Beyond Discipline: From Compliance to Community
Alfie Kohn
What is most remarkable about the assortment of discipline programs on the market today is the number of fundamental assumptions they seem to share.
Information & Media
Recommended books, videos, websites, blogs, podcasts, research, news, and other SDE information sources.
Books
Books about SDE, in theory and in practice.
Creating Learning Communities. Models, Resources, and New Ways of Thinking About Teaching and Learning
Edited by Ron MIller
Essays by various authors on SDE communities. ISBN 1-885580-04-5
Deschooling Society
Ivan Illich
Schools have failed our individual needs, supporting false and misleading notions of ‘progress’ and development, fostered by the belief that ever-increasing production, consumption and profit are proper yardsticks for measuring.
Emile or On Education
J. J. Rousseau
In his pioneering treatise on education, the great French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) presents concepts that had a significant influence on the development of pedagogy in the eighteenth century.
Everything I Thought I Knew: An Exploration of Life and Learning
Ellen Rowland
As the debate continues on how to improve our failed education system, the author delves into what it’s like to live, learn, and parent without it.
Free to Learn
Peter Gray
Developmental psychologist (and ASDE co-founder) Peter Gray argues that in order to foster children who will thrive in today’s constantly changing world, we must entrust them to steer their own learning and development.
Freedom and Beyond
John Holt
John Holt’s brilliant and evocative 1972 Freedom and Beyond marks a significant turn in thinking about schools, when it began to become clear to many that ‘schools’ and ‘schooling,’ would be unable to hold the great forces of learning.
Get Out of the Way and Let Kids Learn
Carl Rust
This book challenges basic assumptions of traditional education and offers suggestions for ways to allow children more freedom, more agency, and more control over their own education.
God Schooling: How God Intended Children to Learn
Julie Polanco
A book on unschooling, written from a Biblical Christian perspective.
Jump Fall Fly from schooling to homeschooling to unschooling
Lehla Eldridge and Anthony Eldridge Rogers
How one family abandoned traditional education, embraced the freedom of childhood, self directed learning and play to better prepare their children for a rapidly changing future.
Outra Escola é possível: o Modelo Sudbury de Educação
Luís Gustavo Guadalupe Silveira
Coletânea de artigos em Português sobre o Modelo Sudbury de Educação escritos por pessoas envolvidas com o cotidiano de espaços Sudbury. [Collection of articles in Portuguese on Sudbury Model of Education by groups involved with Sudbury spaces.]
Pedagogy of the Oppressed
Paulo Freire
Arguing that ‘education is freedom’, Paulo Freire’s radical international classic contends that traditional teaching styles keep the poor powerless by treating them as passive, silent recipients of knowledge.
Punished By Rewards
Alfie Kohn
A landmark psychological critique of basic motivational strategy, this book attacks the strategy of dangling incentives in front of people to affect their behavior.
Schooling Beyond Measure & Other Unorthodox Essays about Education
Alfie Kohn
In this collection of provocative articles and blog posts originally published between 2010 and 2014, Alfie Kohn challenges the conventional wisdom about topics ranging from how low-income children are taught.
SelfDesign: Nurturing Genius Through Natural Learning
Brent Cameron
SelfDesign is a philosophy and practice based in the belief that children are natural learners.
Summerhill School - A New View of Childhood
Alexander Sutherland Neill
Originally published in 1960, Summerhill became an instant bestseller and a classic volume of education for an entire generation.
Summerhill: A Radical Approach to Child Rearing
Alexander Sutherland Neill
Summerhill is Neill’s story of the small experimental school he set up to prove that freedom works.
Teach Your Own: The John Holt Book Of Homeschooling
John Holt and Pat Farenga
A classic text on teaching children at home, updated in 2003 to reflect new laws, new lifestyles, and the growing new generation of homeschooling parents.
The Modern School Movement
Paul Avrich
Based on extensive interviews with former pupils and teachers, this Pulitzer Prize-nominated work is a seminal and important investigation into the potential of educational alternatives.
The Teacher Liberation Handbook
Joel Hammon
A guide about how to leave school and create a place where you and young people can thrive.
Unconditional Parenting
Alfie Kohn
This book presents a provocative challenge to the conventional wisdom of raising children.
Unschooled
Kerry McDonald
A primer on Unschooling and the origins of the self-directed education movement, with answers to many frequently asked questions and tons of references for further research and reading.
Unschooling To University: Relationships Matter Most In A World Crammed With Content
Judy Arnall
This book explores the path of 30 unschooled kids who went to college and university and outlines how unschooling fits with brain and child development learning stages. It is full of evidence-based material.
What Is Unschooling?
Pam Laricchia
How do children learn without school? Will it work for us? How do I get started?
Wild Children-Domesticated Dreams Civilization and the Birth of Education
Lalya AbdelRahim
Layla AbdelRahim, an anthropologist, writes about people attitudes towards humans and nonhumans, expressed through dominance and violence, and the large role schools play in this. Her experience unschooling with her daughter used as a contrast
Film & Video
SDE-themed movies, documentaries, videos, and TV/web series.
Approaching the Elephant
Year one at the Teddy McArdle Free School in Little Falls, New Jersey, where all classes are voluntary and rules are determined by vote. Approaching the Elephant is a vivid portrait of unfettered childhood and human relationships.
Being and Becoming
A documentary that explores the theme of trusting children and their development, and invites us to question our learning paradigms and options.
Class Dismissed movie
Class Dismissed showcases a growing trend in alternative education strategies that are working for many families across America.
Don't Stay in School
A renowned rap that highlights the fallacy that conventional schooling teaches students valuable life skills needed for the professional world.
Schools of Trust
Schools of Trust is a German film about Self-Directed Education.
Self-Taught: Life Stories From Self-Directed Learners
A documentary exploring the lives of several adults who chose to follow a self-directed path of learning.
Teacher Liberation TEDx Talk - Joel Hammon
Joel Hammon talks about his decision to quit his job as a high school teacher and how creating self-directed education centers can improve the lives of teachers and their students.
Other Info & Media
Educational Heretics Press
Origionally run by Professor Roland Meighan, EHP has been publishing since 1984 on the general topic of questioning the dogma of the educational establishment. EHP also markets books produced by the Education Now Cooperative (founded in 1980).
Hilltown Families: Community-Based Education Network
Established in 2005, Hilltown Families is a community-based education network which highlights the embedded learning found throughout Western Massachusetts, making the information accessible online to self-directed and life-long learners wanting to g
Lisa Branigan Business Coach/Consultant
Working with SDE children to start their own business.
Podcasts & Radio Shows
SDE-focused audio content sources.
(Note: Audiobooks are included in "Books".)
Alpine Valley School Podcast
Features interviews with graduates of Alpine Valley School, which follows the Sudbury model of education. Also includes discussions of the school’s unique philosophy, and ways to get involved.
Education Revolution Podcast
Alternative Education Resource Organization founder, Jerry Mintz, talks with people about different facets of learner-centered education.
Exploring Unschooling
From a long-time unschooling mom to three now-adult children: Unschooling fascinates me as much today as it did when we got started back in 2002, and each week on the podcast my guests and I dive deep into unschooling and living joyfully with our fam
Fare of the Free Child
A weekly podcast that centers black and brown people’s voices and experiences in discussions about unconventional parenting, particularly how we facilitate learning.
Off-Trail Learning
Interviews with self-directed learners, innovative educators, and young people blazing their own paths through life. Hosted by Blake Boles; Formerly the Real Education Podcast.
One Free Family Podcast
A husband-wife podcast about gentle parenting, family life, and self-directed education.
Stories of an Unschooling Family
All about radical unschooling. (It’s not as scary or as wild as some people make out!) Join me as I share ideas, stories, homeschool record-keeping tips and resources for living an unschooling life of unconditional love.
The Unschooling Life
Episodes cover many frequently asked questions and objections to Self-Directed Education and unschooling.
Unschooling And...
Exploring the ideas and practices of unschooling and Self-Directed Education
Research & Journals
Scientific and academic research related to SDE.
Children Teach Themselves to Read
Peter Gray
In this article, Peter Gray describes seven principles of how individuals learn to read without formal schooling.
Democratic schooling: What happens to young people who have charge of their own education?
Peter Gray & David Chanoff
A follow-up study of the graduates of the Sudbury Valley School, a democratically administered primary and secondary school that supports Self-Directed Education.
Differences between home educated and traditionally educated young adults
Gina Riley
This study assesses whether homeschooled young adults’ needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness are better satisfied as compared to young adults who were not homeschooled.
Grown unschoolers' evaluation of their unschooling experience
Peter Gray & Gina Riley
This peer reviewed research article summarizes the unschooling experiences of 75 adults who were unschoolers for at least the years that would have been their last two years of high school.
Grown unschoolers' experiences with higher education and employment
Gina Riley & Peter Gray
A sample of 75 adults, who had been unschooled for at least the years that would have been their last two years of high school, answered questions about their subsequent pursuits of higher education and careers.
How unschoolers can help to end traditional reading instruction
Karl Wheatley
A professor of Early Childhood Education describes how his children learned to read without formal instruction.
Legacy of trust: Life after the Sudbury Valley School experience.
Daniel Greenberg & Mimsy Sadofsky
This book describes a study conducted in 1991 to determine what became of Sudbury students after they left.
Pedagogues for a New Age: childrearing practices of unschooling parents
Rebecca Zellner Grunzke
This dissertation compares the childrearing practices of parents whose children are engaged in unschooling, homeschooling, or traditional schooling.
Play as the foundation for hunter-gatherer social existence
Peter Gray
Hunter-gatherer cultures promoted the playful side of their human nature, which made possible their cooperative, egalitarian ways of living.
Playing in the zone of proximal development
Peter Gray & Jay Feldman
A qualitative study of self-directed age mixing between adolescents (ages 12–19) and young children (ages 4–11) at a democratic school.
Producing unschoolers: Learning through living in a U.S. education movement
Donna Harel Kirschner
An ethnographic study of the unschooling movement, through a countercultural lens.
Self-Directed Education -- Unschooling and Democratic Schooling
Peter Gray
Written for the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education, this in-depth article provides a comprehensive overview of SDE, from its evolutionary origins to its modern expressions.
Team of Thirty Unschoolers Survey
Judy L Arnall
This survey details thirty children who unschooled from 3 to 12 years and were all accepted to colleges, universities and tech schools. 12 of the 30 went into STEM careers (4 in Engineering).
The Most Democratic School of Them All
Christine R. Traxler
Subtitled “Why the Sudbury Model of Education Should Be Taken Seriously,” this essay by a public high school English teacher challenges the dominant model of education.
The challenges and benefits of unschooling
Peter Gray & Gina Riley
232 unschooling families answered questions about their reasons for unschooling, the path that led them to unschooling, and the major benefits and challenges of unschooling for their family.
The courage to let them play
Kristan Morrison
This article explores the question of what gives parents the courage to reject conventional schooling and choose the educational path of unschooling for their children.
The role of Self-Determination Theory and CET in home education
Gina Riley
This article explores Self-Determination Theory, Cognitive Evaluation Theory, and intrinsic motivation as they apply to home education.
Unschooling in Hong Kong: a case study
Gina Riley
This study describes the experiences of an unschooling family in Hong Kong, where alternative forms of education are discouraged.
Worldschooling: Homeschooling Away from Home
Gina Riley
A review and analysis of five retreats organized by Project World School in 2016, based on pre- and post-experience questionnaires filled out by the participants.
Websites, Blogs & News
Online sources of SDE-related information and support.
Divergent Labs
We are creating autistic spaces that make it possible for the genius, integrity, concern for details, and specialized focus that are the trademarks of the autistic mind to be expressed to and to create value.
Generation On
generationOn inspires, equips and mobilizes people to take action that is changing the world. They envision a world in which everyone has discovered their power to make a difference, creating healthy communities in vibrant, participatory societies.
Getting Schooled
A site for students who are stuck in school.
I'm Unschooled. Yes, I Can Write.
A blog by a grown unschooler exploring the intersections between self-directed lifelong learning, youth rights, respectful parenting, and social justice.
Not Exactly Florida Unschoolers
A Facebook group for Florida parents seeking alternatives to independent homeschooling and unschooling; a resource for parents interested in finding or creating SDE communities (co-ops, learning centers, schools, etc.) in Florida.
Peer Unschooling Network (PUN)
A digital community for teen unschoolers to make friends, discuss projects, question the meaning of life, and support those interested in self-directed learning to take the leap.
Project-Based Homeschooling
This website offers guidance on how to mentor self-directed learners using the approach of Project-Based Homeschooling – a way to combines a child’s genuine interests with long-term, deep, complex learning.
Roots & Shoots
Roots & Shoots is a service program that empowers and encourages youth of all ages to pursue their passion, mobilize their peers, and become the leaders our world needs in order to ensure a better future for people, animals, and the environment.
School Survival
Support site for kids who hate school. Encourages them to consider SDE if possible.
Texas Unschoolers
A collection of resources for Texas homeschoolers: Homeschooling laws, TX unschooling groups, videos, other websites & blogs, unschooling conferences, colleges & transcripts, and discussion forums.
The History Tree
Educational technology website for students to learn history while learning computer technology and Internet coding.
The Homeschool Resource Roadmap
A website that provides home-educating families with summative information about more than 3,500 educational resource providers, enabling parents and children to find material best-suited to meet each child’s interests and needs.
Unschool Rules blog
Tons of SDE resources including: transcript walkthrough, breakdown by subject, PA homeschooling guide, their “curriculum” by “grade”, and “homeschooling for working moms”
Unschooling / Oskolning Sverige
Facebook group in Swedish discussing the topic of self-direction and unschooling. The group is open for active unschoolers, those interested in starting, and others curious about the topic.
Unschooling To University Blog
Information, support and advocacy for self-directed learning in the home.
See something missing?
Add a Resource