ASDE News

Unschooling normally refers to a style of homeschooling in which young people are free follow their own interests, with no obligation to choose “educational” activities. Unschooling parents don’t impose the structures and agendas of conventional schools; rather, they trust their children’s natural self-educative drives and provide supportive conditions.

When we chose the term Self-Directed Education to describe the movement we are championing, we meant for it to include unschooling families as well as people involved in schools and learning centers where the students have essentially the same freedom as unschoolers. In that sense we are all unschoolers.

While we enthusiastically support the growth of SDE-aligned schools and centers, we also acknowledge that vast majority of young people involved in SDE are self-directed homeschoolers who aren’t enrolled in such places. Ironically, their success at making education an integral part of their whole lives — learning everywhere and all the time — can make them less visible.

So this week we are celebrating unschooling with a selection of articles by some of ASDE’s founding members:

The Power Of Unschooling: Why My Daughters Don’t Go To School — Akilah S. Richards

Our School Choice Is None — Pat Farenga

Unschooling and Workbooks — Kerry McDonald

A Survey of Grown Unschoolers — Peter Gray

Next Friday is our “Ask Me Anything” event with documentary filmmaker (and unschooling dad) Jeremy Stuart. If you haven’t seen his first film, Class Dismissed, about a family that opts out of conventional schooling and gradually discovers unschooling, you might want to stream it online beforehand, and then any questions it brings up for you can be posted during the AMA.

 

	From Fear to Freedom One family recounts their journey from an education based in fear, to an education based in trust. Jessica Carrasco
	The Children's Civil Rights Movement "Why are those teachers screaming at those kids?" my son James asked me, with a look of true shock and concern on his face... Alexander Khost

Featured Topics:

• What does unschooling look like for your family? — "What does your daily life look like? What struggles did you experience when you first started unschooling?"
• Hello From Warsaw, Poland — "We are looking for similar groups around globe to involve some worldschooling in our activity. If you are interested in e.g. mutual summer visitings just let me know."
• Sudbury v. Charlotte Mason v. Waldorf — "Many educational models overlap some aspects of SDE, but they usually fall short of allowing children true self-direction..."

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