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Unschooling To University: Relationships matter most in a world crammed with content
UNSCHOOLING To UNIVERSITY School is one option to get an education; homeschooling is the second, and unschooling is the third. Many parents are frustrated by the school system, perhaps because of bullying, crowded classrooms, and outdated, dull, online courses. Disengaged learners that have no say in their coerced curriculum tend to act out, tune out, or drop out. Education must change and unschooling is the fastest growing alternative method of learning. Two decades ago, students registered with their local school based on their house address. Now, with the internet, students are borderless. Learning can occur anywhere, anytime, anyway and from anyone - including self-taught. Self-directing their education, unschoolers learn
Play
Projects
Reading
Volunteering
Video games
Sports
Mentorship
Travel
Life This book explores the path of 30 unschooled children who self-directed all or part of their education and were accepted by universities, colleges and other postsecondary schools. Most have already graduated. What children need most are close relationships - parents, teachers, siblings, relatives, coaches, and mentors within a wider community, not just within an institutional school. Educational content is everywhere. Caring relationships are not. Families that embrace unschooling do not have to choose between a quality education and a relaxed, connected family lifestyle. They can have both. #Unschoolingtouniversity @Parentingexpert "Concise parenting advice that presents alternative ways to help children grow, learn, and get into college or work. Arnall's stage-by-stage descriptions, supporting documentation, and personal stories create a useful handbook for families interested in self-directed education." Patrick Farenga, John Holt/Growing Without Schooling.
Play
Projects
Reading
Volunteering
Video games
Sports
Mentorship
Travel
Life This book explores the path of 30 unschooled children who self-directed all or part of their education and were accepted by universities, colleges and other postsecondary schools. Most have already graduated. What children need most are close relationships - parents, teachers, siblings, relatives, coaches, and mentors within a wider community, not just within an institutional school. Educational content is everywhere. Caring relationships are not. Families that embrace unschooling do not have to choose between a quality education and a relaxed, connected family lifestyle. They can have both. #Unschoolingtouniversity @Parentingexpert "Concise parenting advice that presents alternative ways to help children grow, learn, and get into college or work. Arnall's stage-by-stage descriptions, supporting documentation, and personal stories create a useful handbook for families interested in self-directed education." Patrick Farenga, John Holt/Growing Without Schooling.
384 pages, Perfect Paperback
Published September 28, 2018
42 people are currently reading
201 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 5, 2020
Didn't find that it was a very well written book. Didn't like how it was laid out. She seems to be an expert on the subject, however her references seem to be lacking. She does share a lot of her own personal experiences and how her children are amazing adults now, however is that due to nurture or nature? I struggled to find much I could get out of it personally.
July 2, 2020
This was a great book with some helpful information. The author uses references for claims, which I appreciate), however, this is a self published book disguised as being publicly published. There are many spelling and grammar errors throughout.
September 23, 2024
This book is too anecdotal to be considered research on the subject of unschooling and success as an adult. It really does not need to be as long as it is, the format/organization is absolutely atrocious and often repetitive. It starts off fairly strong with some very good points on how to implement unschooling for the benefit of one's family, but editors should have cut it off before chapter 15, Assessment, because that is where the ideology begins to really fall apart.
Arnall says that "you put on a video about electromagnetism and the children watched 10 minutes of it before declaring it was boring and left the room. You still document that you presented the video. You have done your part as facilitator." What a horribly lackadaisical approach to parenting and education! You wouldn't introduce your child to the toilet once and declare him potty trained while he still wets his pants!
In chapter 16, it really goes off the rails stating, "So, children raised in a supportive, emotionally healthy, functioning, unschooling family, with caring, attentive adults will probably never fall into addiction, regardless of how many hours a day they play video games." WHAT?! This is such a naive and dangerous statement to make because it excludes other factors such as neurodivergence, societal pressures, and other mental health factors. To claim that we needn't worry about addiction affecting our children because we unschool and show love is downright negligent and should have been omitted.
I personally take issue with a rule mentioned in Chapter 18, "We never even try it again if Mommy is the one crying!" Yes, I have had my share of difficult lessons accompanied by tears and frustrations. Yes, we stop what we're doing for the day and move on to something else for that time. No, we do NOT never try again because I was bested by our activity that day. What a horrible lesson to model for your children: it's difficult so let's quit and never look back. There are times to throw in the towel, but folding at the first sign of adversity is not a life lesson I personally want my children to take away from homeschooling.
The organization of the Age Groups, Elementary, Junior High, High School, and Postsecondary School did not work out the way they should have. There are so many sub-categories that warranted their own sections but were stuffed here and there that really didn't prove to be any benefit to the age group they were shoved under. Her tangent on video games, for example, is also too anecdotal to be of service to the average parent. Because her own children make the distinction between games and real life does not account for other children's processing of video games and comprehension, especially for children with ADHD, ODD, or autism. She wrongfully assumes children have the self-regulatory skills to take a break from gaming and participate in other activities. From my own personal experience, some children will always have zero interest in the reading material strategically placed around the house or craft supplies when video games are present.
Travel is often just a dream for most homeschool families due to finances, but Arnall brags about traveling to 12 different countries and encourages others to do the same. That is an extremely privileged and unrealistic point of view. Even in unschooling, with no structured curriculum to purchase, the average family is not in a financial position to travel globally. Once again, projecting anecdotal living as the structure of unschooling does a disservice to the families reading this book looking to implement this style of learning for their families.
Being from Canada, the examples are logically focused on the Canadian education system, leaving those of us in the US or other countries searching blindly for the path that our students will need to take to either achieve certification that they are done with school or what is needed to attend university. Obviously, we can't fault Arnall for writing what she knows, but this just goes back to the book being more anecdotal than actual research.
The section I take the most issue with is about Postsecondary School and how much the parent is responsible for in their adult student's life. By this time, a student, an adult, needs to have the experience and sense of responsibility of how to conduct themselves at a postsecondary school. Based on Arnall's writing, all that freedom the student has enjoyed from first to twelfth grade now burdens the parent with the responsibilities of an adult student who does not know how to conduct himself in such an environment. She claims, "This is not considered helicopter parenting but rather good parental scaffolding, helping a child to perform the tasks he will eventually need to do on his own." As an adult, these postsecondary students should already have a foundation of independence and responsibility that was fostered along their early high school years until they finished Grade 12. To wait until they are adults to teach them how to be adults is a detriment to them, and unnecessary responsibility and stress for the parent.
Overall, this book can be an interesting introduction to the concept of unschooling but it absolutely cannot be considered an unbiased, well-researched resource. Using her own family and her "Team of 30" is a detriment to the validity of all the points Arnall is trying to make. I could easily interview the families of students who are in the same class at a public school who are supervised and taught by a highly qualified, supportive, and caring teacher and make an excellent case for why children should attend our public school system. She makes valid inferences of close family relationships and spending more time together as a result of unschooling, but the pool of participants is just too small to make a genuine conclusion on the validity of the success of unschooling.
Arnall says that "you put on a video about electromagnetism and the children watched 10 minutes of it before declaring it was boring and left the room. You still document that you presented the video. You have done your part as facilitator." What a horribly lackadaisical approach to parenting and education! You wouldn't introduce your child to the toilet once and declare him potty trained while he still wets his pants!
In chapter 16, it really goes off the rails stating, "So, children raised in a supportive, emotionally healthy, functioning, unschooling family, with caring, attentive adults will probably never fall into addiction, regardless of how many hours a day they play video games." WHAT?! This is such a naive and dangerous statement to make because it excludes other factors such as neurodivergence, societal pressures, and other mental health factors. To claim that we needn't worry about addiction affecting our children because we unschool and show love is downright negligent and should have been omitted.
I personally take issue with a rule mentioned in Chapter 18, "We never even try it again if Mommy is the one crying!" Yes, I have had my share of difficult lessons accompanied by tears and frustrations. Yes, we stop what we're doing for the day and move on to something else for that time. No, we do NOT never try again because I was bested by our activity that day. What a horrible lesson to model for your children: it's difficult so let's quit and never look back. There are times to throw in the towel, but folding at the first sign of adversity is not a life lesson I personally want my children to take away from homeschooling.
The organization of the Age Groups, Elementary, Junior High, High School, and Postsecondary School did not work out the way they should have. There are so many sub-categories that warranted their own sections but were stuffed here and there that really didn't prove to be any benefit to the age group they were shoved under. Her tangent on video games, for example, is also too anecdotal to be of service to the average parent. Because her own children make the distinction between games and real life does not account for other children's processing of video games and comprehension, especially for children with ADHD, ODD, or autism. She wrongfully assumes children have the self-regulatory skills to take a break from gaming and participate in other activities. From my own personal experience, some children will always have zero interest in the reading material strategically placed around the house or craft supplies when video games are present.
Travel is often just a dream for most homeschool families due to finances, but Arnall brags about traveling to 12 different countries and encourages others to do the same. That is an extremely privileged and unrealistic point of view. Even in unschooling, with no structured curriculum to purchase, the average family is not in a financial position to travel globally. Once again, projecting anecdotal living as the structure of unschooling does a disservice to the families reading this book looking to implement this style of learning for their families.
Being from Canada, the examples are logically focused on the Canadian education system, leaving those of us in the US or other countries searching blindly for the path that our students will need to take to either achieve certification that they are done with school or what is needed to attend university. Obviously, we can't fault Arnall for writing what she knows, but this just goes back to the book being more anecdotal than actual research.
The section I take the most issue with is about Postsecondary School and how much the parent is responsible for in their adult student's life. By this time, a student, an adult, needs to have the experience and sense of responsibility of how to conduct themselves at a postsecondary school. Based on Arnall's writing, all that freedom the student has enjoyed from first to twelfth grade now burdens the parent with the responsibilities of an adult student who does not know how to conduct himself in such an environment. She claims, "This is not considered helicopter parenting but rather good parental scaffolding, helping a child to perform the tasks he will eventually need to do on his own." As an adult, these postsecondary students should already have a foundation of independence and responsibility that was fostered along their early high school years until they finished Grade 12. To wait until they are adults to teach them how to be adults is a detriment to them, and unnecessary responsibility and stress for the parent.
Overall, this book can be an interesting introduction to the concept of unschooling but it absolutely cannot be considered an unbiased, well-researched resource. Using her own family and her "Team of 30" is a detriment to the validity of all the points Arnall is trying to make. I could easily interview the families of students who are in the same class at a public school who are supervised and taught by a highly qualified, supportive, and caring teacher and make an excellent case for why children should attend our public school system. She makes valid inferences of close family relationships and spending more time together as a result of unschooling, but the pool of participants is just too small to make a genuine conclusion on the validity of the success of unschooling.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 24, 2020
Read this with our homeschooling group.
January 4, 2022
As an unschooling family with very young children yet (6 &4), I was planning on reading this in a few years. I was prompted to read it last year for an undergrad psychology class (Lifespan Development) assignment. The assignment was to present a mini-lecture on a specific unit from the course. My professor also unschools his children (10 & 6, if I remember right) and asked that I present on the topic. This was a key cited source in my presentation.
Judy Arnall covers all of the bases, this is not just a book for older unschoolers! If you're considering unschooling or are a new unschooling family, this is a good resource to start with. It answers the basics: "what is unschooling?" and "how do you 'do' it?" In answering these questions she is very critical of the public school system, and I think it's important to remember that critical doesn't equate to unsupportive. In the end, Arnall is what all unschooling parents are, advocates for the children: which means shining light on flaws in the systems that shape them. And like any good advocate, she proposes action steps for the change she desires to see.
Arnall provides summaries of quantitative research that supports the call for reform, whether within the school system or through unschooling. Her own study of 30 unschoolers over the course of their development provides its own data and insights.
There was a key factor in this book that my psychology professor was delighted to see. Arnall expands on what our own textbook had provided in the way of parenting styles (proving an earlier point she makes about the harmful bias of textbooks). Our text failed to discuss the parenting style unschool parents identify with: collaborative parenting. Working from the "radical" idea that our children are autonomous human beings capable of knowing their own needs, desires, and interests.
The last part of the book is the most beneficial for those committed unschoolers. It's the part that I will continue to refer to until my children are grown. Arnall breaks down brain development by ages and stages. Providing an outline of what to focus on and generally how to support your unachooler through each stage of development. Finally closing out with how to prepare for college and/or pursuing interests.
Judy Arnall covers all of the bases, this is not just a book for older unschoolers! If you're considering unschooling or are a new unschooling family, this is a good resource to start with. It answers the basics: "what is unschooling?" and "how do you 'do' it?" In answering these questions she is very critical of the public school system, and I think it's important to remember that critical doesn't equate to unsupportive. In the end, Arnall is what all unschooling parents are, advocates for the children: which means shining light on flaws in the systems that shape them. And like any good advocate, she proposes action steps for the change she desires to see.
Arnall provides summaries of quantitative research that supports the call for reform, whether within the school system or through unschooling. Her own study of 30 unschoolers over the course of their development provides its own data and insights.
There was a key factor in this book that my psychology professor was delighted to see. Arnall expands on what our own textbook had provided in the way of parenting styles (proving an earlier point she makes about the harmful bias of textbooks). Our text failed to discuss the parenting style unschool parents identify with: collaborative parenting. Working from the "radical" idea that our children are autonomous human beings capable of knowing their own needs, desires, and interests.
The last part of the book is the most beneficial for those committed unschoolers. It's the part that I will continue to refer to until my children are grown. Arnall breaks down brain development by ages and stages. Providing an outline of what to focus on and generally how to support your unachooler through each stage of development. Finally closing out with how to prepare for college and/or pursuing interests.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews