The Organized Unschooler

by Christian D. Larson

Promise Yourself

To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.

To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet.

To make all your friends feel that there is something in them.

To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.

To think only of the best, [...]

A middle school mom, Ann Wentworth of Fon du Lac Wisconsin wants these books banned from her daughter’s school district. She’s petitioned the school (at the expense of local taxpayers) and lost the first request for censorship. She keeps adding books to her list. I imagine every time she reads one it [...]

Five Reasons to Stop Saying “Good Job!”

By Alfie Kohn

Hang out at a playground, visit a school, or show up at a child’s birthday party, and there’s one phrase you can count on hearing repeatedly: “Good job!” Even tiny infants are praised for smacking their hands together (”Good clapping!”). Many of us blurt out these judgments [...]

After close observation of their own children, with a combined age of 61 years, observations of many other children in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Israel, Greece, Italy, Swiss, France, Holland, Belgium, England, Scotland, and the Bahamas, and numerous reports throughout recorded history, the authors have determined that a widely-distributed behavioral disorder has somehow been overlooked [...]

Check this magazine out, sign up for the free issue. it’s brand new from Sarah Parent from Clan of parents and Barb Lundgren of Rethinking Education, the annual Texas Unschooling Convention.

In the first issue, there were stories from people of all walks of life, from a teenage girl to a 60 yr old lady, [...]

The Uncle Eric books are praised for teaching financial literacy. As an unschooling mom, I know that my financial knowledge leaves a lot to be desired, so instead of waiting until my kids are old enough and then forcing them to read these books, I am working through them myself. The workbooks, I am [...]

I think by now every unschooler knows of Dayna Martin’s YouTube video series, but there are a lot more videos by and about unschoolers that you can enjoy online. Check out this article with Unschooling videos by parents, kids and educators. Also, check out these Unschooling Playlists for hours and hours of unschooling videos [...]

John Taylor Gatto is a former New York State and New York City Teacher of the Year and the author, most recently, of The underground History of American Education. He was a participant in the Harper’s Magazine forum “School on a Hill,” which appeared in the September 2003 issue.

Against School- How public education cripples our [...]