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.
more images are here
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.)
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. Click "messages" to search. Probably your question has been discussed more than once.
On facebook, Radical Unschooling Info has fifteen 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
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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more quotes—those in the randomizer at the top of this page, and others

Home
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. 😉