Topic of the day: Unschooling

This past Monday morning, January 11, we were graced by the presence of three articulate, knowledgeable moms of "unschooled" children.

Video from Unschooling Meeting:
What is unschooling?
What does a typical unschooling day look like?
How do unschooling kids learn to read?
How do you document what you do?
What are the challenges you face as parent doing unschooling?

"Unschooling" is a form of homeschooling, which our speakers described as "a natural transition from attachment parenting" and "letting learning happen". One mom described it as organic learning: not forced, but yet not hands-off, either. Primarily and probably most importantly, the focus of unschooling is simply to follow your child's/children's lead in whatever subject matter interests them at any given time. And the fun part, as one mom pointed out, is that you're with them every step of the discovery process, learning new things yourself, too, as you immerse yourself in information.

Recommended Books

• Unschooling Our Kids, Unschooling Ourselves
• Anything by John Holt including How Children Learn, Learning All The Time
• Sandra Dodds Big Book of Unschooling
• A to Z of Unschooling
• Alfie Kohn The Case Against Competition

Other resources the speakers' mentioned:

For a list of recommended unschooling/homeschooling websites click here.
For more information on how to apply to be a homeschooler/unschooler in CA, click here.

Here are a few pictures of the beautiful babies (and beautiful mommies too!) that were at the meetup today. Our Unschooling Guest Speakers were Karri Lewis, Katheryn Culwell, and Paige McKinney (you can find them on Facebook). Enjoy!