Radical Unschooling - A Revolution Has Begun

by Dayna Martin

Radical Unschooling is a progressive parenting philosophy, which includes children learning at home.

Genres: Parenting, Education, Nonfiction, Self Help

124 pages, Paperback

First published June 10, 2009

Reviews

[Chessa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I LOVE the ideas and general message of this book. It's very inspirational and makes the radical unschooling lifestyle seem very natural and doable. Dayna is a great inspiration to me and I think this book should be read by as many parents as possible.

That said, I have a few constructive criticisms. First and really foremost, this book NEEDS a better editor. There were quite a few spelling mistakes that caught my eye and some punctuation that needs to be cleaned up. This isn't a blog - it's a published document and needs to be professional to be taken seriously by many people. I would hate for people to disregard the important messages contained within because of poor editing.

My husband is having trouble reading this book as a result. We're both fairly well-trained writers (in terms of spelling, punctuation, editing) and it is sometimes painful to get through some of the writing. I wanted to take a red pen to it - NOT because I disagreed with the message/content, but because I wanted to it be more clearly stated, more eloquently delivered! I wanted to add semi-colons and rearrange some of the statements for better flow.

I would love to see more published by Dayna - I just hope that next time she gets more people to preview her work and offer suggestions/corrections.

[Private Account · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dayna and I agree on almost everything, but this book really turned me off.

This book is disorganized and extremely repetitive. Dayna comes off as uneducated. She appeals to emotions rather than reason. At the end of the book Dayna tells the reader about The Secret (the book) and how we can manifest whatever we want in life just by envisioning it. So ... this book was not for me.

This book is about freedom and respect but written without either of those things. Dayna gives lip service to heart and compassion, but this book is nothing but judgement of others and superiority of her methods. She repeats too often how blissfully happy she is. It's not believable. Blissfully happy people are nice people. They are accepting people. They don't shame others who are not like them. This book was absolutely not written by a happy person. It's written by an Angry Good Mom who wants everyone to be like her because she is Doing It Right. Dayna reminds me of Javert from Les Miserables.

Dayna thinks she has to be interested in and learn about everything her husband and kids are interested in. That sounds like torture to me. You can facilitate your child's passion without taking it on yourself.

Anyway… This book sucks. I want to say that I appreciate Dayna and her blog and how she is sharing her journey, but it doesn't seem like she IS actually sharing her story. My "inauthentic meter" is going off full force.

HA! I just googled her! I am totally right. Wish I had done that before I wasted my time reading this. http://sandradodd.com/problems/daynam...

[Leiloni Schulz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think that the general idea of this book is good. The author speaks of how we need to treat our children and others with respect and kindness. I agree with this but not to the point where my children can watch, eat and do pretty much whatever they want. I would love my children to explore their passions but I do not believe that at a young age that they are able to make all of their own choices.

[Inhabiting Books]

I don't agree with everything in here, but she provides some food for thought. The book suffers from lack of good editing.

[Elisabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to love this book and it pains me to give it a low rating, but I really gained little from reading it and even my deep love of the philosophy couldn't make me love it more. Dayna Martin is a well-known voice in the unschooling world, i follow her on Facebook, and generally enjoy her perspective, she has optimism and passion to spare, but this book offers little more than a lengthy dose of her optimism, which she thinks you can catch just by knowing about it. I say lengthy because no one needs to hear about joy and authenticity at a superficial level for that long. In all actuality, the book is super short. However, it doesn't offer much insight into what unschooling really is or looks like, what radical unschooling is or how to do it, or anything else of much practical use. There's next to no information in this book at all.

She fails to give any compelling arguments for any of the claims she makes. And I continue to be lost as to why so many unschoolers are closed to the science on how media and commercialism negatively impact children. It's not only because of the limits parents generally set. Would she be this willing to let her kids self-regulate with drugs? Hard-core drugs? Even at age 5? And I can't accept that giving my kids everything sponge bob related is the same as giving them everything geology-related.

And I'm caught on the idea of giving them everything anyway. Dayna doesn't strike me as rich or someone with a spending problem, but you wouldn't know that from her book. Our family is working hard to live within our means, pay down debt, and save for retirement. We don't use credit cards except for emergencies. We're not hurting for money, but we can't be frivolous either. So how on earth are we supposed to be able to buy kayaks on a whim or buy every book and all paraphernalia related to our kids' passion du jour? Plus. I'm trying to learn to live more simply myself! I don't like the idea of giving my kids every single thing they want.

Being at least 90% convinced of the educational philosophy already, I was more in this book for the parenting advice than the educational stuff, so I wasn't too upset that the educational stuff was almost non-existent here. Still, something about the nuts and bolts of it would have been nice, or at least made the book more complete. But even though this book was more about the parenting, it had nothing about how to actually *do* it. I'm glad I read Parent Effectiveness Training recently. So much better on the parenting how to. It's not radical unschooling, but it does advocate respectful parenting, removal of power from parent-child interactions, and collaborative win-win problem solving. It's the best how-to there is. Still, I wish this would have shown me more of how to go the extra step to RU, or why I should. I still have Sandra Dodd's Big Book of Unschooling to try. Maybe I'll give that a peek.

I do find it strange that a woman who does parenting coaching as one of her many careers puts no coaching in her book. Makes me think twice about hiring her.

[Lola Willis · Rating 2 out of 5]

I believe Martin is a visionary and a powerful idealist. She clearly loves her family, life, and peace a great deal. I respect the concepts and philosophies she's shared in "Radical Unschooling," however...

...as open as I was to her ideas, I concluded my reading unpersuaded her vision of unschooling is a) reasonably obtainable by an average homeschooling family, and b) necessarily the healthiest long-term path for children and their families. My reservations truly have less to do with her approach to education than it does to her extreme approach in parenting.

Extreme approaches don't intimidate me; in this case, my skepticism derives from what I perceive is a flawed experience. Martin's description of unschooling and parenting strikes me as unbalanced, incomplete, and unfortunately, manic. Self-assuredness and confidence are absolutely crucial in parenting, and Martin has this all over. But to her discredit, her experience as described in "Radical Unschooling" seems so pure, perfect, and self-actualized as to seem -- ironically -- "inauthentic."

If I knew her family personally, of course I'd personally support and respect whatever homeschooling path they chose for their family. There is probably a lot to be admired in their family life. However, I am unconvinced Martin's approach is either a "revolution" or a "paradigm shift," and certainly not an appealing or sensible approach for me.

[Kit · Rating 1 out of 5]

I felt very disappointed reading the book. It focused on ideology rather than practical advice or the author's experience. What little of her own experience she shared seemed unrealistic. Her kids behave in public simply because they're connected enough that they find her advice about acceptable public behavior useful? Her house is somehow clean because she focuses on her gratitude for her home? Good for her. Not my experience.

[shayna ☾ marie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

I love the ideas & the concept of this book . However, this book reads like a poorly edited blog and is all personal anecdote. There’s no strong foundation, no theories, no science this is based on. Simply, this works for me and some other unschoolers. Which is less than convincing regardless of my belief. I was hoping it would be more informative and fact-based rather than one persons opinions and experiences.

[Cynthia · Rating 1 out of 5]

I noticed some blatant plagiarism in this book which really frustrated and disappointed me. Also, if one came to this book (as I did) looking for info on what radical unschooling is and what it looks like I think they will be let down like I was. I should have read the other reviews first. :/

[Angela Boord · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some nuggets of wisdom mixed in with a whole lot of New Age stuff.

[Mattheus Guttenberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unschooling is a radical variant of homeschooling where child-directed passions and projects are emphasized over curriculum and Radical Unschooling is a text describing Dayna Martin's experience and thoughts on the practice. Drawing upon educational scholars like John Holt, Martin does a fine job describing the virtues of releasing children from organized education and allowing them free rein to pursue their interests, with parents acting mostly as facilitators, counselors, guides, and only seldom as teachers. The chapters spent on describing the nuances of this paradigm shift in education, including cultural issues, interpersonal strategies, psychological changes, and the section on how to work with your partner in transitioning to a freedom-based educational approach are worth the price of admission.

Unfortunately, because Martin is a better mother than writer, the book appears amateurish and is in desperate need of professional editing. The chapters weren't organized well, the conceptual explanation didn't follow linearly, and the various "Unschooling Moments" blurbs inserted within the chapters were unnecessary distractions and did almost nothing to elucidate her points.

Furthermore, in her interest in giving a broad account of her personal approach to unschooling, she often commingles explanations and content on peaceful parenting along with it. As I am interested in both unschooling and peaceful parenting, I was not bothered by the additional content, but I felt it was out of place in this work (as were her thoughts on attachment parenting philosophy - with which I disagree) and I felt the book would have been better served by focusing strictly upon unschooling practices, virtues, habits, and not diving into parenting philosophies. Finally, the last few chapters "Living in Awareness" and "Unschooling Realities" were completely worthless: they consist of Martin extolling Law of Attraction dynamics and insisting the reader "stay grateful" and "stay positive" and "send good energy out to the universe" and other superstitious New Age spiritual babble. If you can overlook these misgivings - or, if you somehow benefit from them - Radical Unschooling is a decent introduction to the view that children learn best when they are free to pursue what they want to learn.

[Tangeree Gillette · Rating 2 out of 5]

In my quest to find a method of homeschooling that works for my son and I, I have been reading all of the different methods. As a parenting book I really love many of the concepts here and follow many of them, as a ‘schooling’ method I am not sure I can fully endorse this method.

I agree that when a person is interested in something by jay they will learn more and work harder to learn more, however that there are times in life where you must just do something or learn something even if you don’t want to. I also am concerned that if a child taught by unschooling methods want to go to University they may not be prepared to be as successful as possible.

I found many great passages and quotes however I didn’t like the different fonts and text sizes as well at her highlighting certain sentences or ideas. It felt harder to read and a bit disjointed, also what she thinks is important may not be what I took as important from the book and I felt like these highlighted portions led me and that it was harder to gather what I needed from the book.

[April · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspiring

I was inspired by this book. We have a 3 year old son and we have already been parenting in an unconventional way and we were already convinced that unschooling was what we were going to do. But, this book just made me fired up! It made me want to shout it from the roof top and tell everyone that wanted to listen that this is the answer to any parenting woes. Connection, respect, happiness, and joy are the answer!

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I may have read an earlier version of this book, but I agree with other readers that the content is good, but it's in serious need of an editor. That being said, the book did help me realize I can relax some in my homeschooling of my daughter and not worry so much about meeting artificial goals.

[Kathy Lyons · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely the book I needed to read about unschooling!

[Littlevision · Rating 3 out of 5]

I haven't read many books on unschooling (yet -- though I've read several books in part) and it was my understanding that this book focused on the ideology of unschooling rather than practical ways to put the philosophy in use. That's exactly what it is, though really it only focuses on the "radical" identifier of unschooling -- some (read: much) of the things Dayna talks about only apply to radical unschooling which is far more a parenting philosophy than an educational philosophy.

A couple more thoughts:

This book is SHORT... even shorter than it looks because the words are double spaced. (Which is okay, I tend to shy away from super long books as it's difficult to see the progress one makes when they are as slow a reader as I am!)

There are also some typos. The one that left a bad taste in my mouth? -- in the conclusion paragraph: "We are effecting the course of human history." Effecting?

Anyway, this book is NOT an advice book. It is just a cosy, holistic introduction to radical unschooling. It will not appeal to every crowd.

[Natalie Willer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book to rethink the traditional schooling system I have been part of and rethink authoritarian parenting methods.

Dayna Martin stresses the importance of family and connecting to not only your children but also your husband and yourself by meeting everyone's needs including your own. The way she suggests this is to come to compromises when issues arise.

What is also really heartwarming is her passion and enjoyment to learn and grow with her children. This book has surely got me to rethink what kind of parent I want to be or what kind of person I would like to be on a whole.

After reading this I am also wanting to start set up a family vision board in our kitchen. All in all a great book to read.

[Claudette · Rating 2 out of 5]

(Audiobook) A pretty radical book about parenting, throwing away many parenting ideas from bygone era. While I'd like to try some of these ideas and think some of her beliefs are correct. Some of her ideas I disagree with. Like letting a child carry-on in a shop. I don't agree in doing this because you need to teach the child that it's not appropriate behaviour in a public place. She also sounds like she doesn't have to earn an income, simply because she can devote 100% of her time to her children. Wish I was in a position to do that!

[Jocelyn Joel Jeffries Fry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started this book as a Christian homeschooler that purchased the expensive boxed curricula and stressed myself silly. Since reading this book last summer, I've relaxed and contemplated so many things about our school. I don't think I'll ever be "radical" but this book gave me much to chew on and for that I am grateful.

[Ciam7578 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was more of a parenting book (with education naturally flowing) than s traditional Unschooling book. I knew before reading that it was a secular book and I'd say 90% of the book is neutral, informative, inspiring, and informative. The last part was a bit uncomfortable for me but overall it's a great read!

[Desiree · Rating 3 out of 5]

focuses on the ideology of unschooling. no practical advice. would have liked to see more examples of potential conflicts and how they were averted. it does inspire one to be more radical (which is good), but the lack of practical examples make it feel a bit like fluff.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short but sweet book that gives a good introduction to what Radical Unschooling is all about. This is a personal account rather than a research-based work, so look here for one family's journey but not for a comprehensive explanation of unschooling education.

[Abu Kamdar · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book does a decent job of explaining what radical unschooling is and why some people do it, but it failed to convince me to switch from homeschooling to radical unschooling. In fact, it left me more doubtful about unschooling as a system.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book offers a great example of what Radical Unschooling is but the author just gets on my nerves. I picture her sitting around all day singing Kumbaya. No family, no matter what type of education is going on is that honky dorey all the time.

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly did not care for this book. Less about Unschooling and more about respectful parenting. Very repetitive also. Maybe good for parents with very young children.

[Josh Steimle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brief, but good for the length it is. It has pretty much sold me on the idea of unschooling our kids.

[Stephanie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not well written. More like a blog post than a book...

[Becca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the ideas behind the book, suffered from a severe lack of editing and bizarre layout that made it a little painful to read. While I don't agree with everything the author had to say, I do love her message of love, respect, and dedication to the child's passions rather than formal education.