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Roots of Unschooling: The Power of Strong Connections |
Unschooling is all about connections—the solid connections of real learning as our kids
explore the world through their interests, and the sometimes more fragile connections of our
relationships. In fact, strong and well-connected relationships with our children are fundamental
to supporting their real learning. And not just learning about the world, but learning about
living in it as well. Relationships are a powerful root of unschooling, one that endures long
after our children leave school age behind. Pam shares her thoughts about connections,
relationships, and how strong relationships with our children help us trust and support
them as we move through the challenges of life together.
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6.5k words. A talk I gave at the 2011
We Shine conference in June of that year.
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What Does Unschooling Mean to Me? |
The answer to this question has evolved over the years we've been unschooling.
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1.7k words. This was my contribution to an article published in the Winter (January) 2011
issue of
Our Schools / Our Selves,
the quarterly journal on education published by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
The issue's theme was "Bright Ideas: Students and educators challenge limits on education",
and the full article was titled "What Unschooling is and What It Means to Us" by Carlo Ricci,
Pam Laricchia, and Idzie Desmarais.
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In Control: Helping a child self-manage a chronic disease |
"The flexibility, collaboration, trust, and respect inherent in the unschooling philosophy has
allowed this family to live a full life with a child who has a chronic disease. Their experience
of diagnosis and management provides some good advice for any family with a child who is learning
to self-manage a chronic illness, allergy, or other long-term health issue. It also demonstrates
how unschooling is not merely an educational method but a philosophy of life and parenting." ~ NL editor
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2.5k words. This article was published in the March/April 2010 issue of
Natural Life magazine.
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Unschooling Passions |
Abstract: Unschooling is about learning through living. As unschooling parents we want to open up the world
for our children to explore. But what if your child is passionately interested in just one thing?
Doesn't that close off his access to the world and limit his learning? I have two children who have
discovered passionate interests. Instead of spending my time trying to convince them to try new
things, I decided to explore their interests with them. I was amazed at how much of the world came
to life when they were free, and encouraged, to immerse themselves in their deep, passionate interests.
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7.8k words. A paper I wrote (adapted from my 2006 TUC talk) published in 2007 in the first issue of
JUAL,
the Journal of Unschooling and Alternative Learning, an online publication which seeks to bring
together an international community of scholars exploring the topic of unschooling and alternative
learning, which espouses learner centered democratic approaches to learning. ISSN 1916-8128.
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Whose Goal is it, Anyway? |
"Making sure our goals for our children are relevent and respectful." ~ LL editor
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2.6k words. This article was published in the March/April 2006 issue of
Life Learning magazine.
It was also subsequently included in Life Media's book,
Life Learning: Lessons from the Educational Frontier, edited by Wendy Priesnitz, a "passionate collection of essays
from the leading edge of educational theory and practice demonstrates how families around
the world are embracing the philosophy of life learning." ISBN 978-0-920118-17-7.
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One Last Thing ... |
"Video games make you wiser" ~ Marco Visscher
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A short interview I did about video games published in the last page column, "One Last Thing ..."
in the April 2005 issue of
Ode magazine. So short there's no advantage
to the alternate formats.
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Everything I Need to Know I Learned from Video Games |
"Watching our kids learn quickly and happily is easy when we feel their interests are "worthwhile", but
what about when we have a hard time seeing the value in what they choose to pursue?" ~ LL editor
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2.5k words. This article (adapted from my 2004 Live & Learn conference talk) was published in the September/October 2004 issue of
Life Learning magazine.
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I Can Read, You Know! |
"A mother's observations of how lack of pressure and unstructured reading time turned a non-reader
into a self-professed bookworm." ~ LL editor
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1.6k words. This article was published in the May/June 2004 issue of
Life Learning magazine.
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