Hi everyone! I was asked to post my reply from another thread as a way of opening up a conversation about the fundamentals of unschooling, (what it is, how it is done, etc). This post is aimed to help those genuinely interested in learning about unschooling, as well as a place to direct those who may speak about unschooling without having a basic understanding of what it entails. I will be posting my original reply as is but also commenting to add a link to a Substack article with more resources which I did not include in the original. PLEASE ADD TO THIS! If you have resources or ideas that you feel are important for a fundamental understanding of unschooling, please add it below. Thanks, community!
For context, this reply was to a school teacher who came into the sub and created a post abrasive and unsupportive of unschooling but also asking about it.
I hope this question is genuinely trying to come to an understanding of unschooling and not just engage in confirmation bias. Assuming there is an actual desire to understand, I will answer.
There is a large overrepresentation of former educators in the unschooling world. This is a phenomenon that is often commented on within our communities. Both my partner and I are former educators with experience (between the two of us) in elementary, secondary, college and university teaching. We have higher degrees and other requisite credentials. These are not the things that enable us to unschool our kids. In fact, by its very nature, unschooling is inhibited in many ways by a highly schooled mindset.
While many people choose to unschool for a variety of reasons, we come from both a youth liberation and decolonial space in our choice to unschool. Essentially, we do not want to engage in power-over dynamics with our children; we practice student-led learning. That means when there is interest in learning something, we facilitate that leaning. Some unschoolers do this communally in places like Agile Learning Communities. There are also some Democratic Schools where unschoolers go to be with other like-minded peers. These kinds of places are often staffed with adult unschoolers or graduates of Democratic Schools. They offer students the space, relationships, and exposure to various potential interests that help scaffold the learning process and then they facilitate the learning students seek. Some unschoolers, like our family, do not live near or make use of these kinds of communal settings and so we often use apprenticeships, local clubs (like robotics, art, etc), and at-home/in the community facilitation. Sometimes our kids ask for certain kinds of facilitation (workbooks, internships, books, videos, community college class, etc) and we do our best to provide it. And because unschooling is about student consent and choice, kids that want to be enrolled in school can also decide that for themselves. If our kids ever wanted to be enrolled in school (as most of their friends are) we would do that.
If you would like to know more about unschooling, I would like to recommend the following books:
“Teach Your Own” and “How Children Learn” by John Holt; or really anything by Holt. He was, like many of us, a teacher who came to see unschooling as an important way for many kids to access education. He is credited with coining the term “unschooling”.
“Raising Free People” by Akilah S. Richards
“Unschooled” by Kerry McDonald
“Changing Our Minds” by Naomi Fisher
“Free to Learn” by Peter Grey
And there are so many other books out there, as well. There is actually a great wealth of resource in general if you’re genuinely interested as to the “whys” and “hows” of unschooling. There are many podcasts by unschoolers—including some by adult unschoolers about their experiences and life “after” unschooling—as well as Substacks and articles. I hope you do in fact take the time to learn more about unschooling and to be genuinely curious about it.
I hope this has been helpful.
