Unschooling Families: The Website

Beginning to Homeschool

Where Do We Start?

"The world is our classroom and life is our curriculum."
We care about our children's creativity and individuality and spirits. We spell education "homeschooling." Many families go into homeschooling because of concerns about learning differences, academic rigor, curriculum choices and values, peer dependence, personal safety, travel, medical problems, and creativity. We often continue because it is not only very effective, but also contributes to a family whose members grow closer.

Many of us have chosen homeschooling because of a pedagogical approach. For some of us, a text-based approach is irrelevant. We use trade books (the stuff you would find in ordinary bookstores or libraries) and people involved in the activity we are studying. For a kindergartner studying community helpers, talking to the letter carrier and the grocer or watching the gas company workers dig for a new line accomplishes the same task as a flannel storyboard in a classroom. If we chose to study Costa Rica, there are any number of webpages, travel and history books, videos, etc. - but support groups also find inviting an exchange student to a potluck with each family bringing a dish from that country a great process. (And yes, we sometimes do homeschool activities as a group.)

Others of us, preferring a more conventional curriculum, use conventional texts. Still others use materials or the services of Clonlara School (1289 Jewett St, Ann Arbor, MI 48104 734-769-4511, clonlara@wash.k12.mi.us), Oak Meadow (PO Box 740, Putney, VT 05346 802-387-2021, oms@oakmeadow.com) as well as correspondence schools such as Calvert (105 Tuscany Rd., Baltimore, MD 21210, (410)243-6030, inquiry@calvertschool.org) for K through 8th grade and the American School (2200 East 170th St, Lansing, IL 60438 708-418-2800) for high school. american@www.iit.edu There are others. The kinds of books sold through a homeschool magazine's catalog serve the particular needs of homeschoolers well. The real problem is not finding materials, but choosing among them.

For those looking at the whethers and whys:

John Holt, Teach Your Own, Delacorte Press, 1981, $11.95. Holt is the leading proponent of the unschooling approach to learning.

Mark and Helen Hegener, editors, Alternatives in Education, Home Education Press, 1992, $16.95

Borg Hendrickson, Home School: Taking the First Step, Mountain Meadow Press, 1989 (new edition.) Solid help on deciding why, whether and how. $14.95

For those looking for resources:

Anna Kealoha, Trust The Children : A Manual and Activity Guide for Homeschooling and Alternative Learning Celestial Arts, 1995 $17.95 Many friendly ideas for preschool and elementary ages with a holistic/New Age flavor.

Grace Llewellyn, The Teenage Liberation Handbook: How to Quit School and Get a Real Life and Education, Lowry House, 1991, $14.95. Useful for those beginning or continuing homeschooling in the high school years.

Rebecca Rupp, Good Stuff: Learning Tools for All Ages, Home Education Press, 1993, $14.75 Thousands of books, games, videos, contacts, etc.

Also useful for reference: Mary Pride, The Big Book of Home Learning (4 volumes), Crossway Books, 1991. The most extensive list of curricula, suppliers, etc. with addresses, phone numbers and reviews. The author is a fervent Fundamentalist Christian with a clear viewpoint - but this can still help find what you prefer. And, Theodore Wade, The Home School Manual, Gazelle Publications, 1986. Another extensive source of resources, again with a clearly visible viewpoint.

Last Modified: May 2010

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