandradodd.com/video/doright

 A good blogpost describing unschooling:
http://featherandnestkim.blogspot.com/2012/02/learning-is-everywhere-what-unschooling.html?m=1

Is it right for you and your family?  How can you find out?

Read a lot about it.  A LOT.
  1. http://sandradodd.com/help is a great page to begin.  There are several links to check out from this page.  http://sandradodd.com/deschooling is another good one.  
  2. If you are thinking of unschooling or ready to begin, sign up for Pam Larrachia's "Exploring Unschooling" email series by signing up for her newsletter: http://livingjoyfully.ca/newsletter/  Scroll down to access old newsletters at the bottom of that page.
  3. Read some books. (favorites are listed below) 
  4. Explore Sandra Dodd's website http://sandradodd.com/ and Joyce Fetteroll's website: http://joyfullyrejoycing.com/ 
  5. Join one of the bigger unschooling yahoo or facebook groups 
  6. Attend an unschooling conference.  
Try it.  Pretend your kids are on summer vacation and do all the cool things that you'd normally do with them.  In your spare time, study unschooling!  If you feel you want to control something, organize your tupperware, work in your garden, write to one of the yahoo group lists for help and ideas.  Don't change everything in your life right away, but gradually say yes more.  


Sandra's advice: "Read a little, try a little, wait a while, watch."

Notice the learning that is happening.  If you are concerned about whether or not your kids are learning, you could keep a little journal or some notes or pictures to remind you of what they are doing and learning about. 
Two favorite books: 

"Free To Learn" by Pam Laricchia  
$2.99 for ebook or $9.99 for paperback.  
http://livingjoyfully.ca/books/  Also available on amazon.com
Also check out her newest book "Free to Live" that came out in 2013 and "Life Through the Lens of Unschooling."

"Parenting a Free Child: An Unschooled Life" by Rue Kream 
Order from Rue's site for $16.00: http://www.freechild.info/ 

Two other favorite books, both by Sandra Dodd:


Big Book of Unschooling http://sandradodd.com/bigbook/


Yahoo Groups  - Read the group descriptions before posting.  

UnschoolingBasics (This is now a "read only" group.)




For Mainers - Conference and online groups:



Large Unschooling Conference in Massachusetts: 
Northeast Unschooling Conference in Wakefield, MA (end of August): http://www.northeastunschoolingconference.com/ 

Other Unschooling Conferences  - The Unschooling Circuit Riders yahoo group provides the dates of large conferences in various parts of the country: http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/unschoolingcircuitriders/info 

More homeschooling and unschooling-related resources:


 Blogs:

Unschooling and consensual living blogposts by Amy Bradstreet via her blog "On Bradstreet:" http://www.onbradstreet.com/ 


Speaking of Unschooling: 

There Is No Scarcity - Unschooling: 

Notes From The Laundry On Consensual Living: 


Links to many blogs and sites: 





No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)