NOTE: You can learn more about the details of these ideas in a post I wrote in Notes for a Living World.
As a kid, I always felt school got in the way of learning. During the summer I had time to read the stacks of books I got from the library, explore the woods, and take apart old farm equipment. One summer I made up a measuring system based on a piece of PVC pipe I found and made scale maps of the back yard. I was learning all the time.
But then in September the days were filled with worksheets and spelling quizzes. All my curiosity had to squeeze into the ever briefer hours between school and sunset, the weekends, and that great week between Christmas and New Years.
It never occurred to me that there could be another way. Lately I’ve been searching for other options. Here is a list of what I’ve found so far.
These writers generally argue that kids learn very well without school. They see people as naturally curious learners. The trappings of school (like tests, grades, age levels, standard curriculum, teacher-centered classrooms, and so on) are unnecessary and actually disrupt people’s joy in learning. It is best, these books argue, to give kids (or anyone) resources, time, encouragement, and help (if asked) to learn what and how they want.
I would have loved unschooling as a kid.
From the list, I especially like Kerry McDonald’s Unschooled— it’s a great combination of philosophy, history, and practical advice. Ivan Illich’s Deschooling Society is an often referenced philosophical statement with a lot of ideas worth pondering.
Book list
Allen of Hurtwood, Lady (Marjory Gill Allen). 1968. Planning for Play. Cambridge, Mass.: MITPress. Cite
Boles, Blake. 2012. Better than college: how to build a successful life without a four-year degree. First edition. Loon Lake, CA: Tells Peak Press. Cite
Boles, Blake. 2014. The Art of Self-Directed Learning: 23 Tips for Giving Yourself an Unconventional Education. Cork: BookBaby. Cite
Hern, Matt. 1996. Deschooling our lives. Gabriola Island, BC ; Philadelphia, PA: New Society Publishers. Cite
Holt, John Caldwell. 1977. Growing without schooling. Boston: Holt Associates. Cite
Holt, John Caldwell. 1981. Teach your own: a hopeful path for education. New York, N.Y.: Delacorte Press/Seymour Lawrence. Cite
Houghton, Peter, and Jane Worroll. 2016. Play the Forest School way: woodland games, crafts and skills for adventurous kids. London: Watkins, an imprint of Watkins Media Limited. Cite
Illich, Ivan. 1971. Deschooling society. [1st ed.]. World Perspectives v. 44. New York: Harper & Row. Cite
Ismail, Zakiyya. 2017. “Deschooling Reading List.” Growing Minds (blog). May 23, 2017. Cite
Kamenetz, Anya. 2010. Diy U: Edupunks, Edupreneurs, and the Coming Transformation of Higher Education. White River Junction, Vermont: Chelsea Green Publishing. Cite
Llewellyn, Grace. 2021. The teenage liberation handbook: how to quit school and get a real life and education. Third edition, [Revised and Updated]. Eugene, Oregon: Lowry House Publishers. Cite
McDonald, Kerry, and Peter Gray. 2019. Unschooled: raising curious, well-educated children outside the conventional classroom. First edition. Chicago, Illinois: Chicago Review Press. Cite
Richards, Akilah S. 2019. Raising Free People | TEDxAsburyPark. Cite
Richards, Akilah S. 2020. Raising free people: unschooling as liberation and healing work. Oakland, CA: PM Press. Cite
“Tipping Points.” n.d. Alliance for Self-Directed Education. Accessed December 30, 2021. Cite
“What Is Self-Directed Education?” n.d. Alliance for Self-Directed Education. Accessed December 30, 2021. Cite
Do you have any resources I should add to this list? Have you read any of these? If, so, share your thoughts below!