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What is Unschooling?: Living and Learning without School
Children are born curious, creative, and wired to learn--and we value those traits in adults! So why, as our children grow up, do we often insist they change to fit into the education system, where curiosity is replaced by curricula, creativity by conformity, and learning by memorizing?If you'd rather nurture your children's curiosity, creativity, and love of learning, let me introduce you to the world of unschooling.In this short book, we'll explore some of the most common questions people have when they first hear about is unschooling? How will my child learn? Without a curriculum, what will they learn? How do I know they're learning? Will unschooling work for my child? But what if my child already has trouble at school? What is deschooling? How do I get started? Life in the real world is much bigger and more exciting than a school can contain within its four walls. If you're ready to embrace life and eager to share its wonder with your children, unschooling might be for you!
58 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 5, 2016
180 people are currently reading
270 people want to read
About the author
Pam Laricchia
6 books60 followersPam Laricchia is a long-time unschooling mom from Ontario, Canada whose three children left school mid-year back in 2002. She loves exploring unschooling and sharing the fascinating things she’s discovered along the way about learning and parenting.
Pam’s articles have been published in Toronto Life magazine, The Natural Parent Magazine, Life Learning Magazine, The Homeschooler, and the peer-reviewed Journal of Unschooling and Alternative Learning.
She's also written five books about unschooling: What is Unschooling?, Free to Learn, Free to Live, Life through the Lens of Unschooling, and The Unschooling Journey.
She hosts the weekly podcast, Exploring Unschooling, with more than 100 episodes in the archive.
Join Pam to explore unschooling at livingjoyfully.ca.
Have fun!
Pam’s articles have been published in Toronto Life magazine, The Natural Parent Magazine, Life Learning Magazine, The Homeschooler, and the peer-reviewed Journal of Unschooling and Alternative Learning.
She's also written five books about unschooling: What is Unschooling?, Free to Learn, Free to Live, Life through the Lens of Unschooling, and The Unschooling Journey.
She hosts the weekly podcast, Exploring Unschooling, with more than 100 episodes in the archive.
Join Pam to explore unschooling at livingjoyfully.ca.
Have fun!
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
March 11, 2017
Why and what, but not so big on How
First, I am a mother of four, including two homeschool graduates - all four homeschooled for at least part of their education. We used a modified unschooling approach, essentially following a well defined curricula for mathematics and foreign languages but a child-led approach to most everything else.
Pam does a great job here of explaining the underlying philosophy of unschooling. I loved her pointed comment that just because teaching is going on doesn't mean that learning is! The only deficiency here is that she really glosses over the legal mechanics of homeschooling. Living in a state (PA) that requires extensive documentation, I can attest that unschoolers will spend many hours coming up with "creative" ways to log homeschooling. This becomes especially difficult in high school.
First, I am a mother of four, including two homeschool graduates - all four homeschooled for at least part of their education. We used a modified unschooling approach, essentially following a well defined curricula for mathematics and foreign languages but a child-led approach to most everything else.
Pam does a great job here of explaining the underlying philosophy of unschooling. I loved her pointed comment that just because teaching is going on doesn't mean that learning is! The only deficiency here is that she really glosses over the legal mechanics of homeschooling. Living in a state (PA) that requires extensive documentation, I can attest that unschoolers will spend many hours coming up with "creative" ways to log homeschooling. This becomes especially difficult in high school.
September 12, 2025
Interesting. But I Don't Agree With It All
I think it is a good instinct to want to help your children find joy in learning and to see the value of learning through living instead of rigid schooling environments. It is also good to value their unique interests and talents and to try to honor and encourage that. But I find the lack of understanding and acknowledgement that children and their parents are in a hierarchical relationship rather than an egalitarian one concerning. There are all sorts of ways to implement that without being authoritarian, but I don't think it is good to let children choose all things for themselves. We have to learn how to choose rightly. How to choose the good. It often doesn't come naturally. Habits, especially the good kind, take intentional practice. No 2 year old spontaneously wants to learn to brush their teeth at first without an example and guidance. And after initial enthusiasm for something wears off consistency and discipline are required to carry us through. This is especially hard for people with ADHD. Doing what we want all the time, or what feels "right for us" does not always lead to living a good, happy, healthy life. I think this book can help especially anxious parents lighten up about ensuring learning is happening at home, but I think it misunderstands some fundamental things about personhood and how and why children learn.
I think it is a good instinct to want to help your children find joy in learning and to see the value of learning through living instead of rigid schooling environments. It is also good to value their unique interests and talents and to try to honor and encourage that. But I find the lack of understanding and acknowledgement that children and their parents are in a hierarchical relationship rather than an egalitarian one concerning. There are all sorts of ways to implement that without being authoritarian, but I don't think it is good to let children choose all things for themselves. We have to learn how to choose rightly. How to choose the good. It often doesn't come naturally. Habits, especially the good kind, take intentional practice. No 2 year old spontaneously wants to learn to brush their teeth at first without an example and guidance. And after initial enthusiasm for something wears off consistency and discipline are required to carry us through. This is especially hard for people with ADHD. Doing what we want all the time, or what feels "right for us" does not always lead to living a good, happy, healthy life. I think this book can help especially anxious parents lighten up about ensuring learning is happening at home, but I think it misunderstands some fundamental things about personhood and how and why children learn.
January 3, 2022
Sometimes even those of us who are not novice unschoolers need a little encouragement/connection/reminder. Pam L is so dedicated to others and her work is huge and caring and kind. This is a great beginning place for people new to unschooling. It's a little bit general, but it will get you going. It can be followed up by her other posts and videos and blogs and courses and offerings on parenting and unschooling. I liked/loved how this reminded me that I was an unschooling parent before I ever knew that unschooling existed - before I'd ever heard the word. We came by this path honestly.
I appreciate her work. Thanks Pam Laricchia.
I appreciate her work. Thanks Pam Laricchia.
August 23, 2018
"What is Unschooling? Living and Learning without School" is a very interesting book. I am pretty new to homeschooling, and only just started due to a necessity for my two daughters after I broke my leg and could not work. So naturally I started to look for books on how to homeschool. I heard a lot about unschooling and at first thought it was just simply not doing school. That is not the case. This book explains the details about unschooling and how it can work for families. It's basically helping your child learn how they naturally learn instead of forcing them to memorize a pre-designed set of useless facts that they have no interest or desire to learn. This book does a good job of addressing the fears parents may have if they are considering unschooling. I'm still not totally sure if I could totally unschool my two girls. I think it is worth a try though.
Jessica D. Adams, Author
Jessica D. Adams, Author
March 5, 2018
I felt the need to write a small review about this book, and wanted to attempt to rate it fairly. In terms of quality, it's a 3. In terms of helpfulness related to the subject, it's a three, regardless of my personal opinions.
If "Unschooling" is a concept you are interested in, this seems like a fine (but very short) primer on the idea of this vs. homeschooling or traditional schooling. With that being said, I don't necessarily agree with the ideals being shared in this book, as I personally think the "free falling" concept of learning and letting your kids engage in *just* the activities that interest them is naive. I think there's time for this in (and out) of the home in the hours outside of school, and that having a well-rounded base is important for everyone. As someone with a lenghtly academic background, I put high value in education. Do I use or remember every single thing I've ever learned? No. Do I think that all of these pieces come together in some way to help shape an understanding of the world?
Yes. That's not to say that traditional schooling isn't also flawed, but to me, both are necessary.
If you want a wealth of information about Unschooling, this book is not a wealth. The author noted she has written a series for this concept, which might be of more help for people looking for many resources. She also shares articles that have been contributed to magazines, and examples of how she would suggest handling certain situations. The appendices were the most education portions of this book.
If "Unschooling" is a concept you are interested in, this seems like a fine (but very short) primer on the idea of this vs. homeschooling or traditional schooling. With that being said, I don't necessarily agree with the ideals being shared in this book, as I personally think the "free falling" concept of learning and letting your kids engage in *just* the activities that interest them is naive. I think there's time for this in (and out) of the home in the hours outside of school, and that having a well-rounded base is important for everyone. As someone with a lenghtly academic background, I put high value in education. Do I use or remember every single thing I've ever learned? No. Do I think that all of these pieces come together in some way to help shape an understanding of the world?
Yes. That's not to say that traditional schooling isn't also flawed, but to me, both are necessary.
If you want a wealth of information about Unschooling, this book is not a wealth. The author noted she has written a series for this concept, which might be of more help for people looking for many resources. She also shares articles that have been contributed to magazines, and examples of how she would suggest handling certain situations. The appendices were the most education portions of this book.
April 23, 2018
Unschooling
Good book overall on homeschooling as an unschooler, pretty general but specific and I appreciated her examples and situational observations
Good book overall on homeschooling as an unschooler, pretty general but specific and I appreciated her examples and situational observations
September 29, 2024
Unschooling was a concept that my sister had thrown about several years ago although nothing really seemed to come from it. The concept itself makes sense from a stepping back and looking at it from a wider view even though some of the more important points were never touched.
Pam Laricchia's book still wasn't the one that provided the answers that needed answering to me (such as how you socialize children who don't have multiple siblings, especially if you go with her concept children may not want to if that isn't their "true" self) while being a clunky, heavy and repetitive read for an only 58-page book. As a result I struggled to finish the book.
Unschooling for the author just appears to be allowing the child to learn at their own pace and at their own desires with no suggestions for any type of lessons of information they may need to know to "graduate" or whatever term they choose. At the same time the caregiver is encouraged on participating in the same system even though anyone worth their own salt would acknowledge that humans are lifelong learners even after leaving the school system, the need to allow the majority of decisions be given to children so they can find their "true" self, saying yes so they tweak their meals or other healthy habits like sleeping to what they want, etc. Basically you are just encouraging the kid to be a miniature adult to a certain degree.
Scattered throughout are quotes and links the author has included to her work. One of the links by Anne Ohman though is a broken link that leads to an error page so the reader who wants to check out that article will have to find it on their own.
The book furthermore has a 13-page appendices on exploring how everyone in the family can discover their "true" selves, how to build trust in the process and how you as a parent or caregiver need to go around forming a specialized bond with your child but only if they want it. There is also at the start a plug to sell the author's other works on the subject for those who may want to read more from her.
In the end the book really didn't teach me nothing new from what I know about learning in general and it is kind of sad this is one of those commonsense items that needs to be wrapped up in a package while served as a brand-new groundbreaking concept.
Pam Laricchia's book still wasn't the one that provided the answers that needed answering to me (such as how you socialize children who don't have multiple siblings, especially if you go with her concept children may not want to if that isn't their "true" self) while being a clunky, heavy and repetitive read for an only 58-page book. As a result I struggled to finish the book.
Unschooling for the author just appears to be allowing the child to learn at their own pace and at their own desires with no suggestions for any type of lessons of information they may need to know to "graduate" or whatever term they choose. At the same time the caregiver is encouraged on participating in the same system even though anyone worth their own salt would acknowledge that humans are lifelong learners even after leaving the school system, the need to allow the majority of decisions be given to children so they can find their "true" self, saying yes so they tweak their meals or other healthy habits like sleeping to what they want, etc. Basically you are just encouraging the kid to be a miniature adult to a certain degree.
Scattered throughout are quotes and links the author has included to her work. One of the links by Anne Ohman though is a broken link that leads to an error page so the reader who wants to check out that article will have to find it on their own.
The book furthermore has a 13-page appendices on exploring how everyone in the family can discover their "true" selves, how to build trust in the process and how you as a parent or caregiver need to go around forming a specialized bond with your child but only if they want it. There is also at the start a plug to sell the author's other works on the subject for those who may want to read more from her.
In the end the book really didn't teach me nothing new from what I know about learning in general and it is kind of sad this is one of those commonsense items that needs to be wrapped up in a package while served as a brand-new groundbreaking concept.
September 10, 2019
Loved it!
I was looking for books about homeschooling/unschooling and I first came upon Pam's "The Unschooling Journey: A Field Guide" but I wasn't ready for it yet. THIS (What is Unschooling?) was the book I was looking for and I absolutely LOVED it!
It gives you ideas on how to start your unschooling journey, but it really talks about how your life changes completely (for the better) with unschooling. Everything in life is a learning experience, and I couldn't agree more. We are constantly learning new things and if we aren't, there's a huge problem going on.
If you are new to the unschooling world, please pick up this book first. I highly recommend it! I'm off to read "Free to Learn" next (hopefully)!
I was looking for books about homeschooling/unschooling and I first came upon Pam's "The Unschooling Journey: A Field Guide" but I wasn't ready for it yet. THIS (What is Unschooling?) was the book I was looking for and I absolutely LOVED it!
It gives you ideas on how to start your unschooling journey, but it really talks about how your life changes completely (for the better) with unschooling. Everything in life is a learning experience, and I couldn't agree more. We are constantly learning new things and if we aren't, there's a huge problem going on.
If you are new to the unschooling world, please pick up this book first. I highly recommend it! I'm off to read "Free to Learn" next (hopefully)!
Read
November 7, 2023I listened to the audio version; it was a quick & easy listen. It's hard for me to rate this book. The author did a decent job explaining the overall concept of unschooling and there seems to be some good ideas/concepts yet at the same time, I disagreed with much of it. It really left me feeling like unschooling is not the way I want our home learning to look....sorry, but my children will still have a bedtime regardless of if they "feel" like they can or should stay up, but yes, we'll definitely talk about the importance of sleep (and we have!), they'll just still have to go to bed...
Perhaps there's another book that will give me a better understanding of this concept/philosophy of home learning...
Perhaps there's another book that will give me a better understanding of this concept/philosophy of home learning...
January 4, 2022
I read this book when I was exploring alternative forms of education for my children because their school was closed due to Covid and virtual classes were NOT working out for us. I had also heard about unschooling as a method of learning and was interested in what it was all about as I have mixed feelings about traditional public school.
This book provides a decent summary and is easy to understand. It's really short though and you would have to read her other books or more books to get more in depth information so I guess for what it was, it was fine, but I would have liked more.
This book provides a decent summary and is easy to understand. It's really short though and you would have to read her other books or more books to get more in depth information so I guess for what it was, it was fine, but I would have liked more.
January 26, 2023
Very quick read - basically a short primer on the idea of unschooling. After 9 years of homeschooling, I’m leaning more heavily to this approach as I see my kids having interests emerging that they can explore on their own.
Rounded up from 3.5 stars. I wish there had been more. I wanted examples and ideas more than just the thoughts about it. But I did appreciate the in depth “essay” on why it’s a good idea.
Rounded up from 3.5 stars. I wish there had been more. I wanted examples and ideas more than just the thoughts about it. But I did appreciate the in depth “essay” on why it’s a good idea.
February 7, 2017
Recommended quick intro to unschooling!
Really enjoyed this quick intro to unschooling! It made me realize how simple unschooling is because it is simply an extension of our lives! I definitely recommend this book to anyone looking into unschooling.
Really enjoyed this quick intro to unschooling! It made me realize how simple unschooling is because it is simply an extension of our lives! I definitely recommend this book to anyone looking into unschooling.
November 16, 2017
Hmmm
This was a good short informational book. I can see the value in learning through living, but I still see value in curriculum. It is definitely a good book to read if you don't know what unschooling is and you want information.
This was a good short informational book. I can see the value in learning through living, but I still see value in curriculum. It is definitely a good book to read if you don't know what unschooling is and you want information.
December 20, 2017
Thinking about unschooling
I found this book very helpful and encouraging. I've known about unschooling for awhile, but was afraid to try it, because I didn't want to mess up my son. Now I feel I have the confidence to go forward and try it. :)
I found this book very helpful and encouraging. I've known about unschooling for awhile, but was afraid to try it, because I didn't want to mess up my son. Now I feel I have the confidence to go forward and try it. :)
March 25, 2018
I suspect I still don't understand, or trust, unschooling. This book is an excellent "why to," but I still feel lost. I want a "how to," but I have a feeling that the how is different for everyone, and that's not helping me feel confident.
January 21, 2020
unschooling is really letting your child to go free in search of the inner knowledge base
the book gives a overview on unschooling, could have added certain detailed theories and other stuffs a parent and learner undergoes while unchooling.
the book gives a overview on unschooling, could have added certain detailed theories and other stuffs a parent and learner undergoes while unchooling.
June 6, 2020
Great introduction
I read this as I'm considering unschooling my awesome autistic daughter. This book is very encouraging, and has answered many of my concerns. Definitely worth a read if your child struggles with mainstream school.
I read this as I'm considering unschooling my awesome autistic daughter. This book is very encouraging, and has answered many of my concerns. Definitely worth a read if your child struggles with mainstream school.
May 27, 2017
Informative
I wanted to learn more about unschooling as I'm going back and forth about whether I want to homeschool or unschool my child. Thanks for this informative read!
I wanted to learn more about unschooling as I'm going back and forth about whether I want to homeschool or unschool my child. Thanks for this informative read!
December 12, 2018
Good book
Very helpful information and well organized. I recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn about unschooling. It explains unschooling very well.
Very helpful information and well organized. I recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn about unschooling. It explains unschooling very well.
December 15, 2018
Great little read
A good little introduction to unschooling with extra material. Love your kids; selflessly and wholly - I think that sums it up.
A good little introduction to unschooling with extra material. Love your kids; selflessly and wholly - I think that sums it up.
May 31, 2019
Great beginner book on unschooling and deschooling.
March 22, 2020
I think it was a good overview of the idea of unschooling. Provided additional material to see if its something to pursue further. Overall, I liked the book, but it did not leave me running out for more information about unschooling.
May 6, 2020
Let them be
The main take a way from this book is to let the unschooled child be. Things will fall in place. Live and learn
The main take a way from this book is to let the unschooled child be. Things will fall in place. Live and learn
July 17, 2020
Great read if you are curious about unschooling.
August 7, 2020
A short but useful and insightful introduction to unschooling that dispels a lot of the misinformation around it.
Would recommended not only this book but also Pam’s podcast!
Would recommended not only this book but also Pam’s podcast!
March 27, 2021
A good explanation of unschooling. Little on how it is executed, but a philosophical exploration.
April 3, 2021
Very concise and to the point.
June 16, 2021
I was really expecting more detail on how to do unschooling. This was more of a broad step back philosophy without much hands on info.
July 3, 2021
Great book. Not too long.
August 20, 2023
Very informative
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews