Unschooling and Whole Life Learning

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Focus on Whole Life and Happiness

Radical unschooling, or whole life unschooling, extends the philosophy of unschooling to all of life. Whole life unschoolers extend the freedom to follow one's own curiosity and desire in learning to the freedom to follow one's own lead in all of life. The parents in a radical unschooling family approach living and learning with children as a respectful partnership. In other words, radical unschooling philosophy holds that children are not left on their own, but rather are supported as they follow their interests and make choices in life.

Many parents who have practiced attachment parenting with their children consider radical unschooling to be a natural extension of Dr. William Sears' "attachment parenting" or Jean Liedloff's "continuum concept" approaches to living with children. Children continue living in close connection with their parents and parents continue supporting their children and respecting them as individuals. Another compatible philosophy is Alfie Kohn's "unconditional parenting."

Learn More About Radical Unschooling

What's New?

1. I'm the new National Unschooling Examiner.
2. New unschooling website: Unschooling Lifestyle

Unschooling: A Lifestyle of Learning 

A practical handbook on unschooling

The term unschooling is somewhat of a misnomer inasmuch as people tend to associate schooling with learning or education. However, let's be clear. We're talking about unschooling (with unlimited possibilities). We're not talking about unlearning or uneducating, and certainly not unparenting. We're talking about living and learning without school. Let's imagine a life without school.

[PRESS RELEASE: A practical handbook on learning without school]

In the absence of school, what do children do? They play. That is, they do what brings them joy. They do what calls to them. They do what they need to do to get from point A to point B, learning useful skills along the way.

The unschooling approach to life, in general, describes the way we learn naturally when left to pursue our own personal interests. As unschoolers, we own our interests-our passions, dreams, and goals-and also the responsibility for pursuing and attaining them. We respond to our desires. We go after our dreams with enthusiasm. Are you ready to have some fun?

Buy on Lulu (support independent publishers)

The new edition is now available in print and download versions through Lulu, Amazon, and Amazon Kindle.

Radical Unschooling 

Wikipedia

The term, "unschooling," coined by John Holt, describes an approach to homeschooling that differs markedly from conventional schooling. By the most basic definition, unschooling is "not schooling." In practice, unschooling is characterized by non-coercive, cooperative partnership between parents and children. Radical unschooling expands the non-coercive and cooperative practices of unschooling to include all areas of life.

Free Online Course 

Overview and Introduction to the Unschooling Way of Homeschooling

Unschooling: Free Online Course
The unschooling approach to homeschooling is also known as self-directed, child-led, interest-driven, and natural learning. It's not a new method of homeschooling, as you will see, but a flexible approach that has been practiced since before traditional schools were established.

Homeschool Adventure Books 

Picture Book for Children

I Am Learning All The Time explains the differences and similarities between homeschool and schooled children in a positive, loving and fun way! Homeschool Adventure Books

Find this book and more at the Homeschooling Bookstore.

Ideas for Online Strewing 

Guiding and Supporting Kids in Pursuing their Passions

The following websites show examples of how parents can set up websites in the forms of blogs, wikis, etc., to use as safe portals to the Web, as centralized link collections, or many other creative uses.
Dragon's Fire Learning Blog
An example of a children's learning blog. Topics of interest are introduced, shared, and explored via blog posts, buttons, images, embedded videos, and link lists.
Dragon's Fire Wikispace
An example of a homeschool wiki used to create pages on topics of interest with links lists, etc. Wikis allow various groups to work collaboratively.
How To: Homeschool Learning Blog
An article on using a blog for homeschool learning.
How To: Cyberschooling and Online Learning
An article about online learning options.
How To: Wikispaces for Teachers
An article about using wikis for homeschool learning.

Featured Lenses 

Homeschool Buyers Co-Op 

Save Money, Buy Together

Get in on group buys of popular learning software, products, etc., with Homeschool Buyers Co-Op.

Unschooling Links 

Unschooling America
Dayna Martin's unschooling website.
Unschooling United
An outreach and support organization.
Sandra Dodd
Sandra Dodd's website with articles and resources about unschooling.
Joyfully Rejoycing
Joyce Fetteroll's website with articles and resources about unschooling.
Radical Unschoolers Network
Networking and support for unschooling families.
John Holt and Growing Without Schooling
All things John Holt with articles and resources about unschooling.
Connections e-zine
An unschooling online magazine.
RainSolace
Blog with info on unschooling, attachment parenting, etc.
Unschooling Lilaguide Group
A support, discussion group on Lilaguide.
The ABCs of Unschooling
Okay, you've tried the prepackaged curriculum and it's just not working. What is wrong here? Where is the joy? Where is the excitement about learning that homeschooling is supposed to bring? The kids are miserable, Mom is frustrated and nobody seems interested in learning or doing much of anything. Face it, studying someone else's topics on someone else's timetable, with someone else's methods is, well...boring. You are ready for a change. . .
Children did not come here for us to teach them, they are here to teach us!
I love the quote,"Children are messengers to us from a world we once deeply knew but we have long since forgotten," by Alice Miller. I know for a fact that I have learned more from my children than they have learned from me. I call them my gurus! . . .
Unschooling Examiner
Articles and resources on unschooling across the nation.
Unschooling: A Lifestyle of Learning
A practical handbook on unschooling.

Living With Children 

Authentic Family Living
We are connecting with other moms, dads and kids to talk about what is on our minds about Non-schooling, De-schooling, Radical Unschooling, Unschooling, Homeschooling, and Schooling... as well as... Natural families, Attachment families, Green families, and Attraction Families.
Enjoy Parenting
The greatest gift you can give your children is to enjoy parenting them!
The Continuum Concept
Instinctual babyrearing.
Unconditional Parenting
Alfie Kohn's website.
Taking Children Seriously
Noncoercive parenting.

Learning Links 

Sir Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity
A TED Talks video on creativity.
Much too Early!
An article about early learning.
Homeschool Bookstore
Homeschooling books for parents, tweens and teens, and children.

Dayna Martin 

Wikipedia

Dayna Martin is a radical unschooling advocate, author, and conference speaker. She founded Unschooling United, a non-profit organization dedicated to the radical unschooling movement.

Dayna Martin is a La Leche League leader, a natural birth educator, an attachment parenting counselor, and a birth doula. She founded The Babywearing Project.

Unschooling on YouTube 

Dayna Martin - Radical Unschooling

Rapidly gaining in popularity, a new brand of radical unschooling incorporates the Law of Attraction.
curated content from YouTube

Unschooling on Amazon 

Teach Your Own: The John Holt Book of Homeschooling

Amazon Price: $14.86 (as of 11/09/2009) Buy Now

The Unschooling Unmanual

Amazon Price: $12.24 (as of 11/09/2009) Buy Now

Radical Unschooling - A Revolution Has Begun

Amazon Price: $19.95 (as of 11/09/2009) Buy Now

Unschooling: A Lifestyle of Learning

Amazon Price: $15.25 (as of 11/09/2009) Buy Now

Questions or Comments? 

Susan52 wrote...

I guess what people need to understand is that "schooling" and "learning" are not the same. We homeschooled our kids and did a lot of lifestyle learning. I loved the freedom to be able to explore whatever happened to happen or catch our attention on any given day. My kids learned how to learn and learned to love learning. No school burnout and happy, well-adjusted, well-educated young men as a result!

ReplyPosted September 21, 2009

mukunda22 wrote...

We are discussing "Unschooling" and we discussed your lens on Giant Squid Open Mike"

Excellent lens!!

Thank you!!

ReplyPosted September 21, 2009

LindaJM wrote...

Welcome to Squidoo! I mentioned this lens on my blog at Unschooling - my favorite type of education!. Also I featured this on my homeschooling lens.

ReplyPosted June 24, 2009

tandemonimom wrote...

Welcome to The Homeschooling Group - you're a featured lens!

ReplyPosted May 05, 2009

by msaraann

Sara McGrath, author of Unschooling: A Lifestyle of Learning and Strange Little Girl, lives near Seattle with her husband and three daughters. She has... (more)

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