Recommendations...
These are some of the recommendations I make during our first complimentary 15 minutes together. I suggest starting with watching the movie, Class Dismissed, and reading the book, Unschooled, by Kerry McDonald and moving on from there (Deschooling Gently, by Tammy Takahashi, is also good to read in the beginning). Check out everything from Sue Patterson at Unschooling Mom2Mom, there is so much support over there for new unschoolers. The blogs are great to browse through when you have some extra time online as well as to share with family and friends who are interested in learning more about homeschooling and unschooling, and the videos are perfect for family viewing.
I make updates to this list periodically, so watch this space to see the new content I recommend!
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Websites, Blogs & Links:
Unschooling Mom2Mom
Living Joyfully
Learning Happens
Whole Family Learning
Raising Free People
Grown Unschoolers
How to Work and Homeschool
Gifted Homeschoolers Forum
Outschool
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Movies/Videos:
Class Dismissed
Self-Taught
Music and Life, Alan Watts
Do Schools Kill Creativity, Sir Ken Robinson (#1 TED Talk of all time)
Don't Stay In School, Boyinaband
Hackschooling Makes Me Happy, Logan LaPlante
How to Homeschool in California (legal options)
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Podcasts:
Fare of the Free Child
Off-Trail Learning
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Books:
Kerry McDonald, Unschooled: Raising Curious, Well-Educated Children Outside the Conventional Classroom. This new book contains a comprehensive overview of unschooling, from its roots and history to practical information along with personal stories and an inspiring glimpse at what the future holds.
John Holt books: I recommend reading them in the order in which they were written, starting with How Children Fail, followed by How Children Learn, and then Teach Your Own. The first two were written when he was a schoolteacher hoping to influence education reform. Before long, he realized that no amount of reform would change the basic nature of schooling.
“It's not that I feel that school is a good idea gone wrong, but a wrong idea from the word go. It's a nutty notion that we can have a place where nothing but learning happens, cut off from the rest of life.” ~John Holt
***Other books by John Holt: Learning All The Time, Instead of Education, What Do I Do Monday? (among others)
Dr. Peter Gray, Free To Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life (book), and 'Freedom To Learn' (blog).
Denise Pope Clark, Doing School: How We Are Creating a Generation of Stressed-Out, Materialistic, and Miseducated Students, (Though she's advocating for education reform and change within the system, she makes a great argument for homeschooling/unschooling)
Grace Llewellyn, The Teenage Liberation Handbook: How to Quit School and Get a Real Life and Education
Tammy Takahashi, Deschooling Gently
On Parenting:
Hold On To Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers, by Drs. Gordon Neufeld and Gabor Maté
Parent/Teen Breakthrough, by Charles Foster and Mira Kirshenbaum
How To Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk, by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish
Parent Effectiveness Training (P.E.T.), by Dr. Thomas Gordon
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Articles:
Outschool.com Takes Education Out Of Schooling, by Kerry McDonald, Forbes, October 28, 2019
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Coming soon...resources for young adults and university!
I make updates to this list periodically, so watch this space to see the new content I recommend!
. ********************************************************************************************
Websites, Blogs & Links:
Unschooling Mom2Mom
Living Joyfully
Learning Happens
Whole Family Learning
Raising Free People
Grown Unschoolers
How to Work and Homeschool
Gifted Homeschoolers Forum
Outschool
********************************************************************************************
Movies/Videos:
Class Dismissed
Self-Taught
Music and Life, Alan Watts
Do Schools Kill Creativity, Sir Ken Robinson (#1 TED Talk of all time)
Don't Stay In School, Boyinaband
Hackschooling Makes Me Happy, Logan LaPlante
How to Homeschool in California (legal options)
*********************************************************************************************
Podcasts:
Fare of the Free Child
Off-Trail Learning
*********************************************************************************************
Books:
Kerry McDonald, Unschooled: Raising Curious, Well-Educated Children Outside the Conventional Classroom. This new book contains a comprehensive overview of unschooling, from its roots and history to practical information along with personal stories and an inspiring glimpse at what the future holds.
John Holt books: I recommend reading them in the order in which they were written, starting with How Children Fail, followed by How Children Learn, and then Teach Your Own. The first two were written when he was a schoolteacher hoping to influence education reform. Before long, he realized that no amount of reform would change the basic nature of schooling.
“It's not that I feel that school is a good idea gone wrong, but a wrong idea from the word go. It's a nutty notion that we can have a place where nothing but learning happens, cut off from the rest of life.” ~John Holt
***Other books by John Holt: Learning All The Time, Instead of Education, What Do I Do Monday? (among others)
Dr. Peter Gray, Free To Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life (book), and 'Freedom To Learn' (blog).
Denise Pope Clark, Doing School: How We Are Creating a Generation of Stressed-Out, Materialistic, and Miseducated Students, (Though she's advocating for education reform and change within the system, she makes a great argument for homeschooling/unschooling)
Grace Llewellyn, The Teenage Liberation Handbook: How to Quit School and Get a Real Life and Education
Tammy Takahashi, Deschooling Gently
On Parenting:
Hold On To Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers, by Drs. Gordon Neufeld and Gabor Maté
Parent/Teen Breakthrough, by Charles Foster and Mira Kirshenbaum
How To Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk, by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish
Parent Effectiveness Training (P.E.T.), by Dr. Thomas Gordon
*********************************************************************************************
Articles:
Outschool.com Takes Education Out Of Schooling, by Kerry McDonald, Forbes, October 28, 2019
*********************************************************************************************
Coming soon...resources for young adults and university!