Defining unschooling is a little like describing a color, and every bit as elusive. You can rely on commonly-held descriptions; for example, we generally all agree what blue looks like, but what about cobalt, aqua, navy, cyan, sapphire, azure, indigo, cerulean, turquoise or cornflower? It’s the same with unschooling. There’s a generally accepted definition, but then there are all these wonderful variations…

Unschooling embraces a broad spectrum of learning, and trying to describe and define it has resulted in some of the most colorful and interesting writings on the web. With this feature we’re sharing highlights from some of our favorite articles, resources, websites and more on unschooling!

Articles About Unschooling

Revelations of a Homeschooling Mom by Carol Wanagel – “You can’t give them knowledge or force it on them; they have to reach out and take it. They’ll only do that when their own nature and interests command them to, and then only if they don’t feel coerced.”

The Things I Really Want My Kids to Learn by Sue Smith Heavenrich – “I think I’d put ‘making your own lunch’ at the top of the list.” Knowing how to make a tuna sandwich or whip up a pot of macaroni is as important as knowing how to divide fractions. Maybe even more important.”

On Unschooling and Life by Ruthe Matilsky – “How unsettling it is sometimes when I think that we have scoffed at the script and now we have to take responsibility for how it all turns out. If we’d done what was expected of us, nothing would ever be our fault. Right?”

Becoming Unschoolers by Janet Keip – “Fear kept the artificial vision alive. Fear made me think Jaime would be “left behind” like some hopelessly out-of-date little coal engine on the railroad tracks of life. Fear made me reject my heart vision and follow the common path.”

Compulsory Education vs. Unschooling by Shay Seaborne – “Human beings are hardwired for learning; we have proportionally huge brains, and are born with the desire to explore and learn about our world.”

Peaceful Unschooling by Charlotte Monte – “I simply couldn’t go on. I felt like picking up the phone and calling the local school district to throw him in the nearest school, public or not! I had to save myself.”

My Kids Won’t Let Me Teach by Ann Leadbetter – “I worry about my lack of discipline, my laziness. Am I justifying our lackadaisical approach to homeschooling just because I don’t feel like doing it any other way?”

Compulsory Unschooling? by Janet Lowry – “Well, here is a quandary I hadn’t anticipated. What is freedom, if the individual given it doesn’t want it?”

Waiting for Unschooling to Work by Shay Seaborne – “Am I doing the right thing? How can I tell if my children are learning? And where are those interests unschooled children are supposed to follow with excitement?”

A Gift of Time by Sue Smith Heavenrich – “‘Do you read books together?’ I ask. ‘Play games, go on walks, ice skate? Do you rake the lawn and look at bugs and see who can blow dandelion parachutes the farthest?’”

What My Children Taught Me by Helen Hegener – “I’m pretty certain that I’ve learned much more from my kids than they ever learned from me.”

How’s School Going? by Mary Kenyon – “I, too, plan each summer, order workbooks, hunt down bargains on used curriculum, and start out each year with the good intentions of buckling down and having daily schoolwork.”

Interview with Sandra Dodd by Emily Subler – “Gradually (or just all of a sudden, if you have that ability) stop speaking and thinking in terms of grades, semesters, school-days, education, scores, tests, introductions, reviews, and performance, and replace those artificial strictures and measures with ideas like morning, hungry, happy, new, learning, interesting, playing, exploring and living.”

Five Steps to Unschooling by Joyce Kurtak Fetteroll – “Maybe a few, well-defined steps in the unschooling direction could lead out of at least the very pea-soupiest part of the fog.”

One of Those Days by Deb Baker – “I look at the children and announce, “This is One of Those Days.” They stop and look up expectantly; ready to hear what crazy cure Mom has in mind this time.”

Questions and Answers

Unschooling FAQ Frequently Asked Questions about Unschooling

Questions and Answers from HEM Laura Weldon’s Reader Response Q and A columns

Networking with Unschoolers

HEM Unschooling Discussion list for unschooling readers of HEM

Unschooling-dotcom Discussion list for the Unschooling.com website

Resources for Unschooling

Unschooling resources Collected reviews of learning materials for unschooling

Unschooling.com Articles, news, blogs, resources and more!

John Holt’s Bookstore Books, writings, back issues of GWS

FUN Books Helpful resource catalog for unschooling families

For further reading about unschooling, check out these great web sites:

Best Homeschooling The best advice from seasoned unschoolers

A to Z Homeschooling: Unschooling Ann Zeise’s Home’s Cool

Life Without School An online publication and blogging community

Sandra Dodd on Unschooling Practical and philosophical support for unschooling

Unschoolers Unlimited How to access the real world

The Natural Child Project Articles on Learning, many on unschooling

My family has always loved to hear our family’s history. I recall that my oldest child interviewed his grandparents, aunts and uncles when he was very young. I would love to have done the same with my relatives who are now gone. We treasure the records he has of how they all met their spouses, what their first jobs were and any other bits of their experiences that they shared with him.

No matter what history or herstory that you might be researching today, I hope the following articles and resources are helpful to you.

HEM Articles

So Many Books – Joan Torkildson

Explorations take readers all over the world, from the frozen tundra of the Arctic to the highest peaks of the Himalayas. In between, there are coniferous forests in Canada to tramp through, as well as African savannas, the Australia outback, Asian swamps, South American rain forests, and a host of other exotic locations. After arriving at their destinations, readers have the opportunity to soak up a suitcase full of engrossing facts about howler monkeys, snow geese, chinchillas, blue-footed boobies, hairy-nosed wombats, and scores of other creatures in the animal kingdom.

Other titles in Candlewick’s Gamebook series: The Magic Hourglass, The Magic Globe (reviewed in Sept/Oct 1995 HEM), One Green Island, A Puzzling Day at Castle MacPelican, The Pirates of Doom, and The Planet of Terror. The gamebooks come in three skill levels, so there’s lots of fun reading and exploring in store for armchair adventurers/detectives and history/geography buffs of all ages.

A World of Learning by Barbara Theisen

Next fall we will be sailing to Central America for six months. While there, our studies will include Mayan Civilization, coral reefs, rain forests, and geography and history of Central America. Kate would also like to study for her Ham Radio license, a great way to keep in touch with the rest of the world. I’ve already started teaching the girls (and Tom) Spanish – I have a degree in Spanish, so I definitely have an advantage here. But I know the girls’ Spanish will improve by leaps and bounds. There is nothing like being immersed in a foreign language to really learn it.

The Bunyans – A Drop of Water – A Journey to the New World Lives of the Athletes – I Was Born About 10,000 Years Ago - Joan Torkildson

I Was Born About 10,000 Years Ago

I Was Born About 10,000 Years Ago, retold and illus. by Steven Kellogg, Morrow Junior Books, Sept. 1996, ISBN 0-688-13411-4, $16.00 hardcover, ages 5-up

No one retells a tall tale with more panache than Steven Kellogg. In this one, which was adapted from a nineteenth-century American folk song, multiple narrators boldly take credit for some of the most outrageous claims in history. One by one, they brag about having seen King Pharoah’s daughter fish Moses out of the water, of seeing Adam and Eve being banished from the Garden of Eden, of showing Columbus the way to the New World, of secretly marrying Queen Elizabeth in Milwaukee, even of playing hopscotch with spacemen on the moon (with plans to visit Saturn). All of these outlandish boasts are embellished with Kellogg’s own verse and typically exuberant illustrations.

The Value of Virtual Expeditions – Judy Aron

Every homeschooler knows what a wonderful learning opportunity travel is for kids. They learn mathematics (conversion rates in currency, distances traveled), history, social studies, geography, art, writing skills… you name it, because travel is a real life experience.

For homeschoolers who have access to the Internet, virtual expeditions are also an incredible resource. There are many web sites which can “take you away” to a particular place, but a virtual expedition is different: it’s more interactive and is added to on a daily basis. These daily unfolding experiences are almost like a real trip.

From Home to Higher Education – Sunshine Campbell

So what are some useful suggestions for homeschoolers who are preparing for college? First of all, read a few classics while you are still in high school. College literature, history, social science, and humanities courses make frequent allusions to the “great” works of literature – and, believe me, college affords little time to go back and catch up on this reading!

Time Travel with a Teaspoon Archaeology For Kids – Rebecca Rupp

Issues of Calliope, Cobblestone Publishing’s magazine of “World History for Young People,” recommended for kids aged 10-13, often center around archaeological or ancient civilization themes. Also see the March 1991 issue of Faces, Cobblestone’s magazine of world cultures for kids aged 9-12, which is titled “Archaeology: Finding the Past.” It includes short nonfiction articles about the history of archaeology itself, the excavation of Pompeii, the discovery of a lost Spanish mission in the American Southwest, and the techniques modern archaeologists use for determining ages of ancient artifacts. (There’s also a fictionalized account of the discovery of the Lascaux cave paintings by four young French boys in 1940, a Pompeiian puzzle, and an archaeological board game.) Back issues of Cobblestone publications cost $4.50 apiece; an annual subscription to Calliope (5 issues) costs $17.95. Order from Cobblestone Publishing, 30 Grove St., Peterborough, NH 03458; (603) 924-7209 or (800) 821-0115; fax (603) 924-7380; e-mail: custsvc@cobblestone.mv.com; web site: http://www.cobblestonepub.com.

Biography Fair – Nancy Winningham

Real people, true stories…who isn’t fascinated by them? Biographies are consistently on the New York Times’ Best Sellers list, and “based on a true story” is a staple of made-for-TV movies. A&E, a cable television channel, has been running its popular Biography series for ten years, and now has imitators on other cable networks. What better way to jump start a child’s interest in history than to investigate the life and times of one fascinating person

History Resources

• American Historical Association
• Animated Timeline
• Bill of Rights Institute
• Federal Resources for Educational Excellence
• History Channel
• History Place
• Library of Congress
  
• Making His Own History (hat tip to Susan Ryan at Corn and Oil)
• Roman History – Google Earth
• Ted Talks

Many new homeschool parents often ask when their child  will learn to write?   Just like any other skill, there is no set time table and the answer is largely dependent upon each child.   In the same way that they learn to read, walk and talk, they will write when they are ready.

The following articles and resources may help you to find a method or tools that will best meet your child’s learning to write needs

Learning to Write Without School – Aj DeBee

Until a few weeks ago, I had never attended school. My entire education, and my entire development as a reader, writer and thinker, was solely dependent on the teachings of my ex-English teacher mother, my eccentric father, and myself.

Portfolio Assessment – Ana McDonald,

For each book, Dottie can fill out a form describing the book and what parts she likes best and least. She can make a story map, draw her own illustrations for text-heavy books, or do any of the workbook-type activities that I can discover or devise. If she wants, she can even write her own books, borrowing characters, plots, or themes from the books she reads

Homeschooling From Abroad – Leslie Clary

I discovered when I backed off and loosened up, Zak began taking more responsibility for his education. He likes Chinese. Every evening he practices writing characters. As a result his handwriting has improved.

Unschooling - Sandra Dodd

Lyle writes well and frequently about his unschooling. He could choose to write nothing, or he could separate himself from his family to become a professional writer and write every day for many hours. Lyle writes, as do many other unschoolers, for real purposes. He shares what he has discovered and experienced for the benefit of others who want their families’ lives to move toward unschooling. His writing is real, because it affects the thoughts and actions of others.

Learning Logs – Ivy Rutledge

A learning log can be a conversation as well as a private place for a child–it is up to you and your child to decide what you need. You can record the thoughts of young children for them, and you can also write your own thoughts in a dialogue form with your child. Writing letters back and forth in a notebook can be an effective way to communicate and share ideas.

Getting It Down -Ways to Encourage Reluctant Writer -Sue Smith Heavenrich

The biggest obstacle to writing isn’t the inability to write. It’s our attitude. If we can believe that our children can write, if they choose to, then we can look for ways to help them overcome their stumbling blocks. Sometimes it’s fear. Sometimes it’s motor skills. Sometimes we just need to play with words.

The Ongoing Debate in Reading Instruction: Finding a Balance – Mark B. Thogmartin

Several years ago, I completed a research project where I examined the reasons that Christian educators gave for their apparent, almost exclusive use of intensive phonics approaches to teaching beginning reading (Thogmartin, 1994). In addition to an exhaustive literature review about my question, I interviewed a number of Christian educators, homeschooling parents, college professors, and curriculum providers to find out their beliefs about reading instruction. I took for granted their opinions that their chosen method worked; rather, I wanted to find out the philosophical/theoretical reasons why they believed what they did.

Ready Reference – Kim O’Hara

I don’t think a day goes by but someone comes up with a question that sends us to the Internet for an answer. (Sometimes we stew about it for a while and then suddenly remember: “We could check the computer!”) We look up weather forecasts, research vacation spots, get great deals on plane fares, and reserve hotel rooms (at discounted prices). We answer sticky grammar questions, get background (and illustrations) for essays, and research settings when we write fiction.

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