Radical Unschooling

From the (once lively) Live and Learn Conference list:

Kelly Lovejoy:

I think that, although *I* love the "radical" unschooler label, it can turn folks off just because of the word. It conjures up a wildness and craziness, but that's not what it IS. To me, it means deep, to the core---

Right.

Not the kind of "I was unschooled one summer" or "We unschool science and history, but not math or reading" kind of so-called unschooling.

REAL, deep, committed, clear, purposeful, focussed, heartfelt whole unschooling.

If it moves from the realm of rules to principles, then how could one really compromise without also compromising integrity?

That's where I am with it, and have been for many, many years. I can't NOT unschool because it has become the way we live and think and treat one another.

I hope to add to these links, but my criteria for this is that either the term and idea of "radical unschooling" (distinct from other kinds of homeschooling) is being analyzed, or the link leads to discussions about discussions, and ideas about learning how to unschool.

I don’t mind “radical.” I just hear it as “real” or “actual.”

Radical Unschooling is...
photo by Cass Kotrba

I think there are other factors too, more subtle. Language works with labels. Words are labels. People like to know who they are by what they're called, but they claim not to like it. "I don't like to be labelled" is a form of "I'm an individualistic person too cool to be pegged, and I like to intimidate other people to try make them think I can control how they may refer to me." That's a lot of labelling right there.