I tried to sell this site so I could move on… do something else with my life. I run a large family rights website that keeps me pretty busy in my available online moments. However the site didn’t sell, and I’m glad because after taking a few months off, I’m motivated to do something with this site again. Why not? I still care about homeschooling independently.

I’m like many independent homeschoolers – I get frustrated by the lack of understanding many homeschoolers show. Partly they’re just frightened by the oppressive laws we deal with here in the USA these days, in many states. Some parents are victims of misinformation. They think they have to do what the public school establishment demands.

But no, we are the parents and we have the God-given right and responsibility to make decisions for the benefit of our children.

Our government has become a behemoth of red tape and statutory requirements. There are very few states where true independent homeschooling can be done. This is what I’d love to see changed in the future, but it is very, very hard. Once a law has been established limiting the rights of a parent to homeschool independently, it is very difficult to go backwards and delete the law from the books. You can count on more than half the legislators in any state being old stuck in the mud stogies who aren’t going to budge on a law overseeing the activities of homeschoolers. Any move toward independence, now that it has been sucked away, will be met with resistance.

So why do I bother? Well, there are a very few states where parents can homeschool relatively independently. I want people to know this freedom does exist in various places, and that in a natural common law society we’d have the rights to educate as we feel is best.

Meanwhile, even in states where there are a lot of restrictive requirements regarding homeschool activities, there’s still room for creativity in curriculum planning. There’s nothing more loving a parent can do than to take into consideration the needs and desires of their offspring and give them an education designed just for them.

I love freedom. I love letting children learn in freedom. Therefore I love unschooling. In theory it makes more sense than any other type of education.

Unschooling is child-directed learning. Unschooled children are free to decide what interests them, just like you and I have that freedom as adults. When they study topics that interest them, they are better motivated to learn. Learning happens naturally. All children love to learn. They don’t have to be coerced into it in a structured situation. They don’t need to be corralled into classrooms for learning to happen. Learning is a natural process in human life. It should happen naturally – and that’s essentially what unschooling allows for.

I’m not crazy about the term, ‘unschooling’. Why should we have to mention schooling at all? How about calling it ‘natural education’ or ‘natural learning’ instead? I like how Sara McGrath calls it Whole Life Learning.

Who ever decided that schooling was best for kids? Schooling forces unwanted and often, unnecessary information into them as if they were cups waiting to be filled with facts and figures. As soon as they tire of the topic the information washes over the sides and runs onto the floor.

Children may be cups, but they should be filled with the information their hearts tell them is needed for their own unique development. Why should children be subjected to someone else’s ideas of what they should learn when they are quite naturally learners who are curious about the world and how to do things?

Letting children choose their own topics for study allows each child to develop his or her own unique potential. For example one child may choose to study engines and motors. Another may be fascinated with mathematics. Yet another may want to spend all day reading novels. Each of these children is developing skills he or she will need for doing whatever they’ll do for a living later in life. The child who is fascinated by engines grows up to be an auto mechanic. The one that loves math grows up to be a scientist. The reader grows up to be a writer. Each one trains himself/herself in all the skills needed for the chosen preoccupation. And what’s wrong with that? — Nothing!

Why should these children be forced to do repetitive tasks involving subjects that bore or confound them? That’s what happens in traditional schooling. So the gear-head child is forced to read and loses self-esteem because it is so very hard to do due to dyslexia. And the math genius is forced to study Egyptian history and write term papers about it, and never totally develops to true potential because too much time was wasted with subjects that weren’t of interest. And the reader is jerked away from a fascinating stack of books to do page after page of boring math problems, and learns to hate math and feels inferior because it is such a difficult skill for this particular child.

Well, if the reader NEEDED math skills, then the reader would want to learn. And if the dyslexic mechanic-in-training NEEDS reading skills, the motivation to learn will come naturally. And if the mathematician CHOOSES to learn more about history I’m sure that will happen.

. . .

Now a word about my own homeschooling of two precious children for nine years. I was an undercover wannabe unschooler because I was a single mother. I already had the traumatic experience of having a CPS agent remove one of my children because I was being battered by her father. I separated from him and fought in court to get my child home again when she was eight months old. It wasn’t easy, and forever after I was fearful of having CPS again interfere with my parenting. I turned into one of the most cautious parents ever, educated myself, got a paralegal degree at the local community college, and eventually started what is now one of the best known child welfare help websites on the web, FightCPS – also known as ‘Fight CPS and Win’.

Because of that experience and my lack of a husband, I was very cautious about unschooling and worked hard to try to be an eclectic homeschooler instead — one who chooses from a variety of curriculum materials with which to educate my children. I didn’t want anyone to think I wasn’t providing my children with a proper education. I know this sounds terribly paranoid and my hope is that homeschoolers in the future will never have to go through that!

Most of what I brought into the house to share with my children went along with their own interests, so in a way I was following the unschooling philosophy of child-directed learning, and there were months that went by when I allowed my children to follow their own interests and learn at their own pace. I would love to have been an outspoken unschooler, but it didn’t seem feasible for us at the time.

. . .

Therefore — I have a lot of respect for unschoolers who come right out and announce to the world that they have abandoned the traditional educational model of choosing subjects, books, and worksheets for their children… and trying to stuff that education down unwilling throats. I’m sure many of us who have homeschooled can see this would be a difficult thing – a total power struggle – anyway. But some parents are so domineering they’re able to maintain control that way anyhow, or so it seems.

So this posting is in praise of unschoolers, and I’d like to include some videos found on YouTube showing unschoolers telling what they believe about education and why they chose unschooling. And I thank these brave and adventurous parents who are on the cutting edge of unschooling — giving their children an educational experience that is sure to turn them into the amazing adults they were born to become.
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Sandra Dodd has a wonderful series of videos about unschooling plus a site devoted to this kind of education: Sandra Dodd – Radical Unschooling.

I identify with what she says about worrying that someone would come to the door and demand to know what we were doing. And in fact, that’s exactly what happened to us in 2001…

Perhaps I should leave that for another posting . . . maybe next week. I’m on a new schedule for this blog, by the way. I’ve decided to post here every Tuesday. More about my new scheduling attempt here: Schedules! Do they work for you?.

More from Sandra Dodd on YouTube:
Unschooling & Real Learning
The Universe Inside Your Head

Sandra’s daughter, Holly, is on YouTube too! She’s been unschooled her entire life.

I love Holly’s enthusiasm and would love to see more videos with her views on unschooling and what she’s learned this way.

Another outspoken unschooler on YouTube is Dayna Martin (no relation to me.) I love her videos! Her website is Unschooling America.

More of Dayna’s videos: Dayna Leigh Martin… at this time she’s got 22 videos and they’re all about unschooling!

This young woman, Kate Cayley, is a writer, theatre director and teacher who was unschooled. In this interview she talks about what it was like and what unschooling did for her.

I have to admire someone who is able to achieve so much early in life! Unschooling allows children and teens to focus on their goals and develop their interests.

One more! Idzie is an unschooling blogger: I’m Unschooled. Yes, I Can Write. In this YouTube video she says “unschooling is definitely my primary passion” and talks about unschooling books she recommends.

I haven’t read most of the books she recommends — but I have read several John Holt books and loved them. She’s right, they start out slow and are hard to get into, yet his observations of how children learn are absolutely fascinating and sold me on unschooling even though he didn’t use that word. When I started homeschooling, the John Holt books were the only unschooling books available (that I was aware of.)

. . .

And now for a quote from a time management book I’m reading this week:

“…work that holds our attention and allows us to use our creativity may actually make us feel energized and exhilarated by the flow of our own intuitive resources.” — Ann McGee-Cooper

This is essentially what homeschooling is about. It allows children to explore their individuality and personal interests, and encourages deep learning by getting out of the way rather than distracting the learner with things he or she doesn’t need to learn about.

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One more thing I have to share with you this week: I started a Squidoo lens with homeschool tips and information, and there’s a place for you to leave a link to your blog there too. Please come by and see what homeschoolers are doing on Squidoo.Com: Homeschooling Tips.

A newly announced homeschooling law in the UK would force parents to open their homes to community agents sent to inspect homeschool curriculums. I can’t tell if this “announced” law is “new” or “proposed” … the article is Crackdown on home-schooling as parents face annual checks and registration.

In the UK government agents don’t have access to private homes unless there’s a crime in progress… yet homeschooling families would be subjected to forced in-home inspections by officials.

Amy Newstead of Education Otherwise stated that “Parents have emailed me saying they were typing in tears…”

I’d be crying too. Governments that are too repressive instill a self-protective attitude of rebellion in their citizens. It is a terrible way to live.

It is that time of year. Children all over America, and in many other countries, are telling their parents how much they dislike the schools they attend. They beg their parents to try homeschooling. They live for the day they don’t have to go back to school.

Are you going to be one of those parents who tries homeschooling?

Homeschooling is a wonderful, loving thing to do for your children. All too often, however, homeschooling parents give up before they get started. They may try homeschooling for one school year, decide nothing was learned, then send their children back to school.

I knew one family that claimed to be homeschooling, but they never took time to learn their state homeschooling laws. They weren’t doing it legally and nothing educational was planned, not even unschooling. When a family tries to fool the school system by pretending to homeschool, it hurts everyone. The irresponsibility of one family could be used against other homeschoolers who want to do it legitimately.

If you’re going to be homeschooling, take the time to find your state’s homeschooling association. You can Google “homeschooling” with the name of your state, and the right links should be at or near the top of the search results. Learn the homeschool laws in your state and be prepared to follow them. I highly recommend that you consider joining the homeschool association in your state; it can be very helpful to band together with other homeschooling parents.

Another homeschool mother I knew enrolled her son in a charter school. The curriculum forced on the boy didn’t match his needs, and his mother couldn’t get him to do it. Because of this failure she gave up and made him return to school. A few years later she took her unhappy son out of school again and homeschooled him successfully – that effort is ongoing.

If you’re going to homeschool, have a plan. While you’re at it, make a Plan B just in case your first plan doesn’t work out. A contingency plan could see you through the rough spots as you adjust to the homeschooling life.

Don’t give up too easily! The second year of homeschooling is where the best experiences usually begin because you will relax into the roles of parent-teacher and child-student. You’ll find the methods that work for you and eliminate those that don’t work in your situation. Let the situation mellow. Let the children relax and learn to enjoy learning again. It takes time…

While you’re at it, think about the different types of homeschooling. What appeals to you?

Unschooling is also known as child-directed learning. It means that your child will be free to explore the world and find topics that inspire him or her. Then you will help by providing more experiences and learning materials that contribute to that fascination.

Perhaps you’d prefer something more structured, with you leading the show. Eclectic homeschooling allows the parents to choose a variety of learning materials for their children. You can get as creative about it as you want.

What I did was a mixture of unschooling and eclectic homeschooling. I watched to see what my children were interested in and encouraged them to develop their unique talents – plus I provided learning materials and read lots of novels of my choosing. Of course the novels were chosen with their interests in mind.

The most restrictive type of homeschooling is to purchase a fixed curriculum like Calvert or Abeka. The curriculum tells you what to study and when. I never tried this but I’m sure for some children and their families, it works great. Don’t be disappointed if you sink a lot of money into this project and it doesn’t work for you. Just be prepared and know in advance that if you do spend money on a curriculum program, it may or may not work out.

If you’re just now considering whether or not to educate your children at home, you might want to take a look at Andrea Hermitt’s suggestions in Please don’t jump into homeschooling blindly. She gives five great suggestions to help you make your decision.

One thing Andrea Hermitt suggested in her article was that prospective homeschool parents read books about homeschooling. Here are a few suggestions for books that may help you learn enough about homeschooling to make a decision that will be best for you and your children.

This morning my eyes were drawn to an ominous headline: Home-school students need to be monitored. Gritting my teeth I clicked on the link only to find it was written by a person who used to be homeschooled. Weigellia G. Trook wrote: “For me, home schooling was no schooling.”

For teens with Weigellia’s problem, I offer ten ideas for teens who think they’re not getting enough education during homeschool hours.

1. Take charge of your own education. Make your own goals, decide on what curriculum will help you reach those goals, and while you’re at it, take responsibility for everything that happens to you. Don’t expect your parents to do for you what you can but won’t do for yourself. If you think you need to learn algebra, find resources on the internet that will help you learn. You might need to ask your parents for the money to buy books, or videos. If they don’t have funds, then think up some fund raising ideas – selling crafts, for example. A homeschooled young lady in our town made beaded hair accessories and sold them for ten dollars each. I’ll let you in on a secret from the parents’ point of view. When a teenager is unmotivated and finds fault with you and all your homeschool efforts, it is discouraging for the parent and they eventually get tired of trying. But when a teen takes delight in learning new things and is able to make decisions about what he or she wants to learn, education happens.

2. There’s no doubt that during the teen years life can get depressing, especially if you think that your parents are doing the wrong things for you. Make a list of one hundred things you could do that would make you happier. Then set your mind on doing those things, one way or another. You might start with things that are easily accomplished and not illegal.

3. Have you considered taking a literature-based approach to homeschooling? One of the writers in my critique group is a young formerly-homeschooled man who had his first book published at the age of twenty-four. He started writing novels for children as a teenager. Want to see his first book? Have a look: Lost in the Fog. He wrote down a memoir for one of his much-older neighbors. What a great project for a homeschooling teenager!

4. Great books are fun to read. Why not start a TBR list? A TBR list is a list of books “to be read”. When you think of something you want to learn about, look it up on the Amazon site, and write down interesting titles on your list. If money is tight you can check your local library for the titles you want. You can make a corresponding list of books already read, like I did: My Reading List.

5. Start an online business, or any kind of business for that matter. I mention online business first because that’s where I make my money. No matter what your primary hobby is you can bet there are others wanting to find information about it on the internet. You can write an e-book and sell it, or write a blog about it and place advertising on your blog for extra cash. If writing isn’t your thing, maybe sketching or photography are. Blogs with artwork are popular. If you start your blog at blogger.com you can put AdSense on it. You might need your parents’ help with the AdSense but it does provide a good revenue. There are lots of high school students bringing in fifty to several hundred dollars monthly just by blogging on a topic of interest to others. One sample is my Bigfoot blog… not by an actual teenager – but I do make a bit of money from the AdSense! Hey, if I can do that, so can you! On the other hand, your hobby might lend itself to some other type of income opportunity. My son is a BMX bike enthusiast and has helped many people needing bike parts and repairs.

6. Suppose writing or reading isn’t your thing. That’s okay. My son isn’t much of a reader either, due to dyslexia. You could start a sketch journal instead. Sketch whatever you see. Collect your sketches and you will see the progress you make. Yes, this is educational. Who said education has to be limited to things you can read in a textbook?

7. Start a nature study of the area you live in. Identify plants and learn more about animals. When you go out the door, do you know the names of all the weeds you see? How about the trees nearby? What kind are they? I don’t know about you, but it bugs me terribly not to know the names of plants I see. You might be able to get a plant identification guide from the library. I have one that helps me identify any tree I see. What kinds of animals live in your vicinity? Once when I lived in urban North Oakland, California, I found an oppossum in my backyard. Now that I live in the forest in Northern California, I get more exciting animal visitations. I’ve seen a mountain lion on my front porch and a  bear through my kitchen window! Do you know how to protect yourself from local wildlife? That would be a great research project and perhaps you could write something about it to help others needing the information.

8. Do you need to learn more about math? You might be able to convince your parents to buy you some math software. Most homeschool parents would be thrilled if their teenager took an interest in learning math. There are also plenty of websites that offer mathematics information. You don’t need your parents to push and prod you on this endeavor. Education happens more readily when you take a delight-motivated approach to your own learning, no matter what the topic is.

9. Imagine yourself as the person you would like to be. Get to know this vision of the ideal you. What steps would you need to take to become that person? Write a list of things you need to do, then do them.

10. Meditate. I know, some may say this sounds boring, but there’s nothing like inner space to give you new ideas about what direction your life should take. You are the one that needs the enlightenment and motivation to find areas of study that appeal to you. Nobody else can do this for you. Don’t look to your parents to dish out assignments when the true assignment is to make your own discoveries and direct your own life.