Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children. — United Nations, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, quoted in The Unschooling Unmanual
unschooling
Everything you need
If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need. — Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BCE) quoted in The Unschooling Unmanual
Learning
The people who are horrified by the idea of children learning what they want to learn when they want to learn it have not accepted the very elementary psychological fact that people (all people, of every age) remember the things… Read More ›
Learned behaviour
People who imagine that children are resistant to learning have a nonexistent understanding of how human culture developed in the first place. Culture is no more and no less than the totality of learned behavior and information that is passed… Read More ›
Observation
How do unschooling parents know their children are learning? The answer to this question is, to put it most simply, direct observation. — Jan Hunt in The Unschooling Unmanual Related articles The Teenage Liberation Handbook (kk.org) ‘Unschooling’ – education fad… Read More ›
Evaluation
The assumption that unschooling parents somehow lack awareness of their children’s progress, and therefore require formal evaluation of that progress, is related to the fact that unschoolers function outside the arena of the schools, and our philosophies and methods are… Read More ›
Growing children
It [unschooling] is a little like watching a garden grow. No matter how closely we examine the garden, it is difficult to verify that anything is happening at that particular moment. But as the season progresses, we can see that… Read More ›
Boredom
I believe that boredom is a side-effect of the conventional school approach. In school, children are taught not to do what they feel like, and not to act on a sudden creative impulse or idea. Instead they are expected to… Read More ›
Cooperation
Some people think that a child’s cooperation is something adults are entitled to; they think it is something they can demand. But genuine cooperation cannot be demanded – it can only be earned, and must be given freely. When children… Read More ›
Put it down
No parent would tell her toddler, “Let’s put that caterpillar down and get back to your book about caterpillars.” Unschoolers learn directly about the world. — Jan Hunt in The Unschooling Unmanual Related articles The Teenage Liberation Handbook (kk.org) ‘Unschooling’… Read More ›
School survival
— Jan Hunt in The Unschooling Unmanual
Trust
— Jan Hunt in The Unschooling Unmanual
Trapped
— Claude Monet in The Unschooling Unmanual
Sharing Life
— Rue Kream in The Unschooling Unmanual
Homeschool Curriculum
When we first started homeschooling this year we started out with Unit Studies. This didn’t really engage our kids, so we switched to unschooling. We have been unschooling ever since, so I feel it that we have given it a… Read More ›
Unschooling the Basics
I came across this blog post by following a link on twitter. A great post to show your other half or mother-in-law if they have their doubts about the effect of unschooling on things like Math and Reading. After socialisation,… Read More ›
The Unschooling Unmanual by Nanda Van Gestel, Jan Hunt, Daniel Quinn, Rue Kream, Earl Stevens, Kim Houssenloge, John Holt & Mary Van Doren
Opening Sentence:Why did you choose unschooling rather than some other form of homeschooling? Synopsis:”It is part of the mythology of childhood that children hate learning and will avoid it at all costs. Of course, anyone who has had a child… Read More ›
‘What Do I Do Monday?’ by John Holt
Opening Sentence:This is a book for teachers, for parents, for children or friends of children, for anyone who cares about education. Synopsis:John Holt, the famous author of How Children Fail, How Children Learn, and The Underachieving School, explores new means… Read More ›
Rafferty's Rules is Closing Down 