Welcome to UnSchoolers Online. - a website dedicated to providing detailed and helpful information on everything related to unschooling and homeschooling.

Are you new to homeschooling? Just thinking about it and wondering how it all works? Really want to get started, but have no idea how? Then go to the "Getting Started" section below first where you will find lots of helpful information to answer all your questions. The most important things to remember is to read, read, and then read some more, connect with other local homeschoolers, be open and flexible, and last, but not least, have fun!

***GETTING STARTED***
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What is unschooling?
by Earl Stevens
www.naturalchild.com/guest/earl_stevens.html
It is very satisfying for parents to see their children in pursuit of knowledge. It is natural and healthy for the children, and in the first few years of life, the pursuit goes on during every waking hour. But after a few short years, most kids go to school. The schools also want to see children in pursuit of knowledge, but the schools want them to pursue mainly the school's knowledge and devote twelve years of life to doing so. (please visit website for full article)

Unschooling Undefined
by Eric Anderson
www.midnightbeach.com/hs/UnschoolingUndefined.html
Unschooling is a word coined by negating the idea of schooling; it starts off with a negative definition. What, specifically, is it about schools that unschoolers want to do without? (please visit website for full article)

Deschooling for Parents
by Sandra Dodd
http://sandradodd.com/deschooling
Once upon a time a confident and experienced scholar went to the best Zen teacher he knew, to apply to be his student. The master offered tea, and he held out his cup. While the student recited his knowledge and cataloged his accomplishments to date, the master poured slowly. The bragging continued, and the pouring continued, until the student was getting a lapful of tea, and said, “My cup is full!” The master smiled and said, “Yes, it is. And until you empty yourself of what you think you know, you won’t be able to learn.” (please visit website for full article)

You Might Be An Unschooler If...
by Karen M. Gibson
www.leapingfromthebox.com/art/kmg/unschoolerif.html
... conversations held in the car include such topics as square roots, time and space travel, Native Americans and their participation in the American Revolution, the Roman Empire, mortgages, how retail businesses figure their profit, the latest scenario to a favorite computer game, constellations, basketball history and NASCAR racing. (please visit website for full article)

Waiting for Unschooling to Work
by Shay Seaborne
www.thehomeschoolmom.com/waiting-for-unschooling-to-work/"
Remarkably, the best homeschooling advice I received came when my first child was a baby. My friend Barb, an experienced homeschooling mom who loaned me stacks of Home Education Magazine and Growing Without Schooling, told me that to homeschool I only had to "provide a rich environment, involve children in everyday living, and help find answers to their questions." That sounded very simple, and it is; the challenge is in trusting that such a plan is enough. (please visit website for full article)

What is Unschooling?
by Karen M. Gibson
http://www.leapingfromthebox.com/art/kmg/whatis.html
Unschooling has many, many definitions - probably a different one for each family that calls themselves unschoolers. To me, unschooling means interest-led or child-led learning. There are also many different levels of unschooling. Some families require a set amount of Math and English done each day, and then their child is free to explore whatever subjects he would like. Others unschool totally until their child reaches a certain grade level, and then start requiring some structure. And then there are the dyed-in-the-wool, radical unschoolers, who require nothing from their child. They totally trust their child to learn what he needs to know on his own timetable. (please visit website for full article)

Nurturing Children's Natural Love of Learning
by Jan Hunt, M.Sc.
www.naturalchild.com/jan_hunt/unschooling.html
The main element in successful unschooling is trust. We trust our children to know when they are ready to learn and what they are interested in learning. We trust them to know how to go about learning. Parents commonly take this view of learning during the child's first two years, when he is learning to stand, walk, talk, and to perform many other important and difficult things, with little help from anyone. No one worries that a baby will be too lazy, uncooperative, or unmotivated to learn these things; it is simply assumed that every baby is born wanting to learn the things he needs to know in order to understand and to participate in the world around him. These one- and two-year-old experts teach us several principles of learning: (please visit website for full article)