Radical Unschooling


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LEARNING ALL THE TIME

People learn by playing, thinking and amazing themselves. They learn while they're laughing at something surprising, and they learn while they're wondering "What the heck is this!?"

CAN IT WORK IN THE REAL WORLD?

If unschooling can't work in the real world, nothing at all can. People will say "How will they learn algebra in the real world?" Is there algebra in the real world? If not, why should it be learned? If so, why should it be separated artificially from its actual uses? "Why?" should always be the question that comes before "What?" and "How?"

There is a Sesame Street book called Grover and the Everything in the Whole Wide World Museum. There is a "things under the sea" room and "things in the sky" room, but still each room is just a room in a museum, no windows, everything out of context. Then he opens a big door marked "Everything Else" and goes out into the sunshine. There is unschooling.

It's now available as a kindle book! Used-book prices are too high. Maybe you'll come across one for $5 or so; I'd get it. Amazon's listing (U.S.)
More images are here

NOT JUST FOR KIDS!

The way adults tend to learn things is the way people best learn—by asking questions, looking things up, trying things out, and getting help when it's needed. That's the way pre-school kids learn too (maybe minus the looking things up), and it is the way "school-age" kids can/should learn as well. Learning is internal. Teachers are lovely assistants at best, and detrimental at worst. "Teaching" is just presentation of material. It doesn't create learning. Artificial divisions of what is "educational" from what is considered NOT educational, and things which are "for kids" from things which are NOT for kids don't benefit kids or adults. Finding learning in play is like the sun coming out on a dank, dark day. [Playing]

NEW to unschooling?

          Help is here!

                      Beginning

                                Deschooling

                                           Gradual Change

                                                       Do It

"Read a little, try a little, wait a while, watch."

Discussions

My favorite and oldest discussion group is called AlwaysLearning, where the principles underlying unschooling are the topic.

On facebook, Radical Unschooling Info has over ten years of archives.

LINKS TO OTHERS' WRITINGS

Joyce Fetteroll Pam Sorooshian

Deb Lewis Schuyler Waynforth

and two dozen others linked here

THIS PAGE IS OLD for a webpage.

Click here to see the oldest preserved version from August 2000. It was at least a year old at that time (July 1999 or older). Expage.com was an early free webpage-hosting site. File size was severely limited. We counted words and letters. Spaces. When something was added, something else usually needed to be deleted or shortened.

Twenty-one years later, here is how it appeared just before it was made vertical, in November 2021

Home page: SandraDodd.com

Daily Inspiration:

Just Add Light and Stir

Books

The Big Book of Unschooling

Moving a Puddle and other essays
by Sandra Dodd

Recordings and Interviews

Conference talks and recorded interviews:

SandraDodd.com/listen

There are some videos on Youtube.

Unschooling Playlist, Sandra Dodd

Print/text-based interviews:

SandraDodd.com/interviews
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The list of topics on my site that used to be here was preserved and moved where it has a bit more space. It doesn't have newer pages, but if you're missing it or needing it, go to SandraDodd.com/topics. Each page does have at least three links. You might never finish. 😉