If you are unschooling or thinking about unschooling there are some great resource support sites available for you. I firmly believe that the amount of support you have determines how successful and happy you will be at unschooling.

I am a very strong minded and stubborn person with a ton of determination- the more you tell me i can;t do something the harder I try. Without the support of other unschoolers- both in real like an online- I KNOW I would have caved or gone against my instincts or handled things differently and been not been as effective parent.

Here is a List of Online support For Unschooling ( if you know of other let me know!)

AlwaysUnschooled, members create a space in which Radical Unschooling can be seriously discussed as a lifestyle that begins at birth. AU is geared towards thoughtful discussion and exploration of what Radical Unschooling looks like from birth and beyond for our “always unschooled” children.

unschoolingbasics A list designed for those new to the philosophy of unschooling. Ask experienced unschoolers all those niggling questions, and find out how unschooling works in real families.

Joyfully Rejoycing.com This is great site. One thing I have found it usefu for is that Joyce can really put into words what we WANT to say and can’t .

Unschooling Discussion
If you can only join one group- this is it.

Posted by Lisa - Unschooling Mom as Joyful Living, Unschooling Philosophies and Ideas at 3:15 PM EDT

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My daughter had a friend come stay the night last week and she ended up staying 4 days I have been actively- make that aggressively- cultivating more unschool friends for her the last 2 weeks. We have had more then a few incidents now provoked by trying to fit into cliques of the neighbourhoods schooled kids.

My daughter is VERY social , very extroverted and likes to play ALL day with other kids. I am not exaggerating by any mean, IN the Summer things are great with all the kids around but the rest of the year I have to really work at her social life

Sleepovers by far the are the best thing that ever happened to her. It is a bit difficult because homeschoolers and even unschoolers tend to have very busy lives OR they are pretty rigid. We are very free-flowing and tend to make our lives built around relationships. ( Sign on my door used to say- ” In This House We do Relationship Work Before Housework” .. One of my husband’s neat freak husbands used to come by and look around- then say ” Well Lisa- guess the relationships are going pretty well! ”

Last week we had this girl- we have known her for several years but they two never really connected and just recently they have really bonded and become close.
So a couple of nights ago were all snuggled up in the blanket watching TV and I was listening to there conversation… E. was saying she felt she didn’t really fit in anywhere- that the school kids made fun of her and quizzed her all the time and her friend said “Ya- me too!” Then E. said “Well I don’t think i really fit in with homeschooled kids either- I don’t really like tie-dye and I like fashionable clothes (!!!!) ”
Her friend said- “What are you talking about - You have Homeschool Hair! Its all messy like mine ! :-)” My daughter got a HUGE grin on her face and they both went into gales of laughter… Later on I overheard E. say - ” You know what- you are really making me good about being homeschooled! ”

Posted by Lisa - Unschooling Mom as Joyful Living at 2:06 AM EST

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This article says it all. Really encapsulates what unschooling is all about.

Un-School Days
by Cindy Webb
For a kid who never went to school, Matt Moyer is doing pretty well. Matt is currently a junior at the University of Tulsa on a full academic scholarship (a result of earning a 33 on the ACT) and has already received an offer from TU for a scholarship to complete his master’s degree. His future plans include moving to Washington D.C. so he can pursue a career in computer security with an intelligence agency. “I’ll also finish a Ph.D. in computer science somewhere down the line,” says Matt.
What makes Matt’s story even more interesting is that, unlike other traditionally home-schooled children, Matt had no formal schooling at all until he was 16 years old and requested it. He then attended TCC taking algebra and calculus through a concurrent enrollment program offered to high school age students.
But just because Matt wasn’t formally schooled doesn’t mean he wasn’t educated. Matt’s parents chose a different educational approach known as “unschooling.” Matt’s mother Leslie, a child development major in college, hadn’t planned on such a non-traditional approach to education for her children. “The first homeschooler I met happened to be an unschooler,” says Leslie. “Her children had such a fire for learning. I wanted my kids to always have a passion for learning.”
Leslie said she began homeschooling Matt because he was quiet. “I thought I might homeschool just that one year. But it [unschooling] went so well we did it another year and so on.”
Leslie has now unschooled all three of her children, Matt, now 21; Sarah 18 and a freshman at OU; and 14-year-old Elizabeth.
What is Unschooling?
John Holt, a teacher and advocate for education reform and supporter of homeschooling, first coined the term “unschooling.” According to the John Holt and Growing Without School website, unschooling is a type of homeschooling that “doesn’t use a fixed curriculum.” It is also known as “interest driven, child-led, organic, eclectic or self-directed learning.”
So, while a traditional homeschooled child might have a math textbook and study math every weekday between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m., or attend a math co-op classroom with other homeschooled children, the unschooled child will have no formal math education at all. The same goes for reading, history, social studies, English, science—all academic subjects. The children learn when they are ready to learn, using experiences and resources they discover themselves and/or are made available to them by their parents.
According to the website, Holt believed that “We don’t need to be taught how to learn: we’re born knowing and wanting to. It’s our nature, our genes, our biological inheritance. The hardest thing for parents to learn is Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by Lisa - Unschooling Mom as Joyful Living at 10:39 AM EDT

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I absolutely love the Fall. I love the smell in the air, apple picking, camping and of course the vibrant colours and flowers of fall. I was a floral design for a number of years and owned my own flower design studio. Fall also meant the end of the summer lull and the promise of the brisk business of Christmas.

My wedding was in the fall and the flowers were beautiful and lush. I used lots of oranges, tangerines and mustards, similar this Autumn Bouquet There is just something about the mix of bright orange roses and yellow mustard aster the makes you think of warm fall memories- like Thanksgiving and hayrides and reading a book by the cosy fire. My thanksgiving centerpiece always features fall flowers, small pumpkins squash and handmade candles and every year I look forward to this flower delivery

Posted by Lisa - Unschooling Mom as Joyful Living at 2:51 PM EDT

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