No. 595, September 22, 2008

The review

A Great Book

read by Jonas Himmelstrand

The Unschooling Handbook

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"Unschooling" is one of the most fascinating pedagogical innovations made since compulsory school. It is a new paradigm of formal education and demonstrates that free and self-motivated learning actually works – at least in a home setting. Unschooling is a form of home schooling – a growing phenomena especially in the Anglo-Saxon world.

In Mary Griffith’s book, The Unschooling Handbook, one unschooling parent defines unschooling as "learning what one wants, when one wants, in the way one wants, where one wants, for one’s own reasons". It is the vision of free, natural, learning-from-life education implemented, tested and delivering.

Mary Griffith says there is two prerequisites for unschooling to work: the availability of learning materials – although not necessarily textbooks – and a parent as constant and caring mentor and guide. In this setting, the natural curiosity of the child to understand the world around them, is a more than sufficient driving force to learn and grow.

The book is basically a practical guide for parents on how to start unschooling. There are many testimonies from North American unschooling parents and children. However, these candid stories give an insight into the future of learning, and maybe of society, for anyone interested.

In the final chapter of The Unschooling Handbook the author demonstrates that unschooling is contagious and leads to general growth in the families using it. Unschooling may very well be the final social paradigm shifter in the change from industrial society to knowledge society.

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The Unschooling Handbook, by Mary Griffith.
Prima Publishing, USA 1998. ISBN 0761512764. 208 pages.

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© 2008 Strategies to Learn & Grow Newsletter • Printable version