Posts Tagged ‘unschooling’
Unschooling, Radical Unschooling, or Something Else?
Most life learners don’t like to label their children – whether it’s using the alphabet soup provided by those who would drug children into submissive behavior or by means of school-style grades. So I’m always amused and disturbed in equal parts when the debate begins about what to call this sort of child-led, non-coercive, lifestyle that [...]
Preview of March/April issue of Life Learning Magazine
We're working hard on the March/April issue of Life Learning Magazine. Here's a preview of the cover. There will be a great new article by John Taylor Gatto; a brilliant piece by David Albert about sorting out our own philosophy of life, parenting and education; and lots more wonderful inspiration and reassurance for unschoolers. (Yes, I'm [...]
Wanted: Unschooling Quotes by Women
A few years ago, I was approached by a woman who wanted to write my life history as a woman homeschooling advocate as her PhD thesis. While doing her MA research, she had been struck by the lack of women's voices in the academic literature. She did write that thesis as a contribution to the literature, and there are now a number of other women [...]
Why is it scary to honor and trust our children?
Thanks to Kyla Matton for her insightful review of our recently published book For the Sake of Our Children by Quebec author Leandre Bergeron. I know the book is challenging (otherwise, why publish it!?), but I'm wondering why the ideas of honoring one's children (rather than treating them as possessions), allowing them the freedom to [...]
We’re All Life Learners
I’ve been doing the New Year clean-up shuffle over the past few days. Among the piles of random notes falling out of my journal and cluttering up my desk was this quote from John Holt: “People should be free to find or make for themselves the kinds of educational experience they want their children to have.” When I first came across this [...]
It’s Not Progressive to Force Regulation by a Dinosaur
There’s been an earnest new academic journal article published entitled "The Harms of Homeschooling." (Note, January 2010: I have removed the link to this article for now due to difficulties downloading the file.) Author Robin L West attacks the lack of regulation of homeschooling (she doesn't mention or indicate that she understands [...]
January/February Issue of Life Learning
The password-protected January / February 2010 issue of Life Learning Online is now available to subscribers. Not a subscriber yet? Here's where you can check out what you're missing. Subscribe today and receive access to the PDF as the first issue in your subscription. Your online subscription will also include access to PDFs of all the [...]
Learning to Write By Doing It
I had a chat this morning with someone who was bemoaning kids’ use of technology. Her fifteen-year-old daughter wants either a cell phone or a laptop computer for Christmas, she said, but she and her husband are worried that the teen won’t “learn to write properly because of all that Facebook, Twitter and texting nonsense that young people [...]
The World is Discovering Autonomous Learning
"Kids learn on the Internet in an autonomous way, by looking around for information they're interested in or connecting with peers who can help them. This is a big departure from how they're asked to learn in most schools, where the teacher is the expert and there's a fixed set of content to master." I, and many other unschooling advocates, [...]
Preview the Cover of Life Learning’s Jan/Feb 2010 Issue
We're hard at work putting the finishing touches on Life Learning's January/February 2010 online edition. It will be ready later this month and includes an assortment of articles and essays about unschooling and self-directed learning. Included are pieces about deschooling ourselves in order to match our parenting to our children's needs, a day [...]